Where should I apply? or what do i need to do.

[ancapman]

I am just about to finish a BA in Psychology where I tested out of almost all classes... except science with the exception of testing out of Pharmacology 1 and 2. I will have taken less than 1 year to complete this BA.

I took my science classes at a local CC
I got all A's in:
General Bio 1 and 2 with lab
General Chem 1 and 2 with lab
Organic Chem 1 and 2 with lab
A&P 1 and 2 with lab
Genetics with lab
Microbiology with lab
Statistics

These were all classes on the level for science majors.

I have not yet taken the MCAT and will begin studying it shortly.

I have no published research and only real research I have done academically is for my capstone in Psychology.

So my actual GPA is -.--
My ScGPA is 4.0 (again all from CC)

Any chance i can get in to Pitt? LECOM Greensburg? or any MD/DO school with a decent MCAT?

I am 38, soon to be 39 and will be 40 by the time I begin med school in fall of 2018.

Connections, possibly some via my mother in law who works in Research at Pitt although not as a scientist. but has great connections. Wife is a specialty RN in nephrology.

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[ancapman]

Wanted to add...

Previous life experience - from most recent to oldest:
Taking care of my autistic son 2 years
Founder of International Electronic Cigarette Company - 4 years
Apple B2B Sales Manager 2 years
Telecom Sales 5 years
Web Dev 7 years

 

[esob]

Wanted to add...

Previous life experience - from most recent to oldest:
Taking care of my autistic son 2 years
Founder of International Electronic Cigarette Company - 4 years
Apple B2B Sales Manager 2 years
Telecom Sales 5 years
Web Dev 7 years

- no one will care much about your experience with your son; I've been taking care of two autistic children for 17 years and was told it's just something that's expected of a parent, no bonus points.
- I shudder to think of selling yourself as a patron of good health while you propagated E cigs, but maybe that's just me.
- You're CC grades will either matter a lot (if you do poorly on MCAT) or not matter much (if you crush the MCAT), so my suggestion is to study for it like there is no tomorrow as it will say more about your application than anything else (noting that you either took a bunch of fluff science classes at CC or that you actually learned the material and are capable of performing at a high academic level).

 

[ancapman]

The ecigs thing I got out of as soon as there was scientific evidence of some of the chemicals leading to Bronchial Obliterans (aka popcorn lung)
prior to that finding in late 2014, the only chemical analysis I found was that they were orders of magnitude safer. I still believe they are harm reducers, but not safe.

 

[Goro]

Chances right now are zero, since you lack:
Shadowing
Patient contact volunteering
Non-clinical volunteering (as in, service to others less fortunate than yourself).

Wanted to add...

Previous life experience - from most recent to oldest:
Taking care of my autistic son 2 years
Founder of International Electronic Cigarette Company - 4 years
Apple B2B Sales Manager 2 years
Telecom Sales 5 years
Web Dev 7 years

 

[Unico]

study for it like there is no tomorrow

This cannot be understated. Buy practice tests, get a tutor, do whatever you have to do to do well on the MCAT.

My mentor was 40 when he entered medical school, BUT -- we went to a Caribbean school (which I cannot recommend, it's beyond soul-crushing and your chances of actually making it through are close to 40%). It can be done, just be realistic and know that many people go into Caribbean medical schools as a "last resort" only to have 100k+ loans and no degree after being failed out.

Really though, why medicine? As Goro pointed out, you don't have shadowing experience or volunteer work (which, with kids I 100% understand how these are low-priority). However, most physicians I work with are eager to leave the field (for whatever reason). Before committing 8+ years to a career maybe you should test the waters first?

 

[Unico]

Just noticed your IT background, have you considered bioinformatics or human factors? There is going to be a lot more interfacing between tech and patients, so having the trifecta of psych, IT, and med is beneficial. Just a thought. Good luck to you

What is Human Factors in Healthcare?
Human Factors Engineering | AHRQ Patient Safety Network
Human Factors and Medical Devices

 

[ancapman]

Wanted to clarify I do have lots of volunteer work in SE Asia. Mainly in Philippines and Indonesia in various disaster relief efforts and HIV/AIDS prevention while I was living 1/2 abroad in China.

I also built the first website for the UCSD AVRC in 2001 for free.

I have some shadowing not much.

My desire for medicine is more because I am extremely interested in it, and solving complex problems. I have wanted this for many many years. But due to business ops and familial duties I had no opportunity.

Myself being a T1D (adult onset) and having such a struggle getting the proper diagnosis along with some of the docs my wife works with calling me the answer man when they have a question and them encouraging me to do this. The director of a particular MD/PhD program had been after me for 8 years and I just had other opportunities (Apple) and of course house payments were needed from those opportunities.

I didn't really tally the hours of this volunteer work. But I can estimate it as approximately 600 hours.

I have also spent more time with some of the people from medtronics in training their trainers in basic management of diabetes using the law of small numbers (pm me if you want more data)

Lots of experiential work just none documented other than passport stamps, and emails asking for help/advice.

 

[ancapman]

Seriously though anyone interested in helping their Diabetics get to sub 6.5 a1c with lower insulin usage and better lipid panels, please PM me. I have helped many Diabetics over the years go from 12+ to 6 a1c in less than 6 months both t1d and t2d whether on insulin or oral meds.

 

[BeddingfieldMD]

It sounds like you are on the right path. Ditto what was said earlier regarding your CC science classes and the MCAT. Most admissions committees are going to be suspect of your taking all of your science prereqs at a CC. Doing very well on the MCAT will alleviate such concerns, while doing poorly or even average will likely validate them. I also agree that you need to do a bit more to prove that you know what you're getting into--both in terms of the profession and the training.

Finally, not to be overly pessimistic, but make sure you are healthy enough for the physical rigors of med school--and especially residency. It sounds like your T1D is very well controlled, but depending on your age when you developed diabetes, you may not be a physiologically "normal" 40-year-old. Make sure you are healthy enough that there won't be any unexpected interruptions of your medical training and that the erratic sleep and eating schedules won't cause undue stress to your health.

 

[ancapman]

It sounds like you are on the right path. Ditto what was said earlier regarding your CC science classes and the MCAT. Most admissions committees are going to be suspect of your taking all of your science prereqs at a CC. Doing very well on the MCAT will alleviate such concerns, while doing poorly or even average will likely validate them. I also agree that you need to do a bit more to prove that you know what you're getting into--both in terms of the profession and the training.

Finally, not to be overly pessimistic, but make sure you are healthy enough for the physical rigors of med school--and especially residency. It sounds like your T1D is very well controlled, but depending on your age when you developed diabetes, you may not be a physiologically "normal" 40-year-old. Make sure you are healthy enough that there won't be any unexpected interruptions of your medical training and that the erratic sleep and eating schedules won't cause undue stress to your health.

Excellent advice and points made.

I diagnosed myself with diabetes in January of 2010. (I couldn't drive from my office at Apple to my home 45 minutes away without stopping to pee 3 times). I had massive leg cramps all night, couldn't stay awake at times and was losing weight without trying.

I bought a cheap glucometer and boom 400 blood sugar. Went to doctor and because of my age and my weight he diagnosed me as a type II and at the time I agreed. I went on Metformin cut my carbs down to less than 15g a day and worked out on a recumbent bike for 45 minutes 3 times a day- lunch, before dinner, after dinner.

I lost 100 pounds in 6 months but my A1c went from 14 to 5.5 in 3 months while my trigs and lipids also went down. Well suddenly I started losing control of my diabetes without any lifestyle changes or eating habits other than living in China 1/2 time (business).

I began to suspect type I diabetes. My new doctor disagreed and began giving me januvia (which caused me to vomit and get a nice mild case of pancreatitis), he kept pouring more oral meds that I refused to take. I had previously spent 6 months after I was initially diagnosed learning all I could about diabetes from texts and all sorts of medical literature. So I began myself on NPH for basal and regular insulin for bolusing. My doctor still refused to change my diagnosis. But did agree to give me lantus instead of NPH. Finally I convinced and hounded my doctor long enough to run a GAD65 test, which he sadly had never heard of and fought me on whether to test my blood or not for it. After inviting me in to his private office to help him find the test ok his computer he ordered it. And my GAD65 was so high it was off the charts and unable to be measured. Normal is of course 0.

Now good you think right? This proves I was right. He still refused to believe it and said that I was still type II. After a lot of arguing and fighting and yelling and well.... a lot of unprofessionalism on both our parts, I left and went to a new doctor. Who ran some more tests that I had wanted but that first doctor refused to run such as c-peptide which turned out to show I had been producing almost nil insulin- 0.42 with lab glucose of 184 while fasting. And the other test I had wanted the IAA or Insulin Auto Antibody which was 5.9 where normal is less than .4 so 3 test confirmation of type I. I wrote old doctor a nasty letter telling him to never treat Diabetics again as he was likely leading them to their doom.

New doctor got me a pump, CGM and I have returned to staying within 5.5-6.2 a1c ever since.

 

[ancapman]

Also - I have had no complications from diabetes as of yet. I get my eyes checked regularly which always show normal blood vessels. I have no gastroperesis nor any neuropathies.