From Rejection to Acceptance: Patrick Molina’s Journey

Background

• Born in Los Angeles shortly after his mother emigrated from Mexico; his family experienced homelessness during his first decade.
• Family was fearful to access regular medical care; emergency tonsillectomy as a child led to his fascination with medicine.
• Completed undergraduate degree with multiple semesters as a lab assistant.
• Applied to medical school but was not accepted.
• After undergrad, significant volunteer experience as translator; paid employment as research specialist/fellow in renal physiology and nurse assistant.
• Mentored high school students and took PhD-level coursework in cancer biology through an employee benefits scholarship.
• Enrolled in a special master’s program in order to further demonstrate his aptitude for medicine and the academic rigor involved.

Academics

According to Patrick, his undergraduate GPA “was less than stellar,” but he focused on completing his degree in chemistry to demonstrate an aptitude for science. Patrick explains, “Even though my undergraduate GPA was below average, my MCAT^® [score] was competitive, and I demonstrated academic strength through completion of a special master’s program with PhD-level coursework and medical school-level classes.”

Deborah H. Damon, PhD, Professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences and Director of the Medical Master’s Program at Eastern Virginia Medical School, was concerned about his GPA when reviewing the application for her program. “I was slightly concerned that his undergraduate science GPA was a little low; Patrick had multiple C’s and D’s on his undergraduate transcript. My staff and I made sure that Patrick made use of all the resources available to help him be successful in our medical school-level courses. His transcripts, GPA, and MCAT [score] demonstrate Patrick’s resilience and motivation. His application to our medical master’s program demonstrated his ability to recognize his limitations and his willingness to take appropriate steps to address these deficits.”

Dr. Damon went on to say, “His medical master’s application generated a significant amount of discussion, as his quantitative numbers (GPA and MCAT exam) are not at the level normally expected for a MD-PhD applicant. We needed to have discussions with his undergraduate advisors to determine if they thought his low scores reflected his quantitative reasoning skills or if it was just a reflection of his access to appropriate learning environments as he was growing up."

When reviewing Patrick’s application for medical school, the Admissions Committee at The University of Alabama School of Medicine looked for factors to indicate that in spite of a low undergraduate GPA, Patrick had the drive to succeed. As Robin G. Lorenz, MD, PhD, Associate Dean for Physician Scientist Development, explained, “What pushed him forward was that he worked very hard to overcome this [GPA] deficiency, that he had extensive and excellent research experience, that his letters were extremely strong, and that we had personally met him. We saw reliability and resilience in Patrick because although he realized that he had an extremely low undergraduate GPA, he did not let that stop him from achieving his goal. He was aware that this was a concern to our admissions committee. He had been told this by his undergraduate advisors, which was why he enrolled in the medical MS program at Eastern Virginia. With his MS he earned a much higher GPA. He also re-took his MCAT [exam] in an effort to show improvement on his science competencies.”

Experiences

Patrick focused on research as a way to improve his application. “I believe my application demonstrated an aptitude for medicine and research, in addition to perseverance and diligence, qualities that are vital to success as demonstrated and communicated by my mentors.” While conducting research, Patrick had the privilege to have his work published in the 2013 American Society of Nephrology Conference Abstracts, received an NIH supplement grant to an RO1 (Research Project Grant), and continued to work with students facing similar barriers to medicine and research that he did. Patrick shares, “I believe a strength of my application involves my career goals of becoming a physician-scientist.”

Dr. Damon reflected on his experiences in this way, “I did not personally review Patrick’s AMCAS^® application, but I do know that his application to our medical master’s program reflected his creativity, resilience, motivation, and dedication to serving others. Patrick is distinguished by his ability to face challenging life experiences, his overwhelming dedication to helping others, and his very positive outlook on life despite the challenges he has faced.”

As a student, every networking or professional event is an opportunity to make a positive impression that will be remembered later. Dr. Lorenz shares, “I had met Patrick at our regional Southeastern Medical Scientist Symposium. This is a meeting for both MD-PhD students and undergraduates interested in becoming physician-scientists. Patrick presented a poster at that symposium before he had even applied to our program, and I was very impressed with his poster presentation and his demeanor during the meeting.”

One of the significant differentiators of Patrick’s application was his substantial amount of volunteer and paid medically related research and work experiences. Applicants often ask if a volunteer experience is viewed more favorably than a paid experience. However, what matters most to admissions committees is what the student learned and how it informed their preparation and knowledge about medicine.

Personal Statement

Patrick felt he needed to highlight the aspects of his path to medicine/research in order to stand out from other applicants. “I shared the experiences I had growing up. They ranged from homelessness to interacting and working with leaders in medicine and research. I had several individuals review and edit my medical school application, including my mentors, professors while at Emory, and close friends and family. I believe my essay illustrated many of the qualities UAB looked for, like dedication to scientific inquiry, ethical conduct, and unity of purpose.”

Dr. Damon recalled, “In his personal statement, Patrick shared some of the difficulties in his personal life, including how he was raised by a single mother on the streets of Los Angeles and that his brother has a congenital heart defect. I did not review his application, but our admission committee was impressed with his research experience and the depth and breadth of his medical and service experiences.”

Dr. Lorenz further went on to say, “It was clear from his essay that Patrick had a passion for biomedical research. He wanted to help patients through clinical care and also develop new approaches to diagnosis and the understanding of disease.”

Letters of Evaluation

For Patrick, it was important to have letter writers that could speak not only to the professional relationships he had forged, but also to show how those relationships impacted his path to medicine. Patrick explains, “I started by writing to the individuals I selected, articulating the impact they had on me and how a letter of evaluation from them would strengthen my application. I felt letters from these individuals would be incredibly helpful in providing objective perspectives on my traits.”

Patrick’s research essay and his letters of evaluation were critical in helping to illustrate his passion for science and his expertise in research. His letter writers also reinforced Patrick’s humility and how much they admired him. After getting to know Patrick better, said Dr. Lorenz, “I learned that although his recommenders had found out about his challenging upbringing, Patrick never used this as a crutch or even talked about it. Patrick wants to make it on his own and just wants to be given a fair chance. I learned that he enjoys a scientific challenge, and he loves to talk about science. He was always trying to give back to others and would help train other undergraduates in the laboratory. He was also involved in volunteer and leadership roles, including the Emory Kidney Mentoring and Assessment Program for Students — where he helped organize health fairs to bring kidney disease awareness to medically underserved communities.”

Interview

Patrick realized he needed to prepare for the interviews with the same intensity he approached preparing his application. He remembers, “While in my master’s program, I utilized multiple resources, including ethics passages, videos designed to improve interviewing skills, in-person mock interviews, and reflection.” 

The admissions staff was impressed by his personal presentation. “I found that he was a very mature young man who had extensively thought about his goals and how he needed to prepare himself to be successful in those goals. He used all of his interactions to help learn not only about our program, but also asking for advice to make him a better future physician-scientist,” reflected Dr. Lorenz.

Why Patrick Chose UAB

“My goals of pursuing a career as a physician-scientist aligned well with the mission of the MD-PhD program, along with pursuing service to underserved individuals, which is also highly valued at University of Alabama at Birmingham. The importance of personal relationships, mentorship, and successful pathways stressed by UAB resonated with my values and goals. UAB’s record of students matching to competitive residencies contributed to my decision to attend.”

Why UAB Chose Patrick

“Our program is known for its student involvement in both medical school organizations as well as community outreach. Patrick’s clear leadership abilities and his demonstrated commitment to community outreach were a good fit for our program. In addition, we look for students who have the experiences to show that they are committed to a career as a physician-scientist. Patrick clearly had numerous experiences and was one of those students.”

Through his secondary application, it was clear that he realized his low GPA in college would hurt his MD-PhD application. He found a way to show us that he could do graduate level coursework by completing his MS at Eastern Virginia.” Dr. Lorenz went on to share, “he has significant financial responsible for his family. He has traveled a very long distance from his disadvantaged childhood to being an MD-PhD student. We were impressed by his persistence towards achieving that goal. Patrick’s ability to seek out advice and then actually follow through with it, are attributes that we value in our students. I am continuously amazed by how calm he is in the face of continued adversity,” she says, “I wish all of my students faced life with his optimism.”