Where do I go from here?

[pavingtheroadtoDO]

Hello everyone.

I am going to share my story, and I hope someone can give me advice on where to truly go from here.

I started college a year early when I was only 17 years old. The university I picked was not the right one for me and the roommate I was stuck with was awful. I went through some tough personal issues my first year of college and thus my grades suffered tremendously. For my sophomore year I went back home and took classes at a community college as I wanted to give myself some time to actually pick a place I would be happy at. I decided on another college, which was my first pick my freshman year but I could not afford that time. I spent my "junior" and "senior" year at this new school, and was doing OK... I was very stressed about money attending this school, and it was far away from home which was another big problem I faced during my freshman year, so my grades were certainly not as good as they could have been, they were decent, but not great. But since my freshman and sophomore years counted for almost nothing at this new school, I was way behind on credits so I was going to spend more time there to complete the required course work. Which brings me to where I am now. This past summer I got word that I would need more money than I was able to give to the new school to continuing attending there. I tried to get loans but could not get enough to cover the cost. So, I took a semester off and have been taking an EMT course at a local college to pass the time, I also work as a scribe at a local hospital, and I'm getting my CNA over this coming winter break. I volunteer, I have since high school. I have been involved in tons of different clubs and organizations and been the leader and president for several of those clubs.
Next semester I am transferring to a much cheaper university, one that is also much much closer to home, a place I am very comfortable in. A place I know I can succeed at. I don't have many more classes I need to graduate, probably this spring semester and then next year and I will be done with all my undergrad studies.
With that said, my GPA is not where I want it to be. I have considered retaking the couple pre reqs I would need to to bring my GPA up, or graduating with a "decent" GPA and enrolling in a post bacc program and doing well in that and then apply to medical school.
My dream has always been medicine, ever since I was a little girl. I have hit rock bottom on more than one occasion, but my passion, drive, and determination of getting to medical school never died.
I guess my question is, where do I go from here?

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[cliquesh]

Get your gpa up to 3.4+ with retakes and study for the mcat..,you know, standard stuff.

Have you shadowed doctors, why do you want to be a doctor? You don't have to tell me why, and I don't really care, but if you're having trouble with money at this point; it might not be worth the a financial commitment.

Full disclosure, I basically tell everyone not to become a doctor because I hate it, but my wife, who is also a doctor, loves it. It's just not for everyone. I want you to truly reflect on your situation and your motivations before pursing the arduous road ahead.

 

[sjcha]

Hello everyone.

I am going to share my story, and I hope someone can give me advice on where to truly go from here.

I started college a year early when I was only 17 years old. The university I picked was not the right one for me and the roommate I was stuck with was awful. I went through some tough personal issues my first year of college and thus my grades suffered tremendously. For my sophomore year I went back home and took classes at a community college as I wanted to give myself some time to actually pick a place I would be happy at. I decided on another college, which was my first pick my freshman year but I could not afford that time. I spent my "junior" and "senior" year at this new school, and was doing OK... I was very stressed about money attending this school, and it was far away from home which was another big problem I faced during my freshman year, so my grades were certainly not as good as they could have been, they were decent, but not great. But since my freshman and sophomore years counted for almost nothing at this new school, I was way behind on credits so I was going to spend more time there to complete the required course work. Which brings me to where I am now. This past summer I got word that I would need more money than I was able to give to the new school to continuing attending there. I tried to get loans but could not get enough to cover the cost. So, I took a semester off and have been taking an EMT course at a local college to pass the time, I also work as a scribe at a local hospital, and I'm getting my CNA over this coming winter break. I volunteer, I have since high school. I have been involved in tons of different clubs and organizations and been the leader and president for several of those clubs.
Next semester I am transferring to a much cheaper university, one that is also much much closer to home, a place I am very comfortable in. A place I know I can succeed at. I don't have many more classes I need to graduate, probably this spring semester and then next year and I will be done with all my undergrad studies.
With that said, my GPA is not where I want it to be. I have considered retaking the couple pre reqs I would need to to bring my GPA up, or graduating with a "decent" GPA and enrolling in a post bacc program and doing well in that and then apply to medical school.
My dream has always been medicine, ever since I was a little girl. I have hit rock bottom on more than one occasion, but my passion, drive, and determination of getting to medical school never died.
I guess my question is, where do I go from here?

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It seems that you need reassurance. If your passion is absolutely medicine, don't give up! I would suggest graduating to get your degree and then taking the rest of your pre-reqs at a CC if money is an issue.

If you haven't already, take a look at this post:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...munity-college-and-late-applications.1225373/

DO schools "reward reinvention," so continue to do the best that you can in terms of your grades. Other SDNers may be able to chime in and be more help than me, but they may also want to know yours stats to give more advice (sGPA, cGPA). The thing about post-baccs is that it is risky. You need to do exceptionally well to make up for a low uGPA. If not, your status for med schools is slim. If you're hovering around a 3.0 or slightly below, I would probably retake classes at a CC.

Just my $0.02! Hope that helps.

 

[pavingtheroadtoDO]

Get your gpa up to 3.4+ with retakes and study for the mcat..,you know, standard stuff.

Have you shadowed doctors, why do you want to be a doctor? You don't have to tell me why, and I don't really care, but if you're having trouble with money at this point; it might not be worth the a financial commitment.

Full disclosure, I basically tell everyone not to become a doctor because I hate it, but my wife, who is also a doctor, loves it. It's just not for everyone. I want you to truly reflect on your situation and your motivations before pursing the arduous road ahead.

I have shadowed 10+ doctors. The financial part of it is mainly just with my undergrad. I am just trying to get through undergrad and get into medical school where I will be enlisting in the Navy. I've spoken with recruiters as well as doctors who went the Navy route to help pay for medical school, and it's the best route for me to take once I get there. It's just the "getting there" that I am stuck on. I suppose I'm just looking for the right answer that will give me the best chance of getting into medical school.

 

[pavingtheroadtoDO]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It seems that you need reassurance. If your passion is absolutely medicine, don't give up! I would suggest graduating to get your degree and then taking the rest of your pre-reqs at a CC if money is an issue.

If you haven't already, take a look at this post:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...munity-college-and-late-applications.1225373/

DO schools "reward reinvention," so continue to do the best that you can in terms of your grades. Other SDNers may be able to chime in and be more help than me, but they may also want to know yours stats to give more advice (sGPA, cGPA). The thing about post-baccs is that it is risky. You need to do exceptionally well to make up for a low uGPA. If not, your status for med schools is slim. If you're hovering around a 3.0 or slightly below, I would probably retake classes at a CC.

Just my $0.02! Hope that helps.

Thank you for your input!! That helps me a lot.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Wow..you say you want advice and I will do my best to give you the best advice, but don't take what I say personal - It is constructive criticism based on my knowledge from these forums and based off of real life experiences.

Your story is not unique by the least bit. Every student who comes in search of advice on SDN has some 'family issues' or 'personal issues' that are to blame for their lack of effort and execution in their undergraduate years. Medicine is a field that does not cater to the weak, in fact, it devours them. You were young when you were a freshman, I get it, but that is why most schools are quick to forgive or show leniency towards a poor freshman year. However, after that year you should have had enough time to catch on and learn what it takes to survive and thrive within your university. Money is a major issues with some folks, but I find it hard to believe that it is the limiting factor for undergraduate studies. The government will hand out bundles of cash to anyone who applies (which is one reason we are so at risk for default, IMHO). You need to figure out what it is going to take to get your financial situation straightened out so that you can focus on your studies.

Second thing, if what you are saying is true, you are doing WAY too much and you will get little value out of it in the end. You say you have shadowed 10+ doctors, been the president of an organization, been in tons of groups, etc...Where is your commitment to one thing? You have to show that you can commit and stick to something you love and enjoy. Bouncing around is a flag for some ADCOMs - most ADCOMs and physicians I have spoken to have all agreed that they want to see consistency in their students and the majority felt like it is much better to give a majority of your EC attention to a FEW activities rather than a LITTLE attention to a lot of EC activities. Slow down, choose your ECs wisely, dedicate time to learn and grow from your experiences, and form valuable opinions and lessons from them.

Lastly, medicine is a dream for a lot of people. We have all heard the cliche "Daddy and Mommy want you to grow up to be a Doctor or a Lawyer" type of thing. The reality of this is that a lot of dreams just aren't feasible for everyone and for those that it doesn't work out for, they have to find something that does work for them and it more fitting for them. I am in no way saying to give up on this 'dream,' because if this is truly the one thing you want to do in life, and I could believe that because that is my view on medicine, then you need to do everything in your power to make sure you succeed. Do some make-up classes to re-form your GPA, study extremely hard for your MCAT, and work on a few ECs at any given time. Then, shadow a few D.O.s of interest to really see what it is about medicine that drives you to put yourself through this mess.

TLDR; Medical school isn't for everybody - Focus on only a few ECs and dedicate a lot of time towards those ECs - Raise GPA and study hard for MCAT - Shadow a few D.O.s and some M.D.s if you'd like and make sure you reflect on what it is about medicine that makes you want to put yourself through hell to get into medical school and become a physician.

PM me for any questions, private or not - I am here to help.

 

[pavingtheroadtoDO]

Wow..you say you want advice and I will do my best to give you the best advice, but don't take what I say personal - It is constructive criticism based on my knowledge from these forums and based off of real life experiences.

Your story is not unique by the least bit. Every student who comes in search of advice on SDN has some 'family issues' or 'personal issues' that are to blame for their lack of effort and execution in their undergraduate years. Medicine is a field that does not cater to the weak, in fact, it devours them. You were young when you were a freshman, I get it, but that is why most schools are quick to forgive or show leniency towards a poor freshman year. However, after that year you should have had enough time to catch on and learn what it takes to survive and thrive within your university. Money is a major issues with some folks, but I find it hard to believe that it is the limiting factor for undergraduate studies. The government will hand out bundles of cash to anyone who applies (which is one reason we are so at risk for default, IMHO). You need to figure out what it is going to take to get your financial situation straightened out so that you can focus on your studies.

Second thing, if what you are saying is true, you are doing WAY too much and you will get little value out of it in the end. You say you have shadowed 10+ doctors, been the president of an organization, been in tons of groups, etc...Where is your commitment to one thing? You have to show that you can commit and stick to something you love and enjoy. Bouncing around is a flag for some ADCOMs - most ADCOMs and physicians I have spoken to have all agreed that they want to see consistency in their students and the majority felt like it is much better to give a majority of your EC attention to a FEW activities rather than a LITTLE attention to a lot of EC activities. Slow down, choose your ECs wisely, dedicate time to learn and grow from your experiences, and form valuable opinions and lessons from them.

Lastly, medicine is a dream for a lot of people. We have all heard the cliche "Daddy and Mommy want you to grow up to be a Doctor or a Lawyer" type of thing. The reality of this is that a lot of dreams just aren't feasible for everyone and for those that it doesn't work out for, they have to find something that does work for them and it more fitting for them. I am in no way saying to give up on this 'dream,' because if this is truly the one thing you want to do in life, and I could believe that because that is my view on medicine, then you need to do everything in your power to make sure you succeed. Do some make-up classes to re-form your GPA, study extremely hard for your MCAT, and work on a few ECs at any given time. Then, shadow a few D.O.s of interest to really see what it is about medicine that drives you to put yourself through this mess.

TLDR; Medical school isn't for everybody - Focus on only a few ECs and dedicate a lot of time towards those ECs - Raise GPA and study hard for MCAT - Shadow a few D.O.s and some M.D.s if you'd like and make sure you reflect on what it is about medicine that makes you want to put yourself through hell to get into medical school and become a physician.

PM me for any questions, private or not - I am here to help.

My parents own their own business and thus show they make a lot of money which means the government does not give me a lot of aid, in fact i am where i am now because i received no government aid this past year. but i also have three other siblings my parents are trying to put through school so we don't have the money the government thinks we do. that has been a major stressor since i started school. since freshman year i've realized my weaknesses and done the necessary changes unneeded to to better myself as a student and a person. i'm interested and devoted to all the things i am involved in, i love my job as a scribe and i love the patient care part of being an EMT/CNA. the clues i've been a leader of were few, but i dedicated a lot of time to those when i could. a lot of the shadowing i did was in my early years of college, but i plan to try and shadow more as i haven't shadowed all the specialities just yet. i appreciate your honesty, that is exactly what i am looking for. i know my story is probably no different than another, but this is my passion and i can't imagine doing anything else with my life so i'm determined to better my application stats and move forward. i just needed to hear that i was either in the right direction or in the wrong direction with how i want to pursue my dream.
so it would be more beneficial for me to retake a couple classes and bring up my sGPA as compared to just doing a post bacc program?

 

[Goro]

Just to clarify, retake all F/D/C science coursework.