You beat the odds?

[missdoc91]

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Share your story here if you beat the odds in medical school admission and be an inspiration to pre-meds 🙂

 

[1badmamajama]

I beat the odds. Got in with a sub 3.0 ugrad GPA. Supplemented with a graduate degree, publications, Peace corps, life. It's possible if you belieeeeeve 😉

 

[Pacna]

I got in. 60% of applicants don't. 👍

 

[Oso]

I got in and I'm a 750 pound bear. I hope this inspires someone out there

 

[Jennyfishy]

Was told to apply to DOs bc I didn't want to retake my MCATs since I was out of the country. Got accepted to my top OOS school and interviewed on the first day after applying early.

My e-weewee grew a foot afterwards B)

 

[Oso]

My e-weewee grew a foot afterwards B)

quite possibly the best phrase I have ever heard 😀

 

[Ace-Co-A]

Underdog Thread.

 

[wiloghby]

Graduated college. my original undergraduate GPA was a 3.1 and my original science GPA was a 2.3 (average of three science courses). Fall junior semester I got a 2.3 GPA for the term!

==insert 4 years of being an adult==

Decided to go back to school. I did a post-bacc of 105 credits, got all A's, brought my GPA above a 3.5 and my science GPA to nearly a 3.8. I got an MCAT score in the highest bracket. (see AAMC Table 25). Invited to more interviews than I could possibly attend (though I'm broke so it's not that major of a feat) and so far have been accepted after the few interviews I decided to attend. I do suspect that University of Michigan will break my streak of acceptances though. :|

 

[DokterMom]

==insert 4 years of being an adult==

Never underestimate the power of adulthood...

 

[BamaNicole]

Ever been homeless?

I have....

 

[compstomper]

First generation immigrant from a poor working class background. First to graduate from college in my family. Had to work full time since 18 to help out at home as well as put myself through school. So far, 7 acceptances and 3 wait lists out of 11 interviews. If I can do it, then anyone can too with the right amount of effort and persistence.

 

[Redpancreas]

This is more of a funny sounding anomaly than a real underdog STory but if you look in the Wayne State University School of Medicine '13-'14 thread you'll find someone who went from a rejection to an acceptance. Basically they sent him/her a pre-secondary rejection letter, the person contested it, the call got reversed, he/she interviewed, and was ultimately accepted.

 

[WillburCobb]

Didn't decide to pursue med school until I was in my last semester as an instrumental music ed major. Went from a 3.2 GPA to a 3.45 cGPA 3.35 sGPA (quite the feat considering I had over 200 credits when starting my pre-reqs). Got a balanced 32 on the MCAT, and accepted to my top choice (MD) as a ORM, re-applicant.

 

[darkjedi]

My ugrad GPA is <10th percentile for my school, so I definitely beat something.

 

[Lexipi]

-

 

[bora]

Popped out of a poor latina single mother who took care of her 3 children by her damn self. Had to graduate high school with a GED (almost didn't do it) and became a gang banger for a few years and racked up some mean memories. Worked as a housekeeper, paving driveways and pools, bused tables in ****ty restaurants, and was homeless for about a year. Mickey D's dollar menu and community pantries saved me from starvation. Decided I was going to give myself a 5th chance and enrolled in a community college hoping i was cut out for a nursing life, CNA was more realistic. Slowly grew, slowly matured, and was forced by my peers and professors that I was a pretty smart person. Going to finish my undergrad in the top 5% of my biochem class and had 11 interviews some at harvard, stanford (rejected =-o(, northwestern, and duke. Ohh wait....my little bro was also accepted to med school this term. Talk about changing a family history! Now, hopefully I can help feel better about themselves and overcome adversity in their lives! Ultimately thats what its all about....HOW FAST CAN YOU GET BACK UP?!?!?!

 

[gookies]

I was told I would be screened out not get any interviews with a 6 in verbal (composite of 27) on the MCAT. I ended up with 15 interviews (didn't go to all) and 4 acceptances so far (one from a school with average mcat of 34 in CA)

Not trying to belittle your success story, but mentioning if you are a URM makes it more plausible. It was giving me hope if my MCAT score turns out to be subpar, but I'm not URM.

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

ORM, sGPA is between 3.2-3.3, uGPA 3.5, took MCAT twice (33 and 38) still managed to get 9 II. Good ECs, which obviously helped.

Edit: Just want to add, I do not recommend retaking a 33 if it's decently balanced. I had one fairly low subsection (<10) which is why I retook.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Popped out of a poor latina single mother who took care of her 3 children by her damn self. Had to graduate high school with a GED (almost didn't do it) and became a gang banger for a few years and racked up some mean memories. Worked as a housekeeper, paving driveways and pools, bused tables in ****** restaurants, and was homeless for about a year. Mickey D's dollar menu and community pantries saved me from starvation. Decided I was going to give myself a 5th chance and enrolled in a community college hoping i was cut out for a nursing life, CNA was more realistic. Slowly grew, slowly matured, and was forced by my peers and professors that I was a pretty smart person. Going to finish my undergrad in the top 5% of my biochem class and had 11 interviews some at harvard, stanford (rejected =-o(, northwestern, and duke. Ohh wait....my little bro was also accepted to med school this term. Talk about changing a family history! Now, hopefully I can help feel better about themselves and overcome adversity in their lives! Ultimately thats what its all about....HOW FAST CAN YOU GET BACK UP?!?!?!

Wow! Your story is very inspiring...

 

[Lambda Phage]

ORM, sGPA is between 3.2-3.3, uGPA 3.5, took MCAT twice (33 and 38) still managed to get 9 II. Good ECs, which obviously helped.

Edit: Just want to add, I do not recommend retaking a 33 if it's decently balanced. I had one fairly low subsection (<10) which is why I retook.

Only on SDN would a 3.5/38 with good ECs require "beating the odds" to get in.

Hopefully next cycle I can "beat the odds" with my 3.9/35...

 

[QuinnTheEskimo]

Only on SDN would a 3.5/38 with good ECs require "beating the odds" to get in.

Hopefully next cycle I can "beat the odds" with my 3.9/35...

Haha, I see what you are saying, but from what I've seen, GPA matters more. Your 3.9/35 is much more impressive than my stats.

 

[freshbagels]

Graduated undergrad in 2012 with a 2.67 uGPA/2.51 sGPA. ORM. 5 MD II, 2 MD acceptances so far

 

[Lord Osis]

I came to the Unites States as an adult and I spoke ZERO English when I first came here. Now I'm an MD acceptee.

 

[I Love Cats]

I was born into a situation from two adults who had no idea what they were doing, and I had to practically raise myself and accomplish everything without help in a poor single parent household-- consisting of just me and my first generation European immigrant parent. Unfortunately, because that immigrant parent is white, and I am a white American citizen, I don't get the same special privileges that minorities do in this process despite growing up the same exact conditions as many foreign immigrant's poor first-generation lives in America. I worked my tail off in life, especially in college where I achieved a perfect GPA (4.0), and squeezed out a respectable MCAT score (despite struggling with standardized tests) along with accruing decent EC's. I was rejected my first cycle. I reapplied. I'll be an M.D. in 2018.

 

[darkjedi]

I don't get the same special privileges that minorities do in this process despite growing up the same exact conditions as many foreign immigrant's poor first-generation lives in America.

ORM's with foreign immigrant parents don't get it any easier than you do :\

 

[gookies]

Graduated undergrad in 2012 with a 2.67 uGPA/2.51 sGPA. ORM. 5 MD II, 2 MD acceptances so far

Congratulations, but leaving out your 4.0 gGPA and 39 MCAT...why? You were the one who fought to change your pre-interview rejection to Wayne, right? This was because you mentioned your gGPA.

 

[gookies]

I was born into a bullcrap situation from two adults who had no idea what they were doing and had to practically raise myself and accomplish everything without help in a poor single parent household-- consisting of just me and my first generation European immigrant parent. Unfortunately, because that immigrant parent is white, and I am a white American citizen, I don't get the same special privileges that minorities do in this process despite growing up the same exact conditions as many foreign immigrant's poor first-generation lives in America. I worked my tail off in life, especially in college where I achieved a perfect GPA (4.0), and squeezed out a respectable MCAT score (despite struggling with standardized tests) along with accruing decent EC's. I was rejected my first cycle. I reapplied. I'll be an M.D. in 2018.

Well, you can't claim URM, but you can still claim you're from a socioeconomic disadvantaged background.

 

[I Love Cats]

ORM's with foreign immigrant parents don't get it any easier than you do :\

At least we made it 🙂

 

[Lexipi]

Not trying to belittle your success story, but mentioning if you are a URM makes it more plausible. It was giving me hope if my MCAT score turns out to be subpar, but I'm not URM.

My bad! Yes I am URM

 

[sourdoughllama]

ORM's with foreign immigrant parents don't get it any easier than you do :\

Or better yet ORM immigrant yourself

 

[freshbagels]

Congratulations, but leaving out your 4.0 gGPA and 39 MCAT...why? You were the one who fought to change your pre-interview rejection to Wayne, right? This was because you mentioned your gGPA.

That was me! Yea, I left them out because the salient topic in this thread is "beating the odds" -- I think that being accepted with my undergraduate record qualifies, regardless of subsequent MS work and MCAT 🙂

 

[I Love Cats]

Well, you can't claim URM, but you can still claim you're from a socioeconomic disadvantaged background.

It's not as effective as you might think, but yes, you're right. It gives us a little more to talk about, and if tastefully done, can possibly strike some compassion into someone reading and yield something positive. The data from the AAMC (if I remember correctly) shows that the majority of those who apply as disadvantaged as noted on the AMCAS app still do not receive acceptance (M.D. at least). This is likely largely due to the fact that many who designate themselves as disadvantaged fall many standard deviations below the average GPAs and MCATs though. However, I did have an interviewer introduce the idea that I may be perceived as a liability-- no joke. Some people must really think that conquering abnormal hardships leads to a weaker person. Ha. To that interviewer, I told them to look at me as an investment then-- in a sense that some of the riskiest investments have the biggest payouts.