- Joined
- Feb 14, 2019
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 1
I felt this question was so long it deserved it's own post because it's quite lengthy, but here goes.
I'm new to the community here and still learning my way around but I think this is the appropriate place to post my long-winded story, and subsequently to ask you all my honest chances. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a doctor; I have a passion for helping people. I knew at age 12 when I visited China with my grandparents in a super poor region when we visited the adoption center to adopt my younger brother.
Here's the bulk of it summed up: I had no idea what I was doing at University and had a horribly rough start. I was scared of the sciences and I was just an overall immature 18 year old kid who cared more about "the university life" than my academics. My biggest fear was to obtain a chemistry or biology (hard science) degree and not be able to make it into Med school, and I would have wasted 4 years doing pre med reqs for nothing (employment). I chickened out and didn't believe in myself. I fell into a super deep depression. It deeply affected my grades. The depression hit me from my younger sister getting Hodgkin's Lymphoma cancer, my grandpa who raised me dying, my step sister was murdered, and my dog died. All within 10 months. I couldn't make this up if I tried. None of these are excuses, just attributors to my depression I fell into. Needless to say, halfway through school credit wise, I decided to transfer having knocked out all my basic electives with a 2.1 GPA feeling pretty defeated.
I transferred into another University where I was accepted into the business school, and finished out the rest of my undergrad averaging a 3.1 GPA post-transfer and earned a bachelor of science in Accounting with a cumulative GPA of 2.71. This way I knew my college wouldn't be a waste and I had a back up career where I could sit for the CPA exam and have a decent middle class life style. I grew up in poverty and never wanted to experience it again in adulthood or my children if I were to ever have any. The good news is, my science GPA is basically a clean slate because I didn't take any of the 4 required pre-reqs (chem, bio, physic, org chem)..
My plan was to take a post baccalaureate over 2 years (bio and chem the first year, physics and org chem the 2nd). Believe me when I say my undergrad GPA is not reflective of who I am, nor my intelligence. I was salutatorian in HS and accepted into a good university pre transfer. I just was unmotivated, clinically depressed, immature, and just had no general direction. Once my grandpa passed, I had no real "adult figures" to seek guidance from. Both my parents were killed by a drunk driver when I was 2, so I don't really have any memory with them, and my grandpa was the last remaining figure who raised me. My confidence of becoming a doctor waned and I essentially gave up on my life long goal and played it safe with the accounting degree.
Given that I am able to ace my pre reqs, and do well on the MCAT from essentially studying the sciences for 2 years, do I have a reasonably shot at getting accepted to at least 1 of the 9 Podiatric Medical schools? Thanks everyone for reading the long winded post, but this place is full of great information and people. It's all or nothing at this point. I don't want to waste the time, money, and effort of studying these subjects for 2 years to ultimately have too low of a cumulative GPA to begin with. I'm on medicine that keeps the depression away and I have felt great the past year. I am 26 now and have learned immensely from my past struggles. I'm set on becoming a Podiatrist because I absolutely love working with ankles and feet. I love the ability to perform surgery. It's been my life goal but I want to remain honest with myself and expectations. Thanks again everyone. All replies are greatly appreciated!
I'm new to the community here and still learning my way around but I think this is the appropriate place to post my long-winded story, and subsequently to ask you all my honest chances. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a doctor; I have a passion for helping people. I knew at age 12 when I visited China with my grandparents in a super poor region when we visited the adoption center to adopt my younger brother.
Here's the bulk of it summed up: I had no idea what I was doing at University and had a horribly rough start. I was scared of the sciences and I was just an overall immature 18 year old kid who cared more about "the university life" than my academics. My biggest fear was to obtain a chemistry or biology (hard science) degree and not be able to make it into Med school, and I would have wasted 4 years doing pre med reqs for nothing (employment). I chickened out and didn't believe in myself. I fell into a super deep depression. It deeply affected my grades. The depression hit me from my younger sister getting Hodgkin's Lymphoma cancer, my grandpa who raised me dying, my step sister was murdered, and my dog died. All within 10 months. I couldn't make this up if I tried. None of these are excuses, just attributors to my depression I fell into. Needless to say, halfway through school credit wise, I decided to transfer having knocked out all my basic electives with a 2.1 GPA feeling pretty defeated.
I transferred into another University where I was accepted into the business school, and finished out the rest of my undergrad averaging a 3.1 GPA post-transfer and earned a bachelor of science in Accounting with a cumulative GPA of 2.71. This way I knew my college wouldn't be a waste and I had a back up career where I could sit for the CPA exam and have a decent middle class life style. I grew up in poverty and never wanted to experience it again in adulthood or my children if I were to ever have any. The good news is, my science GPA is basically a clean slate because I didn't take any of the 4 required pre-reqs (chem, bio, physic, org chem)..
My plan was to take a post baccalaureate over 2 years (bio and chem the first year, physics and org chem the 2nd). Believe me when I say my undergrad GPA is not reflective of who I am, nor my intelligence. I was salutatorian in HS and accepted into a good university pre transfer. I just was unmotivated, clinically depressed, immature, and just had no general direction. Once my grandpa passed, I had no real "adult figures" to seek guidance from. Both my parents were killed by a drunk driver when I was 2, so I don't really have any memory with them, and my grandpa was the last remaining figure who raised me. My confidence of becoming a doctor waned and I essentially gave up on my life long goal and played it safe with the accounting degree.
Given that I am able to ace my pre reqs, and do well on the MCAT from essentially studying the sciences for 2 years, do I have a reasonably shot at getting accepted to at least 1 of the 9 Podiatric Medical schools? Thanks everyone for reading the long winded post, but this place is full of great information and people. It's all or nothing at this point. I don't want to waste the time, money, and effort of studying these subjects for 2 years to ultimately have too low of a cumulative GPA to begin with. I'm on medicine that keeps the depression away and I have felt great the past year. I am 26 now and have learned immensely from my past struggles. I'm set on becoming a Podiatrist because I absolutely love working with ankles and feet. I love the ability to perform surgery. It's been my life goal but I want to remain honest with myself and expectations. Thanks again everyone. All replies are greatly appreciated!