Weak EC, but do other life experiences count?

[CastleG8]

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As I have been looking how I spent my last few years getting to this point, I began questioning some of the hidden things I have done throughout the years that I feel have molded me as a person interested in medicine. I have enlisted military service with 2 foreign duty stations, part-time jobs off an on as security guard, and some basic hospital volunteering for about 150+ hrs and a short shadowing session. I am pretty weak on EC compared to other premeds, but I started pretty late and I always assumed the door of opportunity was already shut to become a physician until I was in my Sophomore year.

Here is the thing, I am the first in my family to go to college, both my parents are dropouts with one working as a waitress most of her life and the other being a shift worker.
Had I known what I know now, I would have did a much better job at making a nice application by the time I applied. I am not making excuses, but I really didn't know what I was doing most of the time. I started out at the community college so it's not like we had pre-med advisers and with a 10 year old academic probation while taking a vocational program geared toward the chemical plant industry, I didn't want any awkward stares from people when I tell them I was thinking about going to medical school.

Crazy things happened during my undergraduate year, I have a sibling in prison and he was a fugitive for most of my entire 4-year college experience. When he got caught, I almost cried with relief because he was armed and I was afraid he wouldn't surrender.
I feel very close to my brother despite his pretty awful crimes and I was one of the few that didn't give up on him and I make contact visits every month. These are awful! I drive 8 hrs round trip, it exhausts me, and I wait 1-2 hrs just for my turn to go in and then add 2-4 hrs per visit. I see entire families there and I see my brother decaying mentally.

I have no kids or spouse and my brother was and is still my best friend and I write weekly emails talking about my med school dreams and he roots for me. I think I have spent as many hours driving to Texas prisons and doing visits than I have volunteering and the entire situation was a nightmare after I left the military. I even had a swat team raid the house and I had guns pointed at my head while nearly completely naked as I scrambled to get dressed before a bunch of cops busted into my room. My neighbors thought I was my brother and called the tipline while I stayed with my mom after first leaving the military. How embarrassing!

I don't know how this matters to being a physician, but my years leading up to making the decision to fully go for it all tie into this. I am in my 30's and I worry about losing another year of a possible career because I am not measuring up to other peoples applications, but life hasn't been easy. Does any of this matter? I am not looking for brownie points and I do not want to make a mistake by mentioning these things if they don't seem relevant, but they are important events to me.

 

[mathnerd88]

Military service is a big plus to many DO schools. You are fine in terms of EC's. You don't need a lot of healthcare experience, but it would definitely help you if you've done some volunteer work or shadowing somewhere. At least you can talk about what you've seen in terms of healthcare.

 

[CastleG8]

Military service is a big plus to many DO schools. You are fine in terms of EC's. You don't need a lot of healthcare experience, but it would definitely help you if you've done some volunteer work or shadowing somewhere. At least you can talk about what you've seen in terms of healthcare.

Thanks for the reply. Now that I finished the MCAT, I will focus on a second volunteer activity to go with my current one. I was thinking a hospice.

 

[DokterMom]

Hey @CastleG8 - So glad you're here! As you can imagine, there aren't a whole lot of physicians with your life experiences, and as you probably know, there are a whole lot of people in the world with lives more like yours than those of typical physicians... Medicine needs people like you.

As you've noticed, there's a "game" to med school admissions, and the rich kids have known about it since Jr High. You're learning about it now, so are, of course, relatively behind. But Admissions Committees know this, and will factor it in when evaluating your application. So yes, your life experiences will count. Military service is a strong plus. And volunteer experience done under your circumstances will likely be viewed as being more genuine than little Cuthbert's who's been 'checking boxes' for decades.

That said, you will need to meet all of the usual admissions standards and demonstrate that you are capable of succeeding in medical school. Life has thrown a relatively large number of obstacles into your path, and you will need to show that you are likely to continue to find your way through/around them. But it can be done --

I'm pulling for you --

 

[DokterMom]

Just read your last post about adding hospice -- Hospice is good, and if you need more medical experience, it could serve double-duty for you. But what you bring to the table that's out-of-the-ordinary is your blue-collar background. If you can volunteer in some capacity that utilizes that background to improve medical care in that community, you'll be able to illustrate your commitment to serve where the need is great versus the cushy suburban gigs.

 

[CastleG8]

Hey @CastleG8 - So glad you're here! As you can imagine, there aren't a whole lot of physicians with your life experiences, and as you probably know, there are a whole lot of people in the world with lives more like your than those of typical physicians... Medicine needs people like you.

As you've noticed, there's a "game" to med school admissions, and the rich kids have known about it since Jr High. You're learning about it now, so are, of course, relatively behind. But Admissions Committees know this, and will factor it in when evaluating your application. So yes, your life experiences will count. Military service is a strong plus. And volunteer experience done under your circumstances will likely be viewed as being more genuine than little Cuthbert's who's been 'checking boxes' for decades.

That said, you will need to meet all of the usual admissions standards and demonstrate that you are capable of succeeding in medical school. Life has thrown a relatively large number of obstacles into your path, and you will need to show that you are likely to continue to find your way through/around them. But it can be done --

I'm pulling for you --

Thanks so much. I am doing my best, I just hope it is enough. My MCAT scores will come back in May and my GPA for the last 120 credit hrs has been around 3.7ish as a full-time student with no grade retakes. I am getting the hang of this.

Hmm. I can think about that. My goals are rural medicine. I am from the Houston ship channel. I would love to do something involved with rural medicine, but this is a huge industrial area. I was also looking into some VA stuff, as I go to the VA with my other brother all the time for his psychiatric appointments.

 

[DO2015CA]

As long as you don't bomb the mcat you could easily snag quite a few DO interviews. Also, being military target schools in the south. Especially if there is a base nearby.

 

[DokterMom]

Texas! You're in luck. A great state to be a resident of with a wide variety of medical schools, at least one of which is highly likely to fit any reasonably-competitive MCAT score. And your current GPA is certainly fine. As you well know, Texas is also a great 'bootstraps' state and more than a little bit patriotic.

One other thing about Texas is that they have an 'academic fresh start' that can actually eliminate really old (I think it's 10 years) stuff from your academic record; so depending on how old your bad grades are, they might be eligible for 'weeding out'. Worth looking into anyway.

 

[CastleG8]

Texas! You're in luck. A great state to be a resident of with a wide variety of medical schools, at least one of which is highly likely to fit any reasonably-competitive MCAT score. And your current GPA is certainly fine. As you well know, Texas is also a great 'bootstraps' state and more than a little bit patriotic.

One other thing about Texas is that they have an 'academic fresh start' that can actually eliminate really old (I think it's 10 years) stuff from your academic record; so depending on how old your bad grades are, they might be eligible for 'weeding out'. Worth looking into anyway.

Yes! I am about to sign up for a 3 week mini summer course to hit that academic fresh start. I just spent many weeks focused entirely on the MCAT, and so that I haven't gotten around to it yet. My cGPA should be about 3.6ish with a Science GPA of about 3.8ish after fresh start. I hope I can make it in time to apply early. I still have to get a committee letter from my school, but I wanted to get an MCAT score and hit that 125+ volunteering hours before I requested it from them because I was a transfer student without getting to know my committee professors very well. I feel like this is going to come down to the wire. I still need a LOR from a physician. I'm scrambling like crazy now. My bad grades are over 10 years old.

 

[DokterMom]

LOR from a physician? Is that a new requirement? Because I don't think it's an old one...

 

[CastleG8]

LOR from a physician? Is that a new requirement? Because I don't think it's an old one...

I guess you are right. A few schools that I looked at wanted 2 LOR. One from a MD or DO (preferably a DO) and one from a professor or pre-health committee. I will have to make a list of what each one requires.

 

[DrMikeP]

I guess you are right. A few schools that I looked at wanted 2 LOR. One from a MD or DO (preferably a DO) and one from a professor or pre-health committee. I will have to make a list of what each one requires.

Shadow a Dr and get a letter, it's almost a necessity for many schools these days. Many Hospice facilities collaborate with a physician. If not then find one. There are lots of tips on how. I listed around a dozen in a past post.

So many applicants do really badly when they're asked why DO ("because I like using my hands," "I like OMT (but can say what it is)," "I just want to be some kind of doctor," "my gpa was too low to go MD" etc...don't be those) and working with one for a month can help you answer that really well and get you a letter. If you want rural med then check out DO schools as many really are geared in that direction. With a good MCAT you would probably be a good MD candidate if you wanted to go that route, but many MD schools do still frown on community college course. So check on the specific schools before you waste an application.

 

[Goro]

Ditto this!!!

Military service is a big plus to many DO schools. You are fine in terms of EC's. You don't need a lot of healthcare experience, but it would definitely help you if you've done some volunteer work or shadowing somewhere. At least you can talk about what you've seen in terms of healthcare.

 

[CastleG8]

Thank you all for the advice. I am going to look for these opportunities. I currently do patient transport, typically helping the endoscopy department and I love it because I see and talk to patients. I never interact with the physicians, it's all nurses and patients. I couldn't get ER, because it seems all of the premeds somehow get them even when no openings for it are listed. Is this sufficient if I keep doing patient transport? I have been in the ER a few times, but usually for disharge with my bariatric wheelchair, but I know the smell of urine and soiled sheets up close. I only go into ICU to bring reading materials. I have done a few medical power of attorney witnessing and signed as witness for mothers giving away newborns for adoptions with the case workers. I have rushed patients to the ER that were unable to make it inside when they just showed up at the main entrance mumbling and people just flag me down because I walk around with a wheelchair. It can be intresting.

This has been my only volunteer activity and I can either take on a second shift doing this because no one does it on Wednesdays or else look for something completely different. I just feel like patient transport sounds very generic compared to volunteering in the ER dept.
I will also find a good hospice opportunity.

 

[DrMikeP]

Thank you all for the advice. I am going to look for these opportunities. I currently do patient transport, typically helping the endoscopy department and I love it because I see and talk to patients. I never interact with the physicians, it's all nurses and patients. I couldn't get ER, because it seems all of the premeds somehow get them even when no openings for it are listed. Is this sufficient if I keep doing patient transport? I have been in the ER a few times, but usually for disharge with my bariatric wheelchair, but I know the smell of urine and soiled sheets up close. I only go into ICU to bring reading materials. I have done a few medical power of attorney witnessing and signed as witness for mothers giving away newborns for adoptions with the case workers. I have rushed patients to the ER that were unable to make it inside when they just showed up at the main entrance mumbling and people just flag me down because I walk around with a wheelchair. It can be intresting.

This has been my only volunteer activity and I can either take on a second shift doing this because no one does it on Wednesdays or else look for something completely different. I just feel like patient transport sounds very generic compared to volunteering in the ER dept.
I will also find a good hospice opportunity.

Don't under sell your experiences with pt transport. 🙂

 

[DrMikeP]

Don't under sell your experiences with pt transport. 🙂

When you talk about it with adcoms tell them about the meaningful interactions you had with patients, the extra care in making them feel comfortable on their trip to xyz, how sometimes a smile and a listening ear seemed to brighten their day. Discuss how you loved the interaction and want so much more.

I've seen pt transport that was awesome and others who were horrible. Saw once the guy ran the patient into a support beam.

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