What Do You Do When All Hope Seems Lost?

[RedRaider2013]

I haven't posted since last year. I was in the process of registering for premed classes at my local community college. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, I was unable to sign up. Summer registration starts next week and I'm pretty amped. Well, at least I was... I ordered official copies of all my transcripts and they nearly made me ill. After reviewing them, especially my CC transcript (which included college classes take senior year of high school) I felt like no ADCOM in their right mind would admit me. CC and undergrad were messy. Multiple retakes with bad grades, 12 W's overall. I felt devastated. I got my act together in grad school (MBA - nothing special, 3.2gpa). I have a decent finance job now but I hate it. I'm not motivated at all. What do you do when the only thing that excites you is medicine? I come from a family of medical practitioners. I try to tell myself that med school is unrealistic and a bad risk - that I'm better off advancing in the business world (which I hate). I try to tell myself that but I have an insatiable desire to be a physician. I tell my friends and family that premed is a dead dream but I'm not being honest with myself. I just turned 27 a few days ago and I feel like I'm getting old. I can't waste anymore time.

I was lazy, unmotivated, and had a bad attitude. I was more interested in playing videogames and partying than studying. Unfortunately this was a trend that continued through most of undergrad. I didn’t have any career prospects. I was premed and then ended up prelaw. I eventually graduated with a liberal arts degree with a mediocre 2.8 gpa (2.7 AMCAS). It wasn’t until senior year that I started to get my act together. After graduation and six months of unemployment, I decided to take some graduate business courses. I did well and managed to get accepted in my school's MBA program.

All my hopes, aspirations, raw ambition, competitiveness, et cetera – it all started coalescing in graduate school. Business school was a cathartic experience. Honestly, I am disgusted by the person I used to be. I’m a new man now, a better man. B-school was a very successful endeavor for me. I was awarded one of my university’s highest accolades – the congressional internship and scholarship. I lived in DC and worked full-time in the US House. It was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life.

I want to make the transition to medicine, but I don’t know where to start. I wasn’t one of those driven academics in undergrad – the ones who graduated with honors, clinical experience, and knew what they wanted in life and how to achieve it. How do I compete with that? I feel like my academic past is a huge albatross around my neck. It seems like regardless of my personal victories and growth as a professional adult, I’m still haunted by my past. How do I convince a medical school to give me a chance when I can't deal with my past? How do I get past my crummy background? Maturity and hindsight sure are a b***h. I welcome any and all advice. It’s greatly appreciated.

P.S. Being a Texan myself, I'm sure someone is going to mention "Fresh Start." My oldest coursework will be 10 years ago this fall. From my understanding you have to apply and be admitted to another institution to apply for fresh start. Ideally I would like to avoid this.

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Genuinely it's going to depend on whether or not you want to spend 2+ years just preparing to have a shot at DO school. As is you'll need to do enormous amounts of retakes, take the prereqs, and then also study for the mcat while getting in some shadowing and volunteering.

 

[PlaqueBuster]

1. Take the pre-reqs at a community or 4 year university.
2. In the meanwhile, shadow doctors and volunteer
3. Apply in 2 years. You have to commit at least 2 years to this before you think about becoming a good candidate.
4. Don't worry about your past. Focus on the road ahead

Good luck

 

[burritowithgreensauce]

" How do I convince a medical school to give me a chance when I can't deal with my past? ... From my understanding you have to apply and be admitted to another institution to apply for fresh start. Ideally I would like to avoid this."
If I am understanding this correctly, you graduated with a non-science degree and your most recent coursework is over ten years old? Imo you have 2 choices if you are genuinely serious about getting into medical school.
1) go back for a science degree.
2) Do the needed CC requirements to make yourself eligible for a post-bac program.

DO and MD schools will give you a 2nd chance, but you have to show that your serious about it. Seriousness isn't shown thru a passionate personal statement. It is shown through an upward trend in GPA and an MCAT. The PS only elucidates your seriousness.

 

[Goro]

100% agree with this and the other posts here. OP, you need to show us that you can survive a medical school curriculum.

How badly do you want to be a doctor? If you want it, you'll work for it.

" How do I convince a medical school to give me a chance when I can't deal with my past? ... From my understanding you have to apply and be admitted to another institution to apply for fresh start. Ideally I would like to avoid this."
If I am understanding this correctly, you graduated with a non-science degree and your most recent coursework is over ten years old? Imo you have 2 choices if you are genuinely serious about getting into medical school.
1) go back for a science degree.
2) Do the needed CC requirements to make yourself eligible for a post-bac program.

DO and MD schools will give you a 2nd chance, but you have to show that your serious about it. Seriousness isn't shown thru a passionate personal statement. It is shown through an upward trend in GPA and an MCAT. The PS only elucidates your seriousness.

 

[doapplicant2015]

I think I remember you posting last year. We were in the exact same boat, same degree similar GPA's, working in finance etc etc.

I retook a ton of classes, aced all my pre-reqs, aced the MCAT, and am starting medical school in July. The hardest part about what you're about to do is starting it. My suggestion is that if this is really what you want, sign up immediately for Gen Chem 1 at night for the summer and one online class that will retake a D from undergrad. Ace both of those and go full time next semester with pre-reqs and retakes. This will be a pure brute force endeavor but its more than possible.

 

[ZedsDed]

"P.S. Being a Texan myself, I'm sure someone is going to mention "Fresh Start." My oldest coursework will be 10 years ago this fall. From my understanding you have to apply and be admitted to another institution to apply for fresh start. Ideally I would like to avoid this."
If you really want to be a physician, I suggest you strongly reconsider this. "Fresh start" is one of the best deals out there for GPA redemption.

 

[RedRaider2013]

"P.S. Being a Texan myself, I'm sure someone is going to mention "Fresh Start." My oldest coursework will be 10 years ago this fall. From my understanding you have to apply and be admitted to another institution to apply for fresh start. Ideally I would like to avoid this."
If you really want to be a physician, I suggest you strongly reconsider this. "Fresh start" is one of the best deals out there for GPA redemption.

Unfortunately I'm not 10 years out. my earliest college work will be 10 years old this fall.

 

[RedRaider2013]

Thank you for all the responses! I have a lot to think about and consider. I was just invited to my 10 year high school reunion and it has preoccupied my mind for the past few days. Granted there's still a year left but I'm beginning to feel old. How do I stop comparing myself to others? I haven't even kept in contact with this people yet I'm concerned with projecting a certain image. How sick is that? Has anyone felt this way? I feel like everyone around me is advancing, getting married and having kids, and I'm stagnate in career/career path (recently single too) that I absolutely despise. Most of my support network has vanished since I graduated.