Hi all. Name’s Pete. I don’t post much these days, but I’ve been around OPM for a looooooong time…for example, back when OPM was an email listserv. 
Anyhow, I’ve been working on getting into med school for a very long time, and I just wanted to mention that I have received two interview invites:
UT San Antonio (Nov 10th <-- Marine Corps Bday!)
UT Houston MD, PhD program (December)
Hopefully there’ll be more to come, but I wanted to share my good news.
By the way, is there an OPM progress thread that I’ve missed somehow??
Pete in Texas
Well I’ll be damned if it ain’t ole Pistol Pete from Tejas! Thought you had dropped off of the OPM planet years ago. Very glad to see you’ve at least been a lurkin…even more proud that you’ve gotten interview invitations. If you can find the time, how 'bout updating some of us oldtimers about how life’s been treating you?
Glad you’re back Pete. We need more Texans around here. Maybe we can convince them to have a convention in Houston someday…
Good luck with interviews! Congrats on getting them!
Thanks everyone!
Hi Dave! I do apologize for not participating more, but the reason why is long, complicated, etc. If no one minds, then I’ll tell ya’ll what I’ve been up to for the past XXX years. Hooo-kay. Here goes…
So it all started (as all good stories must) on a dark and stormy night many, many moons ago - 1996. I was a freshman in college following a five-year stint in the Marines. I knew that I wanted to be a physician, and in typical gung-ho Marine style I had jumped feet first into pre-med coursework. I did okay my first semester, getting four A’s and a B. But there were two big problems: the school’s pre-med office and the feeling that I was older, out of step with the young gunners straight out of high school.
My pre-med advisory office told me that medical schools wouldn’t take someone with a B on their record. That they didn’t like older, non-traditional applicants (), and that I might as well just forget about it. I’m serious! They said this! It felt like running into a brick wall…and as for feeling out of place, well, I had a difficult time relating to kids barely old enough to vote.
Soooo, that dark and stormy night as I sat in the library, I did an internet search on non-traditional med students…which led me to oldpremeds! I felt like I had found a home! 
That’s where I first met Dave, Mary, Mike Haas, Jeff Jarvis, etc…and it was wonderful to read about everyone’s successes and sometimes failures, because I felt as if I was not alone.
Anyway, long story short: the next three semesters were relatively bad for various reasons, but I managed to drastically improve by graduation. However, despite this, my applications to various programs produced nothing. Not even interviews. Very depressing. Who likes to fail?
After talking with several Deans of Admission I determined that I’d need to do a lot of postbacc work to get myself into medical school. It was a difficult time, because I really doubted whether I’d ever be able to acheive my dreams. I’d never failed before and this was hard to take.
And to be honest, it was really difficult to participate on OPM because I felt that I might never have that. 
In any event, I did very well in a post-bacc year. I then decided to face reality: if I never made it into med school, what would I do with myself? I didn’t figure that I could just do endless postbacc coursework, and besides: I had taken sooo many undergrad science courses that there just wasn’t much left. Which lead to my enrollemnt in a MS program in genetics.
Which has turned out wonderfully. I have really come to love doing research, and more importantly I have learned how to read/absorb/excel with really difficult material. I have learned how to effectively learn large volumes of new, often difficult material. Most of all, though, the experience has given me the confidence that although difficult, medical school is possible.
And now I have two interviews out of seven schools applied to, and I have an inkling that at least one more is one the way (crossing the fingers!). And I can say that I am here today because of Dave and Mary Renard, Jeff and Mike, Mary Bois Byrne, and even Natalie. Everyone’s stories have acted as beacons in the dark night, and for that I am truly, deeply grateful.
Pete
Howdy Pete!
Sounds like you deserve a big WHOOP!!! Congratulations on your interviews. It sure feels great, doesn’t it?
You should feel free to send a copy of your invites (and the inevitable acceptance letter) to those sorry-assed, oxygen-theivin’, blood-suckin’, brain-missin’ pre-med advisors that told you you’d never make it. Morons. Way to keep the faith and believe in yourself.
If you make it down this way, drop me an email and I’ll show you around campus.
Take care and good luck!
Jeff Jarvis
MS-III, UTMB
Galveston, TX
Pete, you ROCK. What a great story. I can’t wait to hear the inevitable “happy ending” following interviews. The schools who don’t jump to accept you would be missing out on a great thing. Thanks for telling the story!
Jeff: Thanks, man. That’s the most heart-warming “Whoop” that this Tea Sip’s ever heard. If I should get in, believe me: my acceptance letter will be hand-delivered to those morons.
Mary: Thank you, too! It’s wonderful to hear the support! 
I’ve always loved your quote from GalaxyQuest: "Never give up! Never surrender!"
Anyone have any suggestions on how to properly prep for interviews? How to get really, really ready? Is there a thread on that somewhere???
Pete
"Anyone have any suggestions on how to properly prep for interviews? How to get really, really ready? Is there a thread on that somewhere???"
I’m not sure if the site is still up and running or not, but I used interviewfeedback.com extensively. I know SDN was working on setting similar.
I read many of the editorialsin JAMA and NEJM (at least the ones that interested me) to keep up with the latest issues facing the profession. Most of those are free on their website. I also tried to follow these issues in the major papers (thank God for the internet!). It helped in a couple of interviews to have taken the time to think about things and come up with my own thoughts on them.
Good luck!
Take care,
Jeff
Wow, that’s awesome, you must be on cloud nine! And to think that you now have a year to do… whatever! Don’t have to worry about apps, interviews, etc. That sounds great to me. Congratulations!
Congrats! I am orginally from Grinnell, Iowa. While I do not know much about the program in Des Moines, I do know DO grads from there here at Mayo (or previously here at Mayo)who are excellent physicians.
Celebrate! 
COngrats Pete!!!
Kathy
Congrats for another OPM’er yaaayyyy!
Hey Pete,
Good to hear from you and congratulations on the interviews. Keep us updated on your happenings and don’t stay away so long. 
Again, Congratulations!!
Natalie
Stranger things have happened. At least you didn’t get a phone call accepting you, then wait for the letter than never came because they miscalculated the amount of students who were going to accept (most did) and they just decided to not send out the 20 or so letters they were supposed to. It is a strange process. So now you have a year to plan to go to medical school. Take some additional classes in Molecular Biology and Genetics and stuff and you will be set and ready to go. (If you haven’t already)
Pete I am delighted for you! Congratulations and do savor and enjoy this ramp-up year.
Mary
Quote:This happened???
Stranger things have happened. At least you didn’t get a phone call accepting you, then wait for the letter than never came because they miscalculated the amount of students who were going to accept (most did) and they just decided to not send out the 20 or so letters they were supposed to. It is a strange process. So now you have a year to plan to go to medical school. Take some additional classes in Molecular Biology and Genetics and stuff and you will be set and ready to go. (If you haven’t already)
What a load of BS! What was the ultimate resolution???
Thanks everyone. I’ve still got applications in for the TX school and several AMCAS schools for this upcoming year, so we’ll see what happens. It’s nice to know that I’ve already been accepted somewhere.
And yet…I still don’t feel like “I’m going to be a doctor.” Did anyone else ever feel this way?
Pete,
First of all congratulations! Now try to relax and enjoy the next year while you revel in the knowledge that your medical school journey is just around the corner.
As to your question
Quote:– you can bet that a lot of us have had those same feelings. For me, though, as soon as I set foot on campus, began studying and building relationships, and most importantly, put on my white coat for the first time. . . well from that point on I not only thought I was going to be a doctor, I KNEW it!
And yet…I still don’t feel like “I’m going to be a doctor.” Did anyone else ever feel this way?
Again, congratulations!!