Not a Traditional Student

Most people that go to medical school follow a similar pattern. Majority of my classmates went through their undergrad courses and mixed the pre-med courses into their majors and minors. I, however, didn’t do that.

When I started going to college I was already 21 years old. After high school I lived in Hokkaido, Japan, for two years. After that I came home and started school. I always felt that I wanted to work in the medical field, but I wasn’t sure what level I could handle. Undergrad had its ups and downs, fortunately more ups,  By the time I applied to medical school I was 27 years old and we were expecting our second child.

The nice thing about osteopathic schools is that they have a fair number of “non-traditional students.” One of the nice things about not being a typical applicant meant that I had a lot of non-traditional things to talk about during interviews. Over the next while I’ll  be touching on a few topics that have come up in my med school journey thus far. Topics ranging planned are:

  • Applications
  • Letters of Recommendations
  • Shadowing
  • Interviews
  • Choosing a School
  • Paying for School
  • Grades in Undergrad
  • Grades in Medical School
  • Remembering Everything From the First Two Years
  • Preparing for the COMLEX / USMLE
These are just a few of the things that I have had the pleasure of navigating. Sometimes I’ve been more successful than others, and hopefully my experiences will give you some insight that I wished I had access to.