Full-time working (first time) mom

Hello! I don’t even know where to begin. I know that this forum is the place to be for the “unique” applicant, but on the risk of sounding arrogant, I find myself in an even more unique situation. I feel lost and feel like I’ve aimlessly wandered and am now reaching out for some guidance.

I studied Economics in undergrad and in my senior year, I felt the desire to pursue medicine. Right after college, I started a post-bacc program but was forced to finance this on my own. This led me to juggling a full-time job while taking two classes/semester and studying for the MCATs. I’ve tried and have failed to achieve a desirable score, THREE TIMES! This was nearly 3-4 years ago. I’m now in my early 30’s, married to a stud of a husband, a first-time mom to a beautiful 11 month old boy, and enjoying my role as an investment data analyst in a reputable firm. We also just bought a house, and other than a mortgage, we are free of any other debt. There is so much to celebrate and be thankful for, which I am. However, I have literal, recurring dreams at night of either a). passing the MCATs, b). being a medical student or being accepted to a medical school, or c). a physician at a hospital doing rounds. My desire to pursue medicine is still so strong and I can’t shake the feeling. The cherry on top of all of this: I was recently diagnosed with ADHD. This diagnosis, to me, was a breath of fresh air. It was more palpable in my role as an analyst because I couldn’t complete a single reading and it was affecting my job/work. I never knew that I suffered from it because it isn’t “a thing” in my culture. I was always told I either lacked self-control or discipline. In retrospect, I was convinced that medicine was not my passion because I simply could not get over the hurtle of the MCATs. I beat myself up and thought, “If this is really what I wanted, I would work harder and stay focused.” It would take days to finish one chapter of the MCATs and I never was able to finish the content before the exams. I chalked it up to my laziness. I did decently in undergrad but I initially enrolled into Psychology my freshman year, got a 2.6 GPA because I couldn’t keep up with the volume of reading, and switched to Econ. I did well in my post-bacc but I was only taking 1 or 2 classes over 4 months. So, I never knew. I never knew that it wasn’t ME; it was ADHD. With the recent diagnosis came a peace of mind. But with that peace of mind came overwhelming thoughts of trying again.
So…
What do I do now? I took a few post-bacc courses at a 4-year accredited university, but was also forced to take a few classes at a community college due to finances. I reserved the more difficult courses for the university (e.g. orgo). Overall GPA is a 3.2 at a top 30 undergrad university, a 3.7 science GPA in post-bacc. I graduated in 2010 so some non-science pre-req courses could be outdated (e.g. calc, english).
Thanks for sticking with me through the post! Would also love to hear some inputs from working moms who changed careers!

Hey here! I’m not a working mom (anymore), but I am a mom of three with ADHD who decided to go back to school :slight_smile: I just want to encourage you to stick with it if this is really what you want and if you have the appropriate family support (that part is huge! I couldn’t do this without my husband and mother-in-law willing to care for the kids and help manage the home). Finding out that I had ADHD was also a huge relief for me and changed how I saw myself and my potential. After getting medicine, learning coping strategies, and adjusting my study habits, I was able to drastically increase my grades between undergrad 1 (2004) and the second bachelor’s. I say go for it, but also be realistic about what you have time to do. Maybe start by doing some practice MCAT tests to see how you performance has changed and go from there?

You might like the book Your Life Can Be Better. It’s by a psychiatrist with ADHD and has non-medication coping strategies, which are helpful when medicine stops working or you can’t take it (pregnancy, side effects, etc).

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