2/25/07 Age = 37.5
I’ve been telling my friends and Liz’s family about my decision to do my premedical work and go for admission to med school. I’ve been accepted to the UC Berkeley Extension post-bac program. I just barely made it because of my grades from my UC undergrad Physics program. I am scared to death and constantly worried that I won’t make it. My UC science grades were not great (2.7 avg) but keep in mind that I was taking upper division Physics classes and trying to raise my son who was 5-7 years old at the time and much more of a handful than other children.
When I tell people about my plans to tackle this their reactions range from casual interest to horrified gasps. Most have been supportive but some really become incredulous.
1/14/08 Age = 38.5
I just received my grades from the Biology A lab and lecture, both A’s. I didn’t study as much as I should have but more than I ever did for other classes while in my Bachelor’s degree. I’m still having some doubts about this. This is mostly due to my desire to reduce my workload and increase my free time. This could be construed as ‘lazy’ but I think it is a common desire among all animals; the lion would rather sit in the sun all day than chase its food or defend its territory. However, I am able to imagine what it would be like to not pursue this dream to have an advanced degree. I could go after a PhD or even ‘settle’ for a Master’s degree. But will either of these satisfy me in the long run? I think they would if I were to first prove to myself that I gave it my best shot to become an MD.
10/18/09 Age = 40
It’s been a while since I opened this file and entered some thoughts. I’ve completed my prereqs and the MCAT. Now I’m going through the application process. I only applied to the California schools; UCLA, UCSF, Irvine, UCSD, Stanford and UC Davis. I submitted my AMCAS on Aug 1st got a secondary from UC Davis immediately and was rejected by Irvine at the beginning of October. Today I got the rejection from UCSF. That one hurt because I wanted to go there most of all. But, I’m sure it’s my grades that are pushing me into the reject pile at these premier institutions. I wrote a letter to the chair of the admissions committee requesting a review of the decision but I’ve already marked UCSF in my list as ‘rejected’. I’ve decided to submit an application to some DO schools, focusing on Tuoro-CA in Vallejo because it is only 30 min from my house. I appreciate the DO mission and philosophy but I can’t help but feel that I’m settling. While my grades match DO school averages, my MCAT score is much higher. I’ve always felt that having to work to put myself through school should account for getting B’s instead of A’s. Yet, I don’t think that the top schools really give a crap about that because they have their pick of the pool of applicants and thus don’t have to make any concessions. I do think they are missing some very good candidates because of this bias – life experience can’t be taught in college and the kids that get into medical school will have to learn about life while practicing medicine.
