Session 277 In this episode, you will hear about another success story of a premed student who got into medical school on her first try after not doing very well in undergrad and more specifically, on the MCAT. Before we move on to the interview, please don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast in whatever your device is. And checkout all our other podcasts on MedEd Media. Back to today’s episode, Holly initially didn't think she could become a physician and let her fears dictate her path. She then conquered her fears and has been successful. Holly is a perfect example that you don't have to be a perfect student to get into medical school. She found a school that matched what she was interested in. She allowed her goals to overcome her fears. And if you find yourself in this situation where you fear something and you don't think you can do this, this is a must-listen episode for you. "My goal was more important than my fear." [02:20] Her Dream to Become a Physician Growing up, Holly didn't have any aspirations of being a doctor until she was working as a caregiver when she was in high school. This was the first introduction she got with patient care. A couple years of working, and she decided to go back to school, still around health care being a lover of the sciences. "I fell in love with patient care but I just got really frustrated with the lack of knowledge that I had." Holly would describe living in a "low socioeconomic status" and not many people in their area ended up going to college or having those big career aspirations. So it just never occurred to her that being a premed was an option. [05:20] A Slight Detour and Going Back to School: Pregnancy and Getting Family Support A couple of months into working as a caregiver, she got pregnant with her son. So she felt this was holding her back from pursuing any sort of big career. She wanted to but she didn't think she would have the time to go full board doctor while raising a son and all the things that went along with that. Then she started working as a cashier at a local grocery store and one day, she just realized it was not she really wanted to do, nor would she want to do this for the rest of her life. So that week, she quit her job and took a risk. She registered for school and took classes in the Summer, which were accelerated classes. Instead of taking them in a ten-week quarter, they're reduced to five weeks. Seeing she was doing pretty decent, it gave her the confidence that she could do this.Once she jumped in, she didn't feel it was really hard as she thought and she could actually manage her time and do it. "This is not what I want to do. I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. And if I don't get up and do something now, that's what I'm going to end up doing." Holly feels lucky for having a husband who's 100% supportive of her career goals and she considers him as a huge rock in her journey. [08:25] From Poor to Great Advising So when she signed up to take classes at a community college where she was still pre-pharmacy, they were made to talk with an advisor. And one of the things the advisor told her was she needed to think of a different career path because there was no way she was going to be able to accomplish it since she has a family. Holly took this to heart and sadly, she didn't really get any that much of a help from her advisor. A year into community college, she decided to switch over to premed, thinking that being a pharmacist just didn't feel right for her, also having shadowed a pharmacist and realized it wasn't something she wanted to do. Then Holly got into Portland State University three years later and she got a premed advisor who guided her and pointed her in all the right directions. The school worked really closely with the local medical school OHSU. And they were strict in terms of what classes you need to take. But what she like about her advisor was the fact she was very supportive and very aware of going for upward trends. A