I stumbled upon this forum 2 days ago and I just wanted to Thank everyone for the inspiration and fantastic advice. I’d like to share my story with everyone and how I ended up here (sorry, long):
I’m 29 yrs old (almost 30) I finished college in 2002 with Classics Major and a 3.75 GPA. When I started college I had wanted to be a doctor for as long as I could remember. I had always been a highly motivated and excellent student. However, for the first time in College I didn’t do as well in Science as I had in high school. The school had a unique intro to Bio program, in which we had half semester mini courses, for the first 2 years before advancing to the upper level classes and I had a hard time adjusting to the pace (I had Bs and Cs in my intro classes (24 credits))and at the same time I was experiencing alot of turmoil with my family. For the first time in my life I wasn’t the best and I was really scared. At the same time I also discovered that I was really good at many, many different things (natural linguist and an excellent writer) and I wasn’t ready to commit to long path to complete a medical degree.
After finishing school I worked in Finance and had a great volunteer experience at an Animal Hospital. I started to remember why I had loved medicine so much to begin with and Ifelt the pangs of wanting to pursue that life again. I wasn’t happy in finance, I wanted a job where I could help people and make a contribution. I ended up moving back to NJ from NY and taking a job that I was way over qualified for so that I could have the opportunity to work for really unique Healthcare/pharma company. Fast forward 3 years, I have a great job at a great company that really tries to make a difference in patients’ lives and I’m still not happy. All I can think about is going back to school and fulfilling my dream. I struggle with how I am going to balance things financially, have a family and pursue medicine. I was having a particularly difficult time earlier this week, really having the realization that I will probably regret it for the rest of my life if I don’t pursue my dream AND through the miracle of the internet I found this group. It helped me to realize that while the road may not be easy, I’m not the only person in the world who is pursuing medicine as a 2nd career, with kids or over the age of 30. Finding this wonderful forum, helped me feel not so alone in this journey.
I’m getting married this year to the most wonderful man in the world. He is fully supportive of my dream. We aren’t in a place financially where I can stop work and pursue course work full time, but we are going to start planning for it. We are even registering to attend the conference in June in DC! We thought it would be great starting point for the planning process.
Thank you all so much for being here and listening. I look forward to spending time here with this group.
Hi, Sarah
Congratulations on your merriage! I have a very supportive husband too. I will never be able to start this journey without his encouragment and his sacrifice. I registed to this group only a few days ahead of you. I feel exactly the same way that you feel about this website. We are sure not lonely here as a non-traditional premed. I am 31-year-old and I have two little boys, 4-year-old and 3-year-old. Growing up in a physician’s family (both of my parents are doctors), I have dreamed of being a doctor since I had memory. Due to a lot of reasons, I ended up having a finance major in college and never happy with it. But I truly believe I went through all these years to be prepared for this moment. I am starting my pre-med program in this summer. Nice meeting you here and good luck!
Helen