I guess this is the place to introduce myself to the crowd and say hello. I’m Mike and I have also travelled the long road to medical school. It’s interesting to read everyone’s intros and see how much variety there is.
I started off writing and found it hard to stop so I’ve included a brief synopsis first and then my detailed story second for those of you who are interested.
I’m married to a genetic counselor and we have a 13 month old daughter.
- received my BA in Animal Physiology in 1989 from UC San Diego.
- received my Ph.D. in Physiology & Pharmacology from OHSU in 1996.
- did a post-doctoral fellowship at UCSF from 1996-98
- Aersopace Physiologist (Captain) in USAF 1998-2001
- Entered medical school Fall 2001, University of Nebraska MC
Like many of you I started off undergrad with the intent of continuing on to Med school. I did the typical pre-med schedule and even took the MCAT prep course offered by my university. However, having gone to school (UCSD) in San Diego it was easy to be distracted and that is where my career plans became diverted. The beach was my favorite classroom. So you might imagine that my GPA wasn’t up to par. Nonetheless I continued my pursuit and took a year off to do research before applying. While doing research at the school of medicine I realized that I enjoyed the flexibility of research so chose to go to graduate school instead. I attended OHSU in Portland Or and studyied Physiology. What a great place!! I managed to earn my doctorate after 6 years. However, after about 3 yrs I realized that I was missing out on something. I didn’t enjoy being isolated from people in the lab. But I continued on since I did enjoy the science and planned to teach later anyway.
After graduation I went to UC San Francisco for my Post-doctoral fellowship. Another great place to train. I worked at the main campus for a year and then the SF VA hospital for a second year. My lab looked out over the golden gate. I really couldn’t complain about that. However, I could complain about being stuck in the lab. I still missed the human interaction. I soon realized that teaching positions were very limited so I would be required to continue doing research to earn a living. I taught nutrition at City College SF for a while before realizing that I had to make a move out of research and try to find my true calling.
I think I went through a “pre-midlife” crisis at this point because I just had to get away-- at any cost. So I joined the USAF as an Aerospace Physiologist. Wow! My family thought I was nuts. Here I was a Ph.D. level physiologist taking on a job that required a BS. Perhaps I was. But I signed on the line and went off to Officer training as well as training in Aerospace Physiology.
I think the hardest part of this transition was moving from the west coast to Omaha, Ne. Most people say that it can’t be done. Well we managed and obviously have committed ourselves to staying for 3 more years. We decided to stay because my wife loved her job and we had a nice home and it’s very comfortable here. Besides with 2 medical school in town I was sure to get accepted to one. So I took a prep course for the MCAT and started the process. I managed to do fine on the exam and applied to UNMC first via the EAD program. I went this route because UNMC is 1/2 the price of Creighton so if I got in there I wouldn’t bother with the second application. Fortunately it turned out for the best and here I am. I’m a 34 y/o M-1 who’s have a blast in school.
Thanks for reading. It’s nice to be here!