Will I get in? and make my wife happy?

[PeepDoc]

Hey there,

I need some advice. I have a dream, that my wife and I share. I want to be a missionary doctor. I am not the ideal student, (I have a lower GPA, and I'm graduating a little late) but its something we both want. She has been working and supporting us while I am going to school full time. I will be graduating from the U of Central Florida next summer with my Bachelors in Bio. We hate Florida. My wife was born here, and I've lived here since I was 10. We would really like to move out west. But, not being the ideal student what are my chances of getting into a western school? I know my chances are better for getting accepted in Florida, but it would make my wife miserable. She is supporting me, if I lose her, I'll never make it. I am afraid our dream will be lost to bitterness if we remain in Florida. What can I do? Is there any chance of being accepted out there if I'm not top-notch? Would it be better if, directly after graduating with my bachelors we moved out there while i am applying or waiting for responses to applications? Should we move, and establish residency out there then apply? I am at a loss, and very fustrated. Any advice?

Dave

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[littlealex]

Without an idea of your exact statistics, it is hard to say.

What is "lower GPA"? What are you MCAT scores? If you have a 3.5/33, you have a good shot at Loma Linda of California.

Why out West? Plenty of good private schools down south that accept out of state applicants.

California/Washington are extremely competitive, and basically impossible for non-stellar out of state applicants (1% acceptance rate, even considering the stellar application pool).

I guess it really depends on your scores. If you said lower GPA, than Stanford/UCSF/UCLA are probably out of the question.


It looks like your best shot is to stay in Florida and apply to Loma Linda. As it appears, however, your best shot is to stay in-state.

Also try applying to Osteopathic schools.

http://www.aacom.org/data/cib/collegemap-big.gif

They have much lower standards and your GPA may be much more competitive there.

 

[LADoc00]

just the fact you are trying to make your wife happy by doing the medical thing bodes very ill. Run, Forest, RUN.

 

[chrisisinnocent]

Without an idea of your exact statistics, it is hard to say.

What is "lower GPA"? What are you MCAT scores? If you have a 3.5/33, you have a good shot at Loma Linda of California.

Why out West? Plenty of good private schools down south that accept out of state applicants.

California/Washington are extremely competitive, and basically impossible for non-stellar out of state applicants (1% acceptance rate, even considering the stellar application pool).

I guess it really depends on your scores. If you said lower GPA, than Stanford/UCSF/UCLA are probably out of the question.


It looks like your best shot is to stay in Florida and apply to Loma Linda. As it appears, however, your best shot is to stay in-state.

Also try applying to Osteopathic schools.

http://www.aacom.org/data/cib/collegemap-big.gif

They have much lower standards and your GPA may be much more competitive there.

Loma Linda is even more competitive than those other schools because of the SDA preference.

 

[brittanykgw]

Applying to medical should be something you want and desire to do, not just something your wife wants you to do. With that being said, western schools are very though to get into, if you are not an instate applicant and low GPA. If you truly feel like you need to live out west, move there first, and then see whether it's a place you see yourself and your wife living there for the next 4 years. Of course, the South also has some great medical schools... don't just rule out those, and try to apply broadly.

 

[Typical]

Hey there,

I need some advice. I have a dream, that my wife and I share. I want to be a missionary doctor. I am not the ideal student, (I have a lower GPA, and I'm graduating a little late) but its something we both want. She has been working and supporting us while I am going to school full time. I will be graduating from the U of Central Florida next summer with my Bachelors in Bio. We hate Florida. My wife was born here, and I've lived here since I was 10. We would really like to move out west. But, not being the ideal student what are my chances of getting into a western school? I know my chances are better for getting accepted in Florida, but it would make my wife miserable. She is supporting me, if I lose her, I'll never make it. I am afraid our dream will be lost to bitterness if we remain in Florida. What can I do? Is there any chance of being accepted out there if I'm not top-notch? Would it be better if, directly after graduating with my bachelors we moved out there while i am applying or waiting for responses to applications? Should we move, and establish residency out there then apply? I am at a loss, and very fustrated. Any advice?

Dave

going to med school to make your wife happy?! that's romantic!

I'd say just do yourself, poor patients and everybody else a big favor; stay home and make your wife happy - medicine is not a place for your romantic exploarations........

 

[Neuronix]

I don't understand all the flames in this thread. The op said his dream is to go to med school and his wife shares that dream. He said he wants to move out of Florida, mostly for his wife. I don't see anything wrong with that. Still, littlealex's post is pretty much spot on.

 

[Pekoe]

1. I have a dream, that my wife and I share. I want to be a missionary doctor.
2. I know my chances are better for getting accepted in Florida, but it would make my wife miserable.
3. I am afraid our dream will be lost to bitterness if we remain in Florida.

I am not being sarcastic here: have you prayed about this?

Being in the missionary field, you will get a hell of a lot worse than Florida. What will your wife do if you get sent to a place where there are no antibiotics and you have to barter for everything like it is in Russia? Toss a tantrum because your children's lives are in peril or she gets a case of parasites? Missionaries used to make coffins before they went out to the field, fill them with Bibles and supplies, anticipating that they'd never return to their homelands.

I do not like Florida-- there is a reason that http://www.fark.com/ has a tag for stupid things happening in Florida and a month long pass at Disney World wouldn't get me to ever go there. That being said-- I'd happily go there with it being as it is presently if I was given the option of taking my family to either there or a place in Africa where parasites were in the water and deathly outbreaks happened on a regular basis.

Does your wife with hold romance (sex) from you as punishment? Does she hold things over your head? She sounds manipulative. You really need to take a look at this. You never mentioned where you think that God wants you to be. What if you have a talent with kids and God wants you to be a biology teacher who shares your passion about medicine and you get ten kids who you inspire who wind up becoming doctors and solve certain types of cancer? What if your talents lie elsewhere? Does she dream of being a missionary doctor's wife or does she dream of being your wife no matter what you do? Sometimes we get wrapped up in what we want to be than in who we are meant to be.

Your note is all about your wife, your dream and how you might have a crack at a Florida school but then your wife won't like that. What are her priorities? Will you absolutely not be happy if you don't become a medical missionary? How well suited are you to the role? I'd like to be a trapeze artist but I have a fear of heights-- but the training I did while pursing that gave me amazing flexibility and I am a natural at yoga and dance and has stayed with me, even though I am almost 40, and hen I did it, my antics to try to overcome my fear got me cast toward clowning. Your training in biology while going for a medical goal may have prepared you for other things. Do you have a bent for politics? The possibilities are so endless, they boggle my mind!

G'luck with whatever you do, but give this some serious thought. Sometimes you get the spark in your heart because it inspires you to go in that direction, but it's not quite where you are meant to be. Remember that when God closes a door, He didn't want you outside in the first place!

Look all around at what is available to you and possibilities will open up.

 

[sailence]

If your a Christian like it sounds like why not leave it up to God to open the doors and allow him to lead you? Your wife must not really share the dream if she would leave you because you went to a med school in FL. You need to sit down and talk to her and pray about where God wants you. I hope everything works out for you but your wife needs to reconsider her priorities.

God bless you!

 

[ralf]

Hi. You seem confused. One minute you say you share a dream with your wife. The next minute you say she may dump you if you follow your mutual dream. That's the crack talking.
My sister was in a similar position. Wanting to be a med. missionary and all. She picked a general area that was close to where her hubby's family lived and applied to a broad spectrum of schools so he could get some support while he has done the yeoman's work of raising their child. If your wife loves you and is missionary material she will do her best to be happy wherever you end up. If her love truly is location based, you guys can move out west together and skip med school if you don't get in and she'll love you anyway.
Take heart. Pray about it. Pick ten schools, a couple in Fla. the rest wherever you want to go. If you don't get in anywhere, that's your sign. If you get in to a school out west, go there. If you only get in in Fla. then that's where you'll go.
I ended up in West Virginia. It's hilly. Green. The people are nice. I'd never been here before. It's ok. I tell my daughter who really really misses New Mexico; "This is what families do. They help each other follow their dreams. Someday, we'll help you follow your dreams." If it's meant to be, you'll go together. If your marriage is meant to be, she'll figure out some way to let you know she isn't going to dump you because you ended up in the wrong school. She may not be tickled pink, but no wife or husband is that happy about following their partner to Timbuktu. Spouses get through it because they love the person and because the person keeps loving them vs. ignoring them and hanging out boozing with the buds all the time.
You said you don't think you can make it without her. That's a bad reason for her to hang around. Of course you can make it with her or without her. You just want her there because you think it will be better, happier, more fun, closer to your dream. Tell her that.
Good luck.