I’ve undergone a quite significant personal transformation over the past year, from being tentatively interested in medicine to being fairly certain that I want to pursue it. Much of the impetus for that transformation came from all the various inspiring stories I’ve heard, both in person and in fora like this one. Almost all the doctors I’ve talked to have been encouraging, I love being in medical settings and feel excited every time I set foot in the hospital, and I know many of those who have posted here have overcome very mediocre backgrounds and gone on to be accepted into medical school.
Nevertheless, I do occasionally get discouraged. People talk about how difficult it is to get into med school–how the median GPA is 3.6, how all your competition has long records of intensive volunteering experience, how only 20% of those who apply are accepted, etc. It occurs to me that, despite these warnings, although I’ve heard many success stories, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a failure story. It may be that those who try to get into med school, fail, and move on, don’t stick around to post on message boards like these, but I would think that if failure stories exist I’d have heard some.
I admit, although I truly believe I can succeed in med school, residency, and medical practice and will enjoy it, I still sometimes worry about my ability to convince the medical establishment that those things are true. “What if,” I sometimes think in my worst moments, “I take all the pre-requisites and get a 4.0, do well on the MCAT, continue volunteering, maybe even get involved in some research… and I still, even after a second or third year of re-applying, can’t get into any med schools?”
Has anyone ever known a “non-trad” like us, who went back to school for the pre-reqs and did well, did well on the MCAT, and did all the other required things, yet was never able to get into any medical school and had to give up and go back to what they used to do, or find some other new career?
So far… no… I haven’t known any that have given up on their dream and decided to go back to their former lives.
I think one of the big things about being an oldpremed is that we know what we want… so we go after it… there have been several people that have maybe persued other avenues that weren’t their first choices… like maybe going out of the country(not bad choices, just not necessarily their first choices), but they did it…and they achieved their goals or area achieving their goals of becoming a physician…
so, I’d have to say no… I don’t know anybody who hasn’t been able to do it… it just depends on how badly you want it…
Andrea
That isn’t to say that some of the OPMers didn’t get in the first time. Some were waitlisted and re-applied the next year, some, like myself, chose an off-shore school. Still, giving up is probably the key phrase. Younger students also don’t make it the first time, but if you really want it, you keep trying.
Kathy
There’s always a way - the question is, is one willing to make the necessary changes to follow the path that way would require?
Case in point: I’m geographically limited in where I can go due to my personal situation. All the East & West coast med schools in the world could accept me, and it wouldn’t do me a bit of good. As much as I want to be a doctor, I simply can’t uproot and move there. Same thing goes for me with regards to offshore schools. If you don’t face such restrictons, your chances improve dramatically…
I agree with many of the others. I am just starting – only recently decided to quit my job to study for the MCATs for April. It took me years, 11, after getting my degree, BS Bio, to finally commit to pursuing entrance into med school. I had to ask myself the same question you are…I will encounter many setbacks that will threaten to challenge and weaken my committment. How will I handle them once I make my final decision to move forward?
I say this…Don’t worry too much…Don’t let fear (though useful at times) overwhelm and confuse you. Don’t say, “if I don’t” say “WHEN I DO!!” Once you are a Dr., you will be the one that finds the answers for a patient or knows whom to refer the person to…YOU WILL KNOW THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY AND THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD THE LUXURY OF A NEGATIVE THOUGHT. Keep the faith!!! Best wishes…(I don’t believe in luck…for luck is the precise point where preparation meets opportunity-and you create your own opportunities.)Find a way to make it happen… 
Hi there,
Yes, there have been a few OPMers who did not make it into medical school and kept their careers. They do not post or (I hope) they lurk and will come back and say hello from time to time because they are outstanding individuals who would have made great physicians.
Don’t think for a second that being non-traditional means a sure shot into medical school or that not getting into medical school is somehow makes one a “failure”. With the folks that I remember, this couldn’t have been further from the truth.
More people don’t make it in than do and some folks have gone to alternative careers (PA or NP). I have encountered many, many folks along the way who really wanted to become physicians but were not able to do medical school. Perhaps the fact that many of the folks who regularly post here do so to encourage folks to follow their dreams.
Yes, it can be done as a non-trad but it is by no means a certainty and the road ahead is lined with plenty of things that may be setbacks. It’s long term and it’s consistant performance and it’s not easy!
Natalie 
Nice follow up, Natalie, MD. I agree. Always need a plan B; plan C; and maybe plan D. Circumstances change…and maybe that’s where faith comes in…to deal with accepting that which is not in our control and still achieve our goal…knowledgable, capable health care provider…
respectfully to all…CD
thanks…I just learned a little more tonight on this site 
The following passage, from Pablo Casal’s autobiography, “Joys and Sorrows”, is one of my favorites. It haunts me. (The then 24-year old cellist had an accident, ending the tour and almost ending his career, while he climbed Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco): “I looked up and saw a boulder hurtling down the mountainsaide directly toward me. I jerked my head aside and was lucky not to be killed. As it was, the boulder hit and smashed my left hand - my fingering hand. My friends were aghast. But when I looked at my mangled bloody fingers, I had a strangely different reaction. My first thought was ‘Thank God, I’ll never have to play the cello again!’ No doubt, a psychoanalyst would give some profound explanation. But the fact is that dedication to one’s art does involve a sort of enslavement, and then too, of course, I have always felt such dreadful anxiety before performances.”
Quote:
The following passage, from Pablo Casal’s autobiography, “Joys and Sorrows”, is one of my favorites. It haunts me. (The then 24-year old cellist had an accident, ending the tour and almost ending his career, while he climbed Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco): “I looked up and saw a boulder hurtling down the mountainsaide directly toward me. I jerked my head aside and was lucky not to be killed. As it was, the boulder hit and smashed my left hand - my fingering hand. My friends were aghast. But when I looked at my mangled bloody fingers, I had a strangely different reaction. My first thought was ‘Thank God, I’ll never have to play the cello again!’ No doubt, a psychoanalyst would give some profound explanation. But the fact is that dedication to one’s art does involve a sort of enslavement, and then too, of course, I have always felt such dreadful anxiety before performances.”
Thank you for this post, it reverbs through my soul
C-3P: Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!
Han Solo: Never tell me the odds!
From Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
This is a question I ask myself frequently, sometimes 10, 20, or 30 times a day. The odds are well against me, even more so than most with the amounts of grade “baggage” I carry around. It is a very Sisyphean task as I successfully roll one course or grade or pre-req requirement boulder up the hill, another looms in its place and it seems to rollover me on its way to bottom where I must start on yet next hurdle. Never ending just as the Greek God punished Sisyphus to an eternity of shouldering this burden. Perhaps these pre-reqs and MCATs are a way for the Adcoms to start eliminating pre-meds early
Yet, this common interpretation is the opposite message that Greek Mythology had intended. Sisyphus was burdened with this task, yet he never suffered. If this is what he had to do to reach his goal, he happily rolled it up each and every time. He never cursed or complained even knowing that after every long struggle up the hill, there would be another and another and another. This attitude infuriated the Greek Gods that he was not suffering. Sisyphus never knew when this might possibly end. Perhaps he simply believes so much in himself that this would be over one day. Perhaps he simply did not want stay at the bottom of the hill, feel suffering, and regret that he could not complete his never-ending task.
I also do not want to stay at the bottom of the hill living in regret and what could have been for the rest of my life. I will try, despite the odds, the work, the age, the MCATs, the previous failures that may have occurred. I want to look forward to hard days of never ending work. Of insurance, of paperwork, and pagers going off at all hours. Of helping a child who is ill or an elderly, man whom just wants comfort. And I will see similar patients day after day.
Three factors keep me going mostly going on this path.
First, the pre-reqs at a local state and MCAT prep cost relatively little money as compared to the cost of medical school. The time it costs is also relatively little compared to the time I will be in medical school and residency. There should be a willingness to invest now compared to the great investment (and possible rewards) in the future.
Second, at the very worst, if I try and fail getting in, I can simply go back to career and employment field that I had before. I will be no worse off then before, other than the little time and money mentioned above. There is little or no cost in this area so would I not try?
Third and lastly, no matter how slim the chances to be accepted are, they are much better odds than not trying at all. If I never apply, I will absolutely never be a doctor. However, if I try, if I do the best that I can in pre-reqs, MCATs, and the rest, I might, I just might get a slot in a class of 2010.
Already this journey has had the great reward of being involved in OPM Simply meeting people, interacting with those of similar passion, getting support, and helping others in their quest, has been worthwhile. I am sure, no matter whats happens, If I never make it into medical school, I will remain a member OPM.
Well said, Rich. It would’ve been stunningly disappointing had I gone through all the pre-med stuff and not achieved my goal… but I would also have learned a lot of interesting stuff, I would’ve gained a great deal of confidence in my ability to do things OTHER than the career I’d been in previously, and I would have perhaps been able to better sort out what I wanted from life besides a career in medicine. Maybe this is pie in the sky, too, since I DID make it, but I believe that the journey, the process, was at least as important as achieving the goal.
You have said a mouthful here, brother.
Mary
I am almost half-way through with my pre-med requisites and over the past year and a half I have had a lot of co-workers ask me what if I do not make it into medical school or as a doctor? The first time I was asked this, my response was “If someone who could forsee the future told me that I would get into medical school and during my third year of medical school get struck by lightning and killed, I would still try to get into medical school anyway.” For me, the journey I have taken over the past year and a half --having gone from a period of huge stagnancy in my life – to consciously pursuing something I have a passion for, learning new things, and meeting so many interesting people – I know now that I will be able to look back and appreciate the road I have taken regardless of the outcome. Whether you realize it or not, simply embarking on the journey towards medical school will change your life and the way you look at things regardless of whether or not you eventually get into medical school. Enjoy the process, work hard, and positive things will occur.
Red_Kermit
This is a wonderful thread–very poignant. I am facing this myself, as days go by without a call to interview. However, I don’t think I will ever go back to my previous career (software project management).
I will apply next year if needed–redo the damned MCAT, and look offshore, perhaps.
However, if I don’t get in, I’d like to think that I could use it as a transformation: I’m not going back, and I don’t know what else I would do. The whole world is open.
I have heard it said that folks who don’t get into med school should get as far away from medicine as possible, so as not to lead miserable almost-got-there lives. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet.
Barb
I’m with some of the others who have posted already. If I don’t make it all the way into medicine (whether by my own choice or not) then I’ll keep all the wonderful knowledge I have gained and the friends I have made along the way and be a better person for it.
I find it interesting how some friends and family are quick to assume that failure is likely. They seem very eager to support me toward something more “sensible” such as a quick degree in biological science followed by a job in bioinformatics or some similar logical outgrowth of my computer career, or else a 16-month nursing program or some such. These are nice things but they’re someone else’s ambitions, not my own.
I am finding that it takes a tremendous amount of strength and determination to stay the course when surrounded by naysayers. It’s a new experience for me; I’ve never had people do this to me before. I guess it’s all part of the “test”, like trying to master molecular orbitals and kinematics in two dimensions and the structure of mitochondria all in one week. Then there’s working at the hospital as a volunteer, bottom rung skillwise, being gently scolded by nurses and politely ignored by physicians, feeling like a teenager at his first job.
What was that again about adversity and character? 
Cheers,
Like others who posted here, I find this a wonderful thread, and Rich!!! I loved your post, especially the Star Wars quote. If I had listened to people around me, I would never have been where I am now. I’d probably still be at Taco Bell slinging tacos. As it is, I can still sling a mean taco but will do it as a med student!! 
Will I be tired? Heck yeah! Do I have baggage? Ohh boy, some major baggage with old grades, being an offshore med student, etc, but it has been a heck of a ride. I have seen some of the coolest things, met great people, and lived a dream. Actually making it and working as a doc is the dessert after a fantastic meal!! (Since I LOVE food, that’s a good analogy for me!)
Kathy