Finally get to throw my story in here! It's been a long time coming.



1. Your age and GPA and MCAT if you have it.



26

Undergrad GPA 2.997 - degree in chemistry

Post-Bac GPA 3.71 (all science courses)

I think my cum is around 3.1 or 3.2

MCAT 2005 - 17N, 2007 - 18M, 2010 - 29Q



2. Your financial and work situation.



Currently working for an engineering company as a chemist.



3. Your family and significant other situation.



Married and we have a dog. My wife is preparing to take the bar in February.



4. Your plan or your path to success.



I went to undergrad with the intent on graduating as an engineer. After my first year I switched to chemistry because I did not like engineering at all and decided to pursue medicine. Unfortunately, some bad grades (C's in my core pre-med classes), a terrible MCAT score, and bad advising led me to give it up and pursue a career with my chemistry degree. I still had the desire to be a doctor and took the MCAT again in 2007 receiving another terrible score. In 2008, I shadowed a family medicine doctor while trying to decide if I should give up my dream and realized that being a doctor was something I truly wanted. I contacted a family friend at a medical school who was also an academic dean and reviewed applications for incoming students about what I needed to do to gain acceptance somewhere. They told me I needed to do 3 things: retake all the required classes for medical school admission, score high on the MCAT, and write a great personal statement. In September of 2008, I started off with the first gen chem while working full-time and got a B+ which made me want to quit and just give it all up.



I know what you're thinking, a guy with a degree in chemistry got a B+ in a chem class (well that's atleast how I felt). Thankfully, I met some other non-trad students with the same goal (one is actually applying to vet schools) and we formed a study group where we would meet up every weekend to study since we were taking the same classes. After that initial setback in my first chem class, I decided to take the next chem course and ended up with an A. From there I began taking two courses a quarter because my goal was to apply in August of 2010. I ended up with a couple of B's along the way but kept pushing along.



In June of 2010, I took a Princeton Review course and set my MCAT date for August 19th. I wish I hadn't done this because taking a review course while working full-time was just extreme. I think if I had given myself about 4 months to study instead of 2.5 I would've scored much higher. Although I'm glad I took the course because it forced me to go to a class and be disciplined, I found I really didn't need the classes. Well maybe bio and verbal but other than that I was fine. All of the practice material was great help though.



Although my original goal was to submit my app in late August, I decided against it because I wanted to get some health related research along with some other EC's under my belt but a manager at my job told me I should just go for it instead of waiting another. Well I submitted my app to two schools just in case my MCAT score was terrible but if it wasn't at least I would be verified by the time I did get my score. When I realized I might have a shot with a 29 I decided to apply very broadly to both MD and DO schools and got my app out by mid September. I'm fortunate enough to live in a state where there are a lot of medical schools because I ended up with 8 interviews total (declined 1) and so far have been accepted to 4 schools, waitlisted at 1, waiting to hear back from another, and still have one interview left. One of my acceptances is to my dream school which based on my stats was a far reach in my opinion. Luckily, they take everything about you into consideration and not just the numbers.



Basically, what I'm trying to get at is that if you want it you can certainly get it. It just takes a lot of sacrifice (on both you and your significant other if you have one and also family and friends) as well as perseverance, time, and money. I'm glad I went after it and I can't wait to start class in July!