My daughter is a swimmer and was recruited by Stanford and University of Texas (among
others but those were her final 2). After many tears, deliberations and coaches going
back and forth she ultimately chose UT.
For her personality it really did work out for the best. Her plan was always swim
in college, graduate with a degree in Neuro Science, become a pro swimmer, hopefully
make the Olympics and then go to medical school.
Needless to say there have been a few wrenches thrown into that plan. Because of her
training she had to wait until her eligibility was over to take all of her labs so
it ultimately took her 5 years to graduate. Once she became a pro swimmer, she became
sponsored by Arena so she had an income and
UT gave her a 5th year on her scholarship.
That year she got a gold medal and a bronze medal at the World Championships in Hungary.
She ended up being ranked 3rd in the world in her event. Then she had a big bump in
the road, but she ultimately overcame it and a lot of positives came out of it for
her.
Throughout all of this she was studying for finals, graduating, studying for the MCAT,
taking the MCAT, filling out applications and then secondary applications. She applied
to most of the Texas schools, Stanford and the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.
She ended up getting an interview at all of the places. She was worried because she
was never able to work/scribe/shadow at the hospital. Turns out one of the things
her interviewers were most impressed with was the "bump in the road."
The experience made it in every application in one essay or another. Every single
one of them expressed how impressed they were with her ability to handle, overcome
and preserver through such adversity.
This was the beginning of 2020 and she was ranked 5th or 6th in the world and she
thought the road would somehow get easier to her ultimate goal of the Olympics and
then medical school. She pre-matched to all of her schools in Texas except Dell.
Ultimately, she was matched at UT McGovern, was waitlisted at Dell, Baylor, Stanford
and Mayo. She decided against Baylor, she felt really good about the others based
on the contact and feedback that her interviewers were giving her.
Dell was really doubtful however because they wanted her to defer because they start
really early and she wouldn't be able to start until the 2nd week of August with the
Olympics. She definitely did not want to defer.
Next thing we know, COVID hits, everything shuts down and the Olympics are postponed.
This meant if she wanted to go for the Olympics she would have to now defer every
medical school. At the time she was ranked 4th in the world.
After many tears she had to come to a definite decision and soon because all the med
schools were saying they would not be taking any deferments that year. She talked
to Stanford and Mayo and they wanted her to reapply. She would have been way late
with the applications and she just didn't have the energy to start all over with them.
With Dell she would have had to now defer 2 years so she decided against them. She
went to UT McGovern and asked for a deferment. Not only did UT McGovern give her a
deferment they let her do a Masters of Public Health in the deferment year that she
will end up finishing in medical school.
This let her use a post grad scholarship that the NCAA had given her. Her story is
still not finished with the Olympic Trials and the Olympics coming up but she's in
a really good spot.
Her training went modified but uninterrupted, UT McGovern has been fabulous working
with her and just last week she bought a house in the Museum District north of Herman
Park! Long story short, perseverance, hard work, determination, prayer and surrounding
yourself with really good people really does pay off!
Throughout all of this, with the many bends, twist, setbacks and detours, one of her most important lessons that she learned was that when everything gets overwhelming and you just don't think you can make it to the finish line, you really don't have to worry about the finish line. All you have to do is today. Take care of today and ultimately you will get to the finish line.
UPDATE: Need to give everyone an update she missed it by .02 seconds. She has the dubious honor of the closest race in history The Olympics are like that she is ranked #2 in the world but she won’t be in Tokyo. Believe me when I say there are equally gifted amazing athletes who are right there with her! While we are still reeling from it she/we are completely blessed that she will be entering UT McGovern soon to start the next phase of her life! She has worked incredibly hard to get to this part also and we are grateful she has such an amazing opportunity for the next part of her journey!
About the author: The Parents of TX Pre-Meds is a group of parents with college students who dream of becoming doctor in the TX system. Our purpose is to help each other by sharing valuable insight for other parents through the process of reaching their medical school dreams. www.facebook.com/groups/txpremedparents
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