Some background: I started undergrad (fall 2011) as a music major and underwent a vertical sleeve gastrectomy that year I dropped 200lbs. This event shifted my interests into nutrition & fitness and lead me to change majors (and schools twice) to Nutrition. Fast forward to Fall 2013 where I start my journey at Rutgers. I knew I liked an active lifestyle but wasn’t sure what I could do with it. This lead to 4 semesters of stagnant drive (and very mediocre grades) until my grandma was diagnosed with Stage IIIb NSC lung cancer. This family event, in conjunction with a growing interest in science, lead me to pursue the pre-med track for my degree. But because of my poor grades the first 2 years, a sharp upward trend at the start of junior year only left me with a 3.1 cumulative GPA at graduation. I still havn’t taken the MCAT and was planning to but now entering this job I’m holding off since the score expires in 3 years. I have all of my extracurriculars in place (research, shadowing, volunteering, TAing, etc) but I’d realistically need a masters to get my GPA in line, which to me is more betting with time and money.
I’m very happy about landing this job right out of school. It is with Stryker and I have a love of orthopedics. I’ll still be immersed in healthcare and it will be a good test of if I’m still eager to be the surgeon or if I’m perfectly happy as the sales rep, all while paying down some debts.
My finances: In short, my family lived a very middle class life. While they gave me a great upbringing, they tended to live close to their means and this hurt them in 2008 when my dad was laid off and didn’t get back into his field until 2011 (at a lower salary than he had). 6 years of undergrad combined with no money saved for my college career lead to this number for undergrad (and thats just the amount in my name). This background, combined with my credentials being out of line has lead me to pursue a career-path job rather than continuing on with school. Throughout the interview process, many of the reps I met talked about the salary figures in this field and it seems like a successful rep can make just as much as an attending.
If I went back it would be to pursue a surgical specialty. I feel I have a fantastic opportunity ahead of me and having a successful sales career would definitely make it very difficult to leave for another 5 years of school (masters+MD), 5 years of residency and 1 year of fellowship (assuming I went with ortho). the 6 year number is arbitrary but to me it represents a time frame to pay off undergrad, save up for medical school, evaluate where my life is at that time (marital status, kids, mortgage, etc), and decide if a career as a physician is still for me.
Thanks for the feedback!
So you're throwing a master's in there, too? I think the most difficult thing here (and p much for life in general) is figuring out what exactly it is that you want. Unless you're counting that master's as a 1-year post-baccalaureate program which a lot of med schools have as a "bridge" course, taking folks who didn't or wouldn't get into med school on the first try and basically doing the first year of medical school and taking the MCAT to try to get in. Many programs have an automatic admission if you can get a certain GPA. My school had the post-bacs do lectures and anatomy labs directly side-by-side with us. Several of my friends have gone through these programs to good effect, and several of the top 10 in my med school class went through one.
Your 3.1 undergraduate GPA is going to be problematic. However, it doesn't rule you out. I got into med school with a 2.94 GPA and my brother in law got in with slightly less than that. You're going to be asked to explain your shortcomings on your personal statements and in any interviews you get, because prospective med schools have to evaluate your liabilities as a potential student there. If they think it's not something that would be repeated - and your story indicates that it wouldn't - then they might look past it *if* your work experience, MCAT, and other activities are particularly strong.
Also consider DO schools as their application review tends to be a bit more "holistic" in that they seem not to weight solid metrics (GPA, MCAT) as much.
The world is yours...
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