What happens if you have multiple "red flags"? Am I just screwed?

[Imogen]

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I have two "red flag" sort of situations in my past and I'm not sure how they will be viewed by adcoms. I think I am a fairly strong applicant numbers-wise. I have decent ECs: over 300 hours clinical experience in various hospital jobs with direct patient contact, I volunteered with a community service group for 2 years, I was a member of my school's EMT squad for 1 year. I also did other stuff like marathons, soccer club, and music-related activities. I graduated this past spring and I am now working full-time in a research lab and studying for my MCAT.

One issue is that in the process of a prank, I was charged with a misdemeanor. I'm not going to go into more detail about this on SDN except to say that this did not involve drugs or alcohol. I was charged as a youthful offender, but never convicted, and the case was dismissed after 6 months, and sealed after one year. I felt so bad that I did not go to a single social event for 2 years. This all happened years ago and I have no other prior or post criminal activity. I checked with my lawyer and since I was never convicted and it was a youthful offender issue, he told me I not only can say that I was never convicted, but also that I was never arrested or charged, if asked. I know that AAMC doesn't ask for anything other than convictions, but I wasn't sure if schools followed the same rules on supplementals. Also, I really was arrested and charged, so legally, though I don't have to say anything, I'm not sure if med schools could ever find out about this and hold it against me. My lawyer is running a Certiphi background check on me just in case. So in any event, I think there is a possibility that I might have to say something about this.

The other red flag on my app involves an institutional action and withdrawals on my transcript as a result of a cancer diagnosis during college. I have some semesters of Ws due to this and I was eventually formally asked to leave school until my health problem was resolved. After I was declared in remission I asked for permission to return to school.

So now I'm just working at my research job and studying my butt off for the MCAT. Realistically, I think I can achieve at least a 32, but I am aiming for a 35. I actually completely forgot about that old misdemeanor until reading another post on here recently. I just assumed that I would never have to say anything about it since it was all sealed up and legally, I don't. I felt bad enough having all those Ws and having to disclose an institutional action, but with a misdemeanor arrest/charge on top of that, I feel like I don't have a chance in hell. No matter how good my application is overall, there will always be applicants who are completely unblemished compared to me.

Should I give up on going to medical school? Is my application so far below ideal that I've ruined any possibility of becoming a doctor? Is there anything I can be doing to make my application stronger and would waiting longer (as in not applying for the 2011 cycle) be of any advantage? I really don't want to have to delay my app, but if it'll somehow help me to establish myself as a better candidate, I would do it in a heartbeat. Also, no offense to DOs or DO hopefuls, but I am only interested in applying to MD schools. I don't believe in many osteopathic techniques, therefore, it would be hypocritical of me to attend an osteopathic school.

 

[loveoforganic]

The first thing sounds kind of minor, in addition to being freshman year, and a cancer diagnosis is a hell of a legitimate way to explain the withdraws and out of school time.

I think you'll be fine.

 

[AutumnChild]

The first thing sounds kind of minor, in addition to being freshman year, and a cancer diagnosis is a hell of a legitimate way to explain the withdraws and out of school time.

I think you'll be fine.

+1

I definitely think your institutional action regarding your cancer diagnosis will not be a red flag. You can explain it in your PS and/or secondaries. As for the misdemeanor, it seems like your lawyer knows what's up - but i'm not on the adcom so I don't know how schools work with that stuff. I personally think you will be fine. I would say, take a deep breath. I'm pretty sure you can apply to medical school.

 

[Catalystik]

I think you'll be fine, too, even if you have to explain the misdemeanor.

Don't forget to get in some physician shadowing. Otherwise, your application sounds like it will be a winner.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Basically agree with everything else here; neither of those sound like severe red flags to me, and the cancer thing sounds like an incredible story. A "drop" from 3.97 to 3.85 is not significant.

Moving to What are my Chances.

 

[Scarletblack]

I don't mean to sound mean, but I think that this does hurt you. Like you said, you are competing against other people who've got completely perfect, normal applications. Having cancer will count in your favor for the whole leave issue. But I don't think that it looks good that you had three whole semesters of Ws, even with cancer. Also I think that some applications DO ask for charges/arrests. I'm not sure how many of these there are, but if you end up filling out one of these I do think that you'll have to disclose your record. I think this is true even if a lawyer tells you that legally you don't have to say anything because if you don't mention it, but it shows up on a background check, then you will look like you've lied.

The OP had cancer. Adcoms understand that cancer kills people and that people with cancer have more important things to worry about other than school. Given the OP explains the reason for his or her Ws on her app or interview, they will be understanding of the situation and probably excuse those Ws.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Good thing you're talking to an attorney. Even if it shows up in some way on Certiphi, ask your lawyer if it will be legal to list as "no." Ask him if schools will be able to withdraw their offer based on that. My layman understanding is that you did do everything according to the law, and if they "find out" by other means it's not legal for them to hold it against you.

 

[TriagePreMed]

The OP had cancer. Adcoms understand that cancer kills people and that people with cancer have more important things to worry about other than school. Given the OP explains the reason for his or her Ws on her app or interview, they will be understanding of the situation and probably excuse those Ws.

If I was in ADCOMS, my only question would be why she kept returning to school if she wasn't ready. If it is because she thought she was ready but then the cancer kept coming back to haunt her, there's absolutely no reason to count the cancer against her.

 

[cleothecat]

Ignore the charged, no conviction thing.

Yes, people with cancer can miss school for long stories. Several years of treatment beats job shadowing as medical experience any day!

 

[JulianaW]

But I don't think that it looks good that you had three whole semesters of Ws, even with cancer.

Um, I disagree that this will look suspect. I was out of school for about 2 years and also ended up with multiple semesters of Ws and I just had a thyroid problem. Getting sick isn't always so cut and dry. In my case, I was difficult to diagnose, I thought I could handle more than I could, I had a lot of issues initally tolerating the various meds that I was put on, etc. Also, mentally, being sick is really draining. Sometimes things you think wouldn't be a big deal actually really get to you. For instance, my hair started thinning like crazy and I completely freaked out about that. It was actually hard for me to concentrate on studying because I was so anxious and worried about everything that was happening.

It's really easy for issues like these to stretch out over multiple semesters, even with medical problems less life-threatening than cancer.

 

[HEATBAG]

DO NOT WORRY. There are many over achieving jackasses on here who will say you have a blemished record because they cannot pull off these grades without cancer. Cancer WILL NOT affect how the schools judge you. As for the misdemenor, they cannot tell if you were even arrested if the case is sealed. Do not worry about anay opinions posted on here we need to look at the facts

- you do not have a criminal record
- you have excellent grades
- cancer is more then a good reason to have W's
- you have great extracuricular activities / volunteering

You will be judged on an even playing field. Best of luck.

James A. C.

 

[Ursa]

I have 3 encouraging things to say:

1) I have a friend that was arrested twice in undergrad, once for PI and once for DWI. He had a 28-30 MCAT and was accepted to several schools.
2) You have to remember that adcoms are not little heavenly figures that are wise and perfect. I had lunch with an adcom at an interview in Texas and all we talked about was brewing beer and being able to have a good time during med school. Adcoms are human, and I'm willing to bet there's a good handful who would even think your prank/arrest was funny (though I wouldn't post flyers everywhere, so to speak). Most adcoms are pretty cool...they just get a bad image because of what they represent, which is admissions to med school (a scary thought by itself).
3) Cancer...Really? Don't worry about that one for a second. An adcom would have to be a big Douchy-McDoucherson to hold that one against you.

 

[deleted314957]

I have two "red flag" sort of situations in my past and I'm not sure how they will be viewed by adcoms. I think I am a fairly strong applicant numbers-wise. I have a 3.87 gpa and was a literature and science double major. I have decent ECs: over 300 hours clinical experience in various hospital jobs with direct patient contact, I was an RA, I founded a literacy/tutoring club and am still in charge of it today. I volunteered with a community service group for 2 years, I was a member of my school's EMT squad for 1 year (I was only first aid and CPR certified though), and I was a TA for multiple classes. I also did other stuff like marathons, soccer club, and music-related activities. I graduated this past spring and I am now working full-time in a research lab and studying for my MCAT.

One issue is that when I was 18, I decided to rush a sorority and in the process of a prank, was charged with a misdemeanor. I'm not going to go into more detail about this on SDN except to say that this did not involve drugs or alcohol. I was charged as a youthful offender, but never convicted, and the case was dismissed after 6 months, and sealed after one year. I immediately withdrew from rush after this happened and I felt so bad that I did not go to a single social event or party for 2 years. This all happened 7 years ago and I have no other prior or post criminal activity. I checked with my lawyer and since I was never convicted and it was a youthful offender issue, he told me I not only can say that I was never convicted, but also that I was never arrested or charged, if asked. I know that AAMC doesn't ask for anything other than convictions, but I wasn't sure if schools followed the same rules on supplementals. Also, I really was arrested and charged, so legally, though I don't have to say anything, I'm not sure if med schools could ever find out about this and hold it against me. My lawyer is running a Certiphi background check on me just in case. So in any event, I think there is a possibility that I might have to say something about this.

The other red flag on my app involves an institutional action and withdrawals on my transcript as a result of a cancer diagnosis during college. I have 3 semesters of Ws due to this and I was eventually formally asked to leave school until my health problem was resolved. After I was declared in remission I asked for permission to return to school. Prior to having cancer, I had a 3.97 gpa and basically only did "med school activities." When I returned, my semester GPA averages were more like 3.85-3.9. I'm not sure if this looks terrible since my grades did go down a bit... but when you have cancer, you realize that there really are more important things in life than just studying. When I came back, I stopped focusing exclusively on "pre-med stuff" and decided to start a second major (literature), joined a hatha yoga group, started running, completed a marathon, and founded my literacy club.

So now I'm just working at my research job and studying my butt off for the MCAT. Realistically, I think I can achieve at least a 32, but I am aiming for a 35. I actually completely forgot about that old misdemeanor until reading another post on here recently. I just assumed that I would never have to say anything about it since it was all sealed up and legally, I don't. I felt bad enough having all those Ws and having to disclose an institutional action, but with a misdemeanor arrest/charge on top of that, I feel like I don't have a chance in hell. No matter how good my application is overall, there will always be applicants who are completely unblemished compared to me.

Should I give up on going to medical school? Is my application so far below ideal that I've ruined any possibility of becoming a doctor? Is there anything I can be doing to make my application stronger and would waiting longer (as in not applying for the 2011 cycle) be of any advantage? I really don't want to have to delay my app, but if it'll somehow help me to establish myself as a better candidate, I would do it in a heartbeat. Also, no offense to DOs or DO hopefuls, but I am only interested in applying to MD schools. I don't believe in many osteopathic techniques, therefore, it would be hypocritical of me to attend an osteopathic school.

i've never posted on this area of the board but I saw your tag and was curious. I've been a physician (U of Ill Chicago '77) for 33 years and if it were up to me i'd admit you in a heart-beat.

 

[Imogen]

Aw. Thank you so much everyone! (Especially Catalystik and Mikesheree for their highly sought after advice). I feel much less stressed about this situation and I'm so thankful to be able to set aside my worrying; it was beginning to interfere with my focus and MCAT studying!