Becoming a Nontraditional Medical Student - Part One

Setting up my classroom, August 2009

I feel as if there are not many resources out there for nontraditional medical students, and when I did find one I didn't feel that it was very helpful to me. Being on this journey, pursuing entrance into medical school, is so much a part of my life right now that not writing about it would seem to be a huge oversight. I am by no means an expert on this topic. The way I figure it though, if I can help one person or ease one person's fears about switching gears then that's something. If you have absolutely no interest in the journey of a nontraditional med school hopeful then feel free to come back tomorrow and skip all future med school posts. I'm going to start at the very beginning and break this up into a few posts so it's not so overwhelming.

I went to college to be a high school biology teacher. It's what I always had wanted to be - I had science teachers that I loved who inspired me, and I wanted to do the same for future science students. I graduated college in 2008 with a bachelor of science degree in biology and my Texas teacher's certification in hand. I was hired by a Houston area school district and taught there for a year until Lars received a job offer and we moved to Austin. As I looked for a job in town I quickly realized that I wasn't going to find a job because Texas schools at that time were firing, not hiring, teachers. I needed to find something to do, and quick.

Going to graduate school seemed appealing, but I didn't know what field of biology I wanted to study. If you have no real direction and are tight on cash, just picking something and going back to school is not usually the best option. So I completely veered off the science track and got my real estate license. I love houses and home design so why not? It was relatively easy and inexpensive to get into, and I was excited about helping people through such a monumental time in their lives as they bought or sold a home.

It turns out, I'm great at selling houses, but about a year into my business I began to feel the rumblings of wanting something more... (to be continued)