Hi,
So I am THE classic dude rep-ing non-traditional students. Here’s some stuff about me:
I grew up in the inner city of Sacramento, CA. I went to a relatively poor under funded high school while in CA. In my senior year of HS, I moved with my pops in Brooklyn. There I graduated from an even worse HS but managed to get into Penn State. I got like four degrees but all liberal arts (Poli sci, English, Pre-law, and International Studies). I went on to join the Navy (while working on a masters in aeronautical science), served 4 years (opted to get out early due to sequestration; reduction in force) as a pilot and was designated to fly helicopters. I honestly was a so-so pilot but always was (the books saved be lots of times in various ways) strong academically. When I got out, I took some EMT courses in order to try to find a way to get clinical experience. However, I couldn’t find a job. SO I went ahead and used my GI bill to begin pre-med and got a sweet stipend to get another degree. So I worked on my hard sciences, like basically straight As all the way through. My wife and I decided to move to NM (where we still are) to not only help family out but to knock the rest of my pre-med classes. At that point, I was like, what the heck, might as well just get a sweet Biochem degree here at UNM. My UNM degree is pretty strong, 3.87. But I partied way to hard at Penn State, which was a hard school even for the arts, I had a 3.11 there. I have been working as a Nurse Tech/Patient Care Tech/Nursing Assistant since 2014 and have a job at the VA Medical Center here in Albuquerque (strange city dudes and dudettes … recommend not coming here). I’ve been working on the Telemetry/Cardio/Med-Surg unit for about a year and a half and have been learning gobs of stuff, literally everyday! I’ve done CPR, helped with lab stuff (specimen and blood collection), helped with EKGs, etc etc etc. It is awesome! I love it. I have also been tailoring my bed side manner and trying to imitate the docs that I admire (there are several I do admire here). It’s been a hella’va ride getting to this point. I have basically been at this operation since 2013 when I left the Navy. My wife (she’s from Canada … which alludes to the gist of my probe) and we have two little young ones. It honestly has been super duper hard managing work, school and life! With the “tech” pay I make, it has been hard to afford applications, MCAT, etc. That crap is darn right expensive! So I applied for a grant to get a degree in medical lab sciences here at UNM’s School of Medicine in the department of pathology in order to work as a lab geek. It has been paid by the state and all I need to do is work here in NM for just 1 year for the 12,000 bucks they gave me (which thank god covers all the tuition etc and leaves a few grand as a refund … thank god UNM is so affordable). I am in the middle of the curriculum, slotted to complete the program this fall once rotations are over. It is basically like “baby” medical school scrunched down to 4 semesters (including rotations). I figured I could probably make a bit more dough working in medical labs. And hey, if med school never happens for me, I would be super happy in the lab. My delay also comes from the fact that I have also been supporting my wife through nursing school.She finally graduates this semester with her RN BSN. I am super duper proud of her (love you honey!). But in the process, we started to joke (due to Trump) about moving to Canada for medical school. Though the jokes didn’t really mean much, it started to dawn on me that Canadian med schools are down right affordable (e.g. The Memorial med school in NB is like 8K a semester! and that is where my wife is from!!!). Obviously, I need to do some research of my own and I will still apply to several US schools. But I wanted to just see if there is anyone familiar with applying. We plan on getting my permanent resident and all that taken care of while I complete my year after completing my (LAST!!!) undergrad degree in med lab science here at the school of medicine and work a year or so (besides my wife has to work her for 2 years anyways because she got the same funding for her nursing degree). Just hope to start some dialog about this all! My GPA is like a 3.5 or 3.6 with ALL the courses I have ever taken, but I have all As in every science course (except for PChem [that class was hard!!], Immunology, a couple of Microbiology courses [the intro to clinical micro and the very first micro lab], and my first intro to biochem … where I got B’s or B+'s in all those). My MCAT isn’t strong (redo planned this year … I had too many things going on and baby #2 came three days previous to the exam … plus I had two exams in the MLS program! yeah I know I am an idiot and should have cancelled the scores but I just wanted to know where I stood after have been up for three days straight) I scored between the near vertical part of the left side of the bell curve slightly below the median.
Okay that is my life. Let me know what’s up! BTW, I freaking love you Ryan. You are my hero.
Nehemiah (aka Neo)