Apologies for what looks like double-posting but it's two separate issues.
I'm in my last semester of post-bacc classes and have my MCAT scheduled and am all set to apply and am not sure I will be thrilled with months and months of absolute silence that follows, so I'm just going to list pros and cons and if you want to weigh in, please do. I'm not looking to be persuaded either way, I just want to know if thinking I can get into a med school is delusional.
Pros: good letters of recommendation (neuroscientist/dean of the school, biochemist/assistant dean, immunologist/head of regional drug development center); won the annual pre-med scholarship last year (there are about 700 pre-meds at the school I'm at), about 140 hours of shadowing, a tiny bit of volunteering, a decent amount of grad-level classes on my transcript in various disciplines, two prior master's (MA in media studies and dual MFA in art/writing), two books published (short fiction and poetry) with plausibility of two more getting picked up soon, art shows on three continents but mostly in LA (I live in the midwest) and current arts writer; composer/tenor vocalist/multi-instrumentalist with first charity bandcamp "album" coming out this summer and composer/arranger for my synagogue, expecting to do well on the MCAT, "under-represented in medicine."
Cons: low gpa (3.83 total, 3.76 science), I'm old (40 in just over two months), no clinical employment experience, not a lot of clinical volunteering experience, no research experience despite trying very hard, not much to show for myself in EC in general, dirt poor, don't own things like car or smartphone etc., want to do research and have studied research design but haven't actually done anything, health problems (autistic, some anxiety issues), hit the federal loan ceiling so I can't take any more classes to raise my gpa, art career is currently DOA, rough life in patches here or there, and under-represented in medicine (queer, parents were janitors, father never finished high school, *dirt* poor (and once briefly homeless), disabled), bad credit (but working on it and almost repaired), don't play any sports, not multilingual (though I'm working on it), no "global health experiences," no leadership activities outside the arts, and, again, don't own a car, which several schools have said is mandatory for understandable reasons.
I've repeatedly been told by admissions counselors at a wide swath of schools that I am too old, too poor, and have too low of a gpa to be considered at all. I'm at a point where I'm willing to do the work/put in the time because I want this more than I've wanted anything, but I don't want to set myself up for failure.
I'm in my last semester of post-bacc classes and have my MCAT scheduled and am all set to apply and am not sure I will be thrilled with months and months of absolute silence that follows, so I'm just going to list pros and cons and if you want to weigh in, please do. I'm not looking to be persuaded either way, I just want to know if thinking I can get into a med school is delusional.
Pros: good letters of recommendation (neuroscientist/dean of the school, biochemist/assistant dean, immunologist/head of regional drug development center); won the annual pre-med scholarship last year (there are about 700 pre-meds at the school I'm at), about 140 hours of shadowing, a tiny bit of volunteering, a decent amount of grad-level classes on my transcript in various disciplines, two prior master's (MA in media studies and dual MFA in art/writing), two books published (short fiction and poetry) with plausibility of two more getting picked up soon, art shows on three continents but mostly in LA (I live in the midwest) and current arts writer; composer/tenor vocalist/multi-instrumentalist with first charity bandcamp "album" coming out this summer and composer/arranger for my synagogue, expecting to do well on the MCAT, "under-represented in medicine."
Cons: low gpa (3.83 total, 3.76 science), I'm old (40 in just over two months), no clinical employment experience, not a lot of clinical volunteering experience, no research experience despite trying very hard, not much to show for myself in EC in general, dirt poor, don't own things like car or smartphone etc., want to do research and have studied research design but haven't actually done anything, health problems (autistic, some anxiety issues), hit the federal loan ceiling so I can't take any more classes to raise my gpa, art career is currently DOA, rough life in patches here or there, and under-represented in medicine (queer, parents were janitors, father never finished high school, *dirt* poor (and once briefly homeless), disabled), bad credit (but working on it and almost repaired), don't play any sports, not multilingual (though I'm working on it), no "global health experiences," no leadership activities outside the arts, and, again, don't own a car, which several schools have said is mandatory for understandable reasons.
I've repeatedly been told by admissions counselors at a wide swath of schools that I am too old, too poor, and have too low of a gpa to be considered at all. I'm at a point where I'm willing to do the work/put in the time because I want this more than I've wanted anything, but I don't want to set myself up for failure.
