Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
This is going to be fun. Please bear with me. This is going to sound more like a LiveJournal entry then a pre-med advice request. But here goes:
I graduated high school from the DFW Metroplex in 2005 in the top 10 (not 10%--top ten people), with a TON of AP credit, and made my way to the University of Texas at Austin. At this point, I wanted more to do journalism than to be a doctor, but my parents wouldn't have that. Instead, I was going to be on the "fast track" to medical school, signing up for difficult courses that frankly I found uninteresting, at the time.
So, what's happens when I live on my own, hundreds of miles from my folks? I become the most unmotivated student in the entire world. Instead of attending class, I would write at the coffee shop across the street of my dorm. I was young for a freshman (only seventeen for most of the fall semester), and after being a "good kid" for those years, I rebelled. In the most academically self-destructive way possible. I ended up failing two classes (Calculus II and Genetics), a C in Intro Chem, and B's in two other classes 😱 I lied to my parents about my grades in the winter. They never asked for physical proof.
I also decided to "come out" to my parents, resulting in the worst Thanksgiving ever. It's a bit personal the details, but afterwards I was suffering from what would be later diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Spring semester was better, but not by much, really. I flunked a bio lab, earned a D retaking Calc II, and got B's in Chem II and other classes.
The strange thing was that, since I came in with so many AP credit hours that, at the time, counted as actual grades on my transcript, I still had a 2.8 overall GPA 😕
So, I decided that it would be best to tell my parents. You can imagine their reaction. I didn't feel safe with my father in the house, but I needed to make a change. So, I transferred to UNT and decided to take charge of my education. My sister, who lived in New York completing her DDS at Columbia, still saw in me the potential to do well, and encouraged me to shadow our family physician. Meanwhile, I went to a psychiatrist and got on meds, retook Calc. II over the summer(got an A😍), and worked.
Basically, that experience, combined with my shadowing/volunteer work with my hospital's emergency department incited a 180 degree change. I have a 3.85 at UNT (3.95 BPCM), a 32Q MCAT (10 V, 12 P, 10 B), and three straight semesters of Dean's List. I am a Chemistry/English double major, enrolled with the Honors College. I tutor group organic chemistry. I'm vice-president of GLAAD Denton. I work and research in a Network Neuroscience lab. I'm in two honors societies. I'm working over the summer as a physician scribe in the ER. I'm teaching KAPLAN as a math tutor.
My advisory committee assures me that I'll get in no problem, even after I mention my UT grades. Are they lying to my face?
Numbers:
Cumulative GPA: 3.31
Cumulative BCPM: 2.89
UNT GPA: 3.85
UNT BCPM: 3.80
MCAT: 32Q (10 V, 10 B, 12 P)
Applying:
Every school in Texas, including Baylor. Also Columbia, for laughs (and my sister went to their dental school), and Oregon HSU (because my sister's gonna live there after next year)
I graduated high school from the DFW Metroplex in 2005 in the top 10 (not 10%--top ten people), with a TON of AP credit, and made my way to the University of Texas at Austin. At this point, I wanted more to do journalism than to be a doctor, but my parents wouldn't have that. Instead, I was going to be on the "fast track" to medical school, signing up for difficult courses that frankly I found uninteresting, at the time.
So, what's happens when I live on my own, hundreds of miles from my folks? I become the most unmotivated student in the entire world. Instead of attending class, I would write at the coffee shop across the street of my dorm. I was young for a freshman (only seventeen for most of the fall semester), and after being a "good kid" for those years, I rebelled. In the most academically self-destructive way possible. I ended up failing two classes (Calculus II and Genetics), a C in Intro Chem, and B's in two other classes 😱 I lied to my parents about my grades in the winter. They never asked for physical proof.
I also decided to "come out" to my parents, resulting in the worst Thanksgiving ever. It's a bit personal the details, but afterwards I was suffering from what would be later diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Spring semester was better, but not by much, really. I flunked a bio lab, earned a D retaking Calc II, and got B's in Chem II and other classes.
The strange thing was that, since I came in with so many AP credit hours that, at the time, counted as actual grades on my transcript, I still had a 2.8 overall GPA 😕
So, I decided that it would be best to tell my parents. You can imagine their reaction. I didn't feel safe with my father in the house, but I needed to make a change. So, I transferred to UNT and decided to take charge of my education. My sister, who lived in New York completing her DDS at Columbia, still saw in me the potential to do well, and encouraged me to shadow our family physician. Meanwhile, I went to a psychiatrist and got on meds, retook Calc. II over the summer(got an A😍), and worked.
Basically, that experience, combined with my shadowing/volunteer work with my hospital's emergency department incited a 180 degree change. I have a 3.85 at UNT (3.95 BPCM), a 32Q MCAT (10 V, 12 P, 10 B), and three straight semesters of Dean's List. I am a Chemistry/English double major, enrolled with the Honors College. I tutor group organic chemistry. I'm vice-president of GLAAD Denton. I work and research in a Network Neuroscience lab. I'm in two honors societies. I'm working over the summer as a physician scribe in the ER. I'm teaching KAPLAN as a math tutor.
My advisory committee assures me that I'll get in no problem, even after I mention my UT grades. Are they lying to my face?
Numbers:
Cumulative GPA: 3.31
Cumulative BCPM: 2.89
UNT GPA: 3.85
UNT BCPM: 3.80
MCAT: 32Q (10 V, 10 B, 12 P)
Applying:
Every school in Texas, including Baylor. Also Columbia, for laughs (and my sister went to their dental school), and Oregon HSU (because my sister's gonna live there after next year)
Last edited:
