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I need some advice on how to approach my years of addiction when applying and interviewing to medical school. This would be a non-issue except that I received a misdemeanor charge in 2007 of "Drug-Related Loitering" and a misdemeanor charge of "Theft".
A little about me. I was an IV heroin addict from the time I was 16-21. After 4 trips to hospital for cellulitis and probably only weeks away from my inevitable death, I gathered up enough courage to ask for help from the one family member that had not written me off. She gave me half of the money to pay to to a one week detox program under the condition that I attend NA/AA afterwards. I was not opposed to this in least bit. While at the detox program, instead of sitting around glorifying my drug usage, I begged the program director to let me partake in the meetings that the rehab inpatients were attending throughout the day. For one reason or another, detox patients were not normally allowed to go to attend these. After enough begging, he finally let me. Two days before release my counselor approached me and told me he had something exciting to tell me. We walked over to the office and he informed me that the program wanted to extend to me a scholarship for a 60-day inpatient rehab. This saved my life, literally. After completing that program I went on to live in a sober living for 9 months and was given the responsibility of house manager for the last 4 months.
It has now been over 5 years and I am still completely clean. I am an active member of the recovery community. I have showed close friends with the disease of addiction the way to a fulfilled life and I am a volunteer at the syringe exchange/ HIV testing center in my community.
I apologize for the length of this, but I feel that what I have done in my recovery is important in determining of others might view my past.
My undergrad cGPA was a 3.0 at graduation (3.7+ for the last 90 hours of coursework upon returning for my leave of absence to address my addiction) and I am about to complete an MS program in a hard science with a 4.0. I have multiple publications to my name, and I have received multiple grants and awards for my performance.
So, after all that, how am I going to be viewed my adcoms? How do I approach this? I know that I can do a lot of good for people in this country who have similar issues and have been marginalized in society.
Tell your story. Leave out some details, just the basics. Focus on the last 5 years and what you want to do. There will be some adcoms/schools that won't be interested in you. Most will be however, IMHO. Apply broadly and I bet if the rest of your application is strong, including MCATs, you'll be accepted somewhere.