(00:00) — Foster care and a chaotic start: Zach describes growing up with parents struggling with addiction and violence, and not realizing his upbringing was unusual until middle school.

(03:51) — The cycle of skipping school: How failing grades and absent mentorship led Zach to believe he simply was not smart.

(07:03) — A Greyhound bus to Indiana: The impulsive decision to move in with his grandparents that Zach calls divine intervention.

(11:34) — Bomb squad school and the first confidence breakthrough: Finishing one of the military's most challenging training programs made Zach realize he could learn anything.

(18:21) — A 4.0 in engineering and a pivot to medicine: How straight A's in calculus rewrote the story Zach had told himself about his own intelligence.

(22:00) — Finding mentors without a network: Using a university premed committee, a podcast, and Student Doctor Network to build a roadmap from scratch.

(29:06) — Applying with a below-average MCAT: How Zach earned three MD acceptances despite a 504 score by checking every other box.

(33:34) — Choosing a brand-new engineering-focused medical school: Why he turned down a flagship state program for a full-ride scholarship at a school that matched his goals.

(36:39) — Falling in love with the OR and struggling to choose a specialty: Every rotation felt right until he had to commit.

(39:57) — Surgery to anesthesiology: The moment with his newborn that reordered his priorities and pointed him toward a different career path.

Zach grew up in the foster care system, raised in a trailer park by parents whose addiction and violence made stability feel out of reach. He failed classes, nearly dropped out of high school, and swore off college entirely — convinced he simply was not smart enough. A spontaneous move to his grandparents' home in Indiana changed his direction. He finished high school, joined the military as a bomb disposal technician, and discovered through that training that he was capable of more than he had believed. Years later, straight A's in electrical engineering confirmed it. By the time he decided to pursue medicine, he had clinical experience as an EMT, a military career, a 4.0 GPA, and no physicians in his personal network to call on. He navigated the premed process through a university premed committee, a podcast, and a lot of cold emails to find shadowing. He applied broadly with a 504 MCAT score and earned three MD acceptances. He chose an engineering-focused medical school on a full-ride scholarship, completed a general surgery intern year, and ultimately transitioned to anesthesiology after a moment at home with his newborn made his priorities clear. This conversation is for any premed student building their path without a blueprint.

What You'll Learn:

- How to use a university premed committee as a structured roadmap when you have no built-in mentors

- Why a below-average MCAT score does not automatically close the door if the rest of your application is strong

- What nontraditional experiences — military service, EMT work, engineering — actually do for you in interviews and on paper

- How to evaluate medical school options when your goals do not fit the traditional mold

- Why resilience built outside the classroom can be a genuine advantage in medical training

(00:00) — Growing Up in Brooklyn: How watching his grandmother receive care for type 2 diabetes at a Brooklyn hospital first sparked Stevie's interest in medicine at age 11 or 12.

(00:23) — From Sports Dreams to Science Classes: Stevie describes exploring basketball, music, and writing before biology classes and a lost USB drive helped redirect him toward medicine.

(00:58) — Nearly Flunked Out: Stevie opens up about receiving multiple dean's warnings freshman year of college, living at home, and carrying the "premed persona" without knowing the actual steps required.

(01:33) — Fear of Finding Out: Stevie explains how fear of learning what it would take — not laziness — kept him from attending premed advising meetings and reaching out to physician mentors.

(01:57) — The Fraternity GPA Requirement That Changed Everything: How a GPA minimum for joining Alpha Phi Alpha became the unexpected catalyst that got Stevie's grades moving in the right direction.

(02:33) — Graduating at a 2.5 and Planning the Rebuild: Stevie describes taking six post-graduation courses, retaking the MCAT from a 495 to a 509, and what the advisor meeting that laid out his blueprint actually felt like.

(03:06) — The Linkage Master's Program at SUNY Upstate: Stevie explains how applying to medical school, getting rejected, and being offered a funded one-year linkage program led him to a 3.99 GPA and automatic matriculation.

(04:07) — Transition to Third-Year Medical School: Stevie reflects on how his master's program foundation, his history of struggling, and a shift in academic pride prepared him for the volume and pace of medical school.

Stevie graduated college with a 2.5 GPA, came close to flunking out freshman year, and had no clear roadmap for getting into medical school. In this episode, he walks through exactly how he turned things around — not in a single dramatic moment, but through a series of smaller, staggered goals that compounded over time.

He talks honestly about the fear that kept him from attending premed advising sessions and from reaching out to physician mentors in his fraternity — fear not of failure, but of finding out just how far behind he really was. He describes how a GPA requirement for joining Alpha Phi Alpha became the first concrete goal that got his grades moving, how six post-graduation courses raised his cumulative GPA only to a 2.8, and why he pivoted to a funded one-year linkage master's program at SUNY Upstate rather than continuing to chip away at an undergraduate transcript that had too many credits to meaningfully change.

Stepping back from the specifics of his path, Stevie and host Ryan Gray also dig into the psychology of the long premed road — why fixating on a distant goal line creates burnout, how delayed gratification plays out differently when you have already experienced real academic failure, and why gap years and nonlinear paths are increasingly recognized as assets rather than red flags by medical school admissions committees.

What You'll Learn:

- Why fear of learning the requirements — not lack of motivation — is what keeps many struggling premeds from seeking help

- How staggered, short-term goal setting can rebuild academic momentum when a cumulative GPA feels too damaged to fix

- What a linkage or pathway master's program actually looks like, how the SUNY Upstate program is structured, and why the MCAT matters more than additional post-bacc coursework at a certain GPA floor

- How a 495 MCAT became a 509 and what Stevie did differently the second time

- Why lived experience during gap years can strengthen a medical school application rather than weaken it

(00:00) — Welcome and Early Roots: Kelsey describes growing up in a family of healthcare professionals and how watching her father's relationships with patients shaped her interest in medicine.

(02:04) — Music vs. Medicine: Kelsey explains why she seriously considered a career in musical theater and how she decided she did not have to give up music to pursue medicine.

(07:28) — Planting the Premed Flag: When Kelsey started singing the national anthem at medical conferences in high school and realized she could combine both worlds.

(08:44) — The Hardest Part of Being Premed: Kelsey names information overload — not coursework — as the biggest challenge she faced as a premed student.

(11:01) — MCAT: A Big Beast: How a weak foundation in basic sciences and unclear study strategies made the MCAT especially difficult for Kelsey.

(15:25) — Taking the MCAT Twice: Kelsey's decision to retake after a 500, why she only gave herself a month to prepare, and what happened when her score went down instead of up.

(19:10) — Applying MD and DO: Her strategy for casting a wide net across both application systems and her father's perspective on the MD versus DO question.

(21:48) — Waiting for Interviews: What it felt like to wait months for a single invite and how she prepared for her first real medical school interview.

(25:06) — The Acceptance Call: Kelsey recounts exactly where she was and what she heard when she found out she got in.

(31:07) — DO and Dermatology: How Kelsey is thinking about pursuing a competitive specialty as a DO student and what mentorship from DO dermatologists has taught her.

(35:17) — What She Would Change: Kelsey's honest reflection on filtering noise, trusting her instincts, and following what actually resonates.

Kelsey is a current medical student who took the MCAT twice, watched her score drop on the retake after already submitting applications, and still got into medical school in that same cycle. In this conversation with Dr. Ryan Gray, she walks through what that experience actually felt like — the self-doubt, the tears, the waiting — and what kept her moving forward. She grew up in a family of healthcare professionals, spent years seriously considering a career in music and musical theater, and ultimately found a way to bring both into her life. That same instinct to follow what resonates, rather than what the internet says to do, runs through her advice on MCAT prep, application strategy, and choosing a specialty. Kelsey applied to both MD and DO programs, received two interview invites, and accepted her offer from a newer campus attached to an established DO program. She is now pursuing an interest in dermatology and has found mentorship from DO dermatologists who have helped her see that the MD versus DO distinction matters far less than board scores, clinical performance, and who you are as a person in the room.

What You'll Learn:

- Why resource overload — not the science content itself — is one of the biggest obstacles premed students face today

- How to approach MCAT prep by understanding your own learning style before choosing any resource or course

- What it looks like to stay in an application cycle after a retake makes your score worse, not better

- How to think strategically about applying to both MD and DO programs in the same cycle

- Why pursuing a competitive specialty as a DO student is possible, and what matters most when making that case