Why am I creating this Blog?

I was one of those pre-health students who the traditional pre-health advisors at my undergraduate alma mater did not see any hope for. Like many undergraduates, I faced some issues early on in my undergraduate experience: PTSD, homelessness, Keratoconus, no health insurance, and I worked 32-40 hours a week to support myself during my undergraduate studies. Plus, I am a non-traditional student; I initially started my undergraduate studies in the summer of 1989 but dropped out of school that December to enlist in the Army. My parents were undergoing a bitter, nasty divorce and I just wanted to get away from them and Texas. I didn’t return to school until 2005, when I was 34 years old. My undergraduate grades were not stellar by any means and I graduated in May of 2010 with a 3.18 science GPA and a 3.45 – 3.5 overall GPA. My MCAT score was a respectable 29 S but ASU Pre-Health Advising had written me off. I didn’t have the guidance necessary to get to a U.S. medical school nor did I have the financial literacy to make medical school a reality. At the time, my credit score stood at 580; not high enough to qualify for the federal Graduate PLUS loan that most health professions students utilize. Because I still wanted to attend medical school, I set out to teach myself what I needed to know to gain admissions to medical school. I also wanted to repair my credit and put myself into the financial position to attend medical school. I did not think that it would take 10 years to see my first medical school acceptance, but on November 23, 2020, I was blessed to receive my first medical school acceptance from Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. My hope with this blog is to show others that with perseverance, determination, hard work, and motivation, medical school (or anything) can be a reality. I want to use this as a platform to share the lessons that I have learned along the way and hopefully, prevent others from making some of the mistakes that I have made along the way.