<p>Hey guys, I'm new here so I'm sorry if there was already a thread pertaining to this!</p>
<p>Anyway, I just want to explain myself. I'm recently transferring back home to be a commuter. I can no longer afford living on campus and can barely afford any kind of college for that matter. However, I am very desperate to work long hours at a job more for my mom and sister. I need to start contributing a lot of money just to be able to keep my mom, little sister, and I in our apartment and to help my mom with the bills. I want to stay in college so badly and I really want to be able to volunteer regardless of getting into medical schools- I actually enjoy it. My fear is that I will not be able to do enough hours of volunteering or shadowing and it will be very fickle, probably looking like I am not interested and just want my resume to look good. How do I explain to medical review boards that my family is extremely desperate? And will it really make a case for me that my family is very desperate? I understand that they review in a way that is supposed to be fair, yet it is also very competitive. In the end, will my situation simply hurt me?</p>
<p>There is a lengthy application process with multiple essays. You will not be evaluated in a vacuum. I remember something about “disadvantaged student status” which you should look into because maybe it applies here?</p>
<p>There are also hardship, challenge, and overcoming obstacle essays. Sounds like you have something to say. Keep your grades high. Do what you can do to get clinical experience. Do those things and explain why you couldn’t do more. Good luck.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could look for jobs which expose you to medically related things so that whilst helping your family, you also put forth a strong application?</p>
<p>don’t worry about it. you should try to do some shadowing so you can show that you know what it means to be a physician and can have something to talk about during interviews but definitely forget about volunteering. noone will fault you for trying to support your family instead of wiping up after old people at a nursing home. </p>
<p>i disagree with somemom’s comment, especially if getting a medically related job means sacrificing a penny of salary.</p>
<p>Well, yeah, don’t take a huge pay cut to do it, but if you do not already have a job and you can get one that both pays what you need, and allows you medically related experiences, and allows you to learn what the real life of a physician is all about, that could be smart.</p>
<p>The purpose in shadowing is the learn what a physician really does, to get rid or the Grey’s Anatomy ideas and get real world knowledge of what you are working towards, which also proves to the AdCom that you understand. Med school is a tough process, they want to know that you have a clue what you will be doing and that you ought to be successful.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your advice and replies! I also have another concern. I read up on some other posts and have come to the conclusion that I need to come from a “good” university or receive amazing grades and an outstanding MCAT score to outshine the fact that the school I’m going to is mediocre. I attended Loyola University Chicago, but now due to the financial issues in my family, University of Missouri St. Louis is truly the only school I can go to without going to a community college. I am taking the disadvantaged status into account and I also am a minority as well. Although I always have to list “other” as my status because what I am is never listed (Parsi). On a side note, would having to list “other” as my ethnicity hinder me? My main question is ;however, do I really need to have an outstanding GPA and MCAT score to outshine the lackluster name of my school? What would the range be? Would it have to be around a 3.8 and 35? Or should I be thinking higher?</p>
<p>Just do your best . Don’t worry about the things you can’t change. And don’t look back. Keep your gpa as high as humanly possible. Shoot for A’s. Shoot for a well-balanced MCAT above 31. </p>
<p>The fact that you go UMSL will not be the deciding factor in whether or not you become a doctor. Unless you let it be so.</p>