Post Baccalaureate Path

[bbuzz]

Hi All,

I wanted to just post here what I have done/am doing to get into Med School, and would like some feedback from anyone and everyone.

I graduated from Rutgers in May 2011, on time with a 3.56 GPA (didn't start trying until junior year - finished my second year with a 2.4 ). I took no hard science classes, majoring in Political Science while minoring in Philosophy.

During the year I worked at a startup evergy company I decided I wanted to be a doctor, and have proceeded thus - taking calculus over the summer. Chem1 Bio1 Physics 1 in the fall, Orgo 1 Bio 2 Physics 2 in the spring, and calc 2 Orgo 2, and perhaps another science class financially permitting in the following fall. All these will be taken at Rutgers also and I WILL have around a 3.75 GPA overall in these sciences. (i also most likely will be part of Rutgers Post Baccalaureate program, but can't enter until fall 2013 due to timeline restrictions).

Further, I will be volunteering at my local hospital beginning June this summer, and perhaps after fall 2013 will find further volunteering opportunities during the time between Fall 2014 when I understand I can start medical school if accepted.

I am vey confident I will have at the very least a 34 on my MCATs.

HOWEVER. I have a felony on my record - third degree possession of marijuana with intent to distribute from January 2011 that won't be expunged until around December of 2017.

I would have no problem going to a Caribbean school or one in a different foreign country.

Sorry this is so long but I know for the first time in my life what I want to do, but am constantly troubled by my past and the consequences it could have.

Thanks for your time all.

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[alexrgross]

That felony could be a red flag for admissions, and you know this.
Let us say you can explain the felony though, satisfactorily, IF you get invited for interviews. I think your selling infraction occured before you started down the path to medicine, something like a wake-up call? Unless otherwise, that can be good.

Felony aside, your GPA and projected MCAT are very much things that will pull your application into the top-choices of applicants. Good on you for the upward trend! You should have at least 100 hours of clincal, over 100 hours of shadowing, and a significant non-clinical and/or leadership/teamwork experience with over 150 hours. ALso it helps if you are doing these over 6 months each. You might want to volutneer in some anti-marijuana center or drug rehabilitation sense, per your own history.
Your ECs should be strong as possible, and these are the bare minimums, to offset the crime. Keep confident, I like your attitude and feel like you made a forgiveable mistake....keep confident and open to all input. Even call some schools admissions and discuss your situation, and straight out ask them if they will decide based on the felony.

 

[NYCMS2]

That felony conviction is going to hurt you in any job path, and certainly will hurt you here. You have limited your employability significantly.

I have no advice - there are some fairly knowledgeable posters on SDN with adcom and legal backgrounds - seek out LizzyM and Law2Doc for starters.

 

[Mazdave]

I have no specific expertise in the field, but I'm pretty sure the exact nature of your conviction specifically will make it extremely difficult if not impossible to obtain a DEA number in the future, meaning you wouldn't be able to prescribe controlled substances (which rules out many fields of medicine for you before you even start).

 

[LizzyM]

I can't ever recall seeing an applicant with a felony but I'd say that a felony conviction for drugs would be spell "the end" to any hope of attending medical school.

 

[Shmemifly]

Is expunging complete wiping from your record? If so, why not take a few years and wait for it to be expunged completely? Both that and going to Carib are not ideal ways to work around this, but I think waiting might be preferable. You'll be about 6 years out when you apply, 7 when you matriculate. Some people start school much later than that. Focus in the meantime on making/saving enough money to cover most of your tuition, and move to a state with great residency options. May be worth considering the timing of your clean record before you go to all the effort to take your MCAT (which im sure you know expires in what amounts to two years of application cycles, three years to matriculation). I do think a felony would make it pretty challenging to get into US MD programs.

 

[bbuzz]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm going to try and apply for fall 2014 and if it doesn't work out try and join the peace corp and work until my record is expunged and reapply. Thanks again.