So, yes, I was the unlikely, the overlooked, and the rejected candidate. But, I bared those titles graciously; because it is in them and under them that I found my passion to work with those who face those very same labels each day.
My journey to medical school was rocky to say the least. I went to a competitive undergraduate institution and worked really hard, however my GPA was not reflective of all the work I put in. I had hoped that my MCAT score would save my medical school application, but my first attempt was a tragic letdown, and then after completing an expensive and intensive Princeton Review course my score improved by…1 point.
I was devastated and forced to accept the fact that I was not a great standardized test taker. After applying to every medical school and post-bacc program available, I was accepted to medical school off of the waitlist 15 days before classes started.
I indeed was a medical school candidate aberration; and I know that my acceptance was not based on my ability to immediately achieve academic success, but rather the belief by a group of people that the struggle that I had endured and overcome afforded me the right to my dreams.
Despite my career before medical school, I was able to reinvent myself in medical school and actually ended up doing really well. My GPA improved each semester, until I finally earned a 4.0 my last semester. I graduated in the top quartile of my class with board scores well above the national average, and awards for my academic work and my community service. I received interviews from Harvard, Yale, UCSF, and many other prestigious programs in my field. Though I begged to be accepted into any medical school, in the end I had many institutions actively recruiting me for residency. So, you may ask, what caused the change in my academic performance? How did a person who was “bad” at standardized tests manage to do well on her board exams? Well, it started with developing a PLAN, but before the plan was set in motion I had to do the following things:
Accept myself, my strengths, my limitations, and recognize that it may take me longer than other people to understand things, but eventually I would get to where I needed to be.
Analyze my own study/learning habits (I, too, took a learning assessment exam!) and then identify habits of successful students and compare strategies to see if I could adapt new habits.
So, yes, I was the unlikely, the overlooked, and the rejected candidate. But, I bared those titles graciously; because it is in them and under them that I found my passion to work with those who face those very same labels each day.
My very existence, as a female, African American physician, who was only accepted to one medical school and defied all the odds—it is the redemption I hope to offer my patients and my students: a chance to not be judged on the things that supposedly define you; but rather to be given an opportunity to be heard when you say there is more here than you think.
So, remember that who you are today does NOT define who you will become. Hold steadfastly onto your dreams, and as one of my favorite quotes states: “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway”.
-Dr. Michelle Okoronkwo, ProMEDeus Advisor
ProMEDeus GUARANTEES you’ll get an Interview, Pass your Board or Shelf Exam or your Money Back!
CONTACT US Today for a Free Session!
0 responses on "Dream On"