Hi,
Thanks so much for providing this service.
Some background on me: I’m almost 30 and seriously thinking of applying to medical school within the next couple of years. I have an undergraduate and master's degree in public health and have had a successful career in the field, working as an epidemiologist for state government, as a research assistant for bench and clinical science, and now as the director of an educational institute. I have one published research paper where I'm the primary author and 2 others where I'm further down the list. I have presented at conferences and worked closely with nurses and doctors, including CDC personnel during outbreak situations. All this made me love medicine even more and want to be on the front lines as a doctor. Recently I began shadowing a former colleague who is a physician to get more of a sense of what the daily life of a doctor really is and I loved it.
My concerns are my science grades. I took some science classes in high school at college level (not AP, actual college classes, my high school was strange) and did not do well because I was having a hard time with some mental health issues. This again happened in college when I took organic chemistry and got a C+. Socially and academically, I didn't find my college a great fit for me and struggled a lot with feeling out of place while also going through some heavy personal stuff. I really blossomed in graduate school where I took on leadership roles and graduated at the top of my class. During grad school I conducted research in a developing country on TB and received several awards.
Since finishing grad school, I have taken several courses over the years at various schools when I've had the time and money while working full time. 2 of those classes (Bio 1 and 2) were taken at community colleges due to my work schedule and cost issues, the others (Chem 1 & 2 and Physics 1) were taken at 4-year colleges. I did well in all of these classes post-college, earning A- as my lowest grade.
Right now, my plan is to take Physics 2, Orgo 1+2, and Biochemistry at a local 4-year college, taking one class per semester while I continue to work full time and then taking an MCAT prep class since I am not a great test taker. I have $60k+ in loans from undergrad and grad (financially disadvantaged family, took loans out on my own), so I can't afford to quit my job and take classes full time.
My overall GPA (not including grad school, because it was done in the UK and I can't figure out conversions) is 3.6. My science GPA is 3.33. I plan on continuing to shadow and am looking for volunteer opportunities in my community with lower-income children, children of incarcerated parents, homeless, or something similar. I also have a trained therapy dog to visit patients at hospitals.
Personally, I have a lot of experience through close family and friends with health issues, often being the advocate for my parents in health situations from a very young age, having to figure out how to navigate the health system, read lab results, follow-up on appointments for them, etc. I also have personal interactions with those who have experienced addiction and seen firsthand how that affects their health and lives. Through my work, I feel I have been exposed to a wide variety of people of different backgrounds and my goal is to work internationally or with underserved communities.
Just wondering: do I even have a shot? Assuming I kill it on the MCAT, is that enough to compensate for my past low grades? What is actually needed for volunteer/clinical experience and is my plan enough? Working full time, taking a class, and volunteering a couple hours a week I think is all I can handle. Also my chem classes are probably 10 years old. I'm doing a refresh on Khan Academy and feel confident with the material, but wonder if those will be considered too old for many schools. If it rules out some schools that's fine, but just don't want it to rule out a bunch.
Thanks for your help.
