**I did not go into specific details due to privacy but will disclose to anyone who is willing to offer better advice privately
So..where do I begin.
As a freshman, I was a pre-pharmacy student in an program that guaranteed admission to the pharmacy program if you maintain a certain criteria.
I royally screwed up my sophomore year during finals week of Fall. As i was preparing for the finals, I realized I was nowhere near ready for my finals coming up. Keep in mind, I breezed through my freshman year getting A's in all my classes barely studying and came into these finals with this attitude that if I could easily pass those classes, I can get through these classes. I also had been doing pretty well during the fall semester maintaining A's and B's, so you could say I was too confident/arrogant at the time and did not study enough for these finals.
While taking these finals, I realized I was going to do very poorly and out of fear/panic of losing my admission to pharmacy, I resorted to cheating on two finals (using notes) and was caught in both instances. I was informed of my cheating after the exams were done and I had to go in front of the pharmacy academic committee to address the situation. I was given a sanction where I would be dismissed but could reapply to the pharmacy program. I also received a 0 on both finals and ended with a D and C on those courses.
I was not dismissed from the university but of course was required to change majors and I also had to meet with the Dean of affairs to discuss this situation. As far I know, my sanction does not appear on my official transcript and does not indicate anything of my cheating on it however the sanction (dismissal letter) is kept in my student conduct file that will be expunged after graduation, but obviously after reading around in the forums with similar cases, this is an issue I will have to bring up under the IA section due to the severity of my actions.
I know I messed up bad and probably threw my chances to get into any professional school and ultimately become a healthcare professional. I realize just taking a lower grade is much better than ruining your integrity. I realize now that one of the main foundations of a health profession is integrity. I've deeply regretted this and its put me through a lot of stress.
I am now a junior and switched to a chemistry major (been about a year after the incident), I am currently taking courses for my chem degree and plan on taking a year of bio my senior year to complete my premed reqs. I have also retaken the two courses that I was found guilty of cheating and received an A and a B.
I am currently at a 3.4 total GPA with the previous grades replaced calculated (3.6 w/o previous repeated courses calculated) and a sGPA around 3.2 with previous repeated grades counted in (around 3.4 without). If I work really work hard and get 4 A's for every B for the rest of undergrad, I will be able to finish around around a 3.5 total GPA (previous repeated courses calculated in) and 3.4 sGPA. (3.6-3.7 total GPA and 3.5-6 sGPA with previous repeated grades not calculated)
Of course I will need to have a great MCAT score to make up for the GPA.
But before I even begin thinking about prepping for MCAT and deciding when to take it etc..., I would like to know if I should even try to pursue a MD/DO with something as serious as my IA. I had to explore my options after this whole situation and I really do have a passion for becoming a physician after shadowing a family physician that I have known for a long time over the summer and getting an idea of what a physician does, but I am afraid that a serious IA such as mine will severely impact my chances.
I understand having a severe blemish such as this will probably rule me out of many med schools automatically. I realize that I am going to have to take quite some time to put this issue behind me and show schools that I have changed since then.
Since I will probably take MCAT during senior year and having very little EC. I will have to take a gap year, but given my situation, its probably going to have to be a longer time period in order to truly say I have changed since the incident.
So I am asking advice from anyone here on what I should and if anybody has a situation such as mine and if MD/DO schools is something I can realistically achieve. I have not really disclosed this info with anybody except for my family but I realize Im going to have to address the situation head on.
I have been thinking about doing a two year SMP program to separate myself from this incident and prove that I can do the course work that medical students do but even applying to those programs I will have to bring up this issue.
I am also considering trying to go back into pharmacy (to another school) as I have all the prereqs done for most pharmacy schools as well. I am keeping my options open (looking into other graduate programs), but of course pursuing a DO/MD is what I really want to do.
Let me know what you guys think.
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Should I try to go DO/MD with a serious IA?
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