OMS II at Western University of Health Sciences - College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pomona, CA
Jovy Rex-Al Orbon
TL;DR
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Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
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Child of immigrants and raised in low to middle class income family
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Took 1 gap year
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Parents divorced at 13
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No doctors or healthcare workers in family
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Decided to pursue Medicine after 1st year of college (switched out of engineering)
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Upward trend: freshman year GPA 2.9 -> graduated with 3.6
Update: Jan 2021
I am halfway through the second year of medical school and I can honestly say that the past six months have given me some of the most grueling and challenging experiences in my lifetime. It was not news to me that everyone hated the second year of medical school the most, but having lived through half of it, I can definitely attest. This is mostly due to the looming event of USMLE Step 1 at the end of this academic year. It is another daunting exam that assigns you a number that can decide your path in medicine. Numbers do not define us yet this one has something to say about that. My class, the Class of 2023 is the last class to have Step 1 scored numerically which is a blessing and a curse depending on who you talk to. I am nervous to take it, mostly because my performance on the MCAT was average and this test affects my chances of achieving my dream of being an anesthesiologist. Being an osteopathic medical student as well, the odds are stacked against me and I have to perform better than some of my MD colleagues to even be considered. Last August, I had a phone call with an anesthesia residency program director and I asked her, “What are the chances of me matching into your program as a DO?” She said, “Well you have to score 240+ on Step 1, get honors on most of your rotations, and also we only take 1-2 DO’s at the most (in a class of 14).” She was brutally honest but very helpful. However, her statement also reminded me of the extra challenges that osteopathic medical students face. I am motivated to beat the odds but my fervor and drive waver from day to day with the overwhelming amount of USMLE boards studying, classwork, and extracurricular activities that are on my plate. I knew that the workload would increase drastically but now I can feel testing my mental fortitude each and every day. I am starting to see the limits of my tried and true methods of brute force studying that have historically worked in undergraduate studies. All I know is, I cannot wait for June 19th to be over.
Aside from Step 1 being on my mind every single day, I am grateful for the amount of support and positivity that surrounds me. From friends to family, they understand what I am going through and are incredibly uplifting and also understanding of the commitment to medical school. This was evident when I had gone home for winter break. Even on days like Christmas Eve, my mind was glued to the repetitions of Anki hoping to finish on time to spend dinner with my family. As the days pass, I become more aware of all the sacrifices that physicians have made to get to where they are. Delayed gratification is the name of the game and I am living it every single day. My classmates and I are all going through this struggle together and having them at my side have kept the fire within me going. Seeing their faces on Zoom from 8 AM to 10 PM as we study together, I truly wish for the day we can all be in the same room studying together once again. Until then, I am excited for the path that lies ahead.
If you’re like me, I was not one of those children who knew they wanted to become a doctor. As a child, there are endless possibilities in what you want to be when you grow up. For myself, it ranged from astronaut, pilot, engineer, to finally committing to the dream of being a physician around the age of 19. I would call myself a late bloomer, but that depends on who you’re talking to. There are many similarities and differences in how we end up choosing to study medicine, and like many others, it took a single experience to affirm why I envisioned myself in a profession that vows to protect the health and well-being of others and to be a pillar of support for the community that surrounds them.
Background
My parents met as co-workers at the same McDonald’s in Milpitas, California in 1992. They had similar backgrounds. Both had emigrated from the Philippines shortly after finishing high school. Both were struggling to make ends meet to provide for their families. They had dreams of becoming something before the American Dream came calling and their families uprooted their lives and planted themselves in Northern California. My dad was studying aeronautical engineering before his family told him they were moving to the US. He was my first role model in life because he has endured so many challenges, and through adversity he always showed resilience and fortitude. He was adopted by another family when his biological mother no longer had the means to take care of him. Hearing these stories made me realize the fragility and serendipity of my very presence of being on this Earth. But it also inspired, so much so, that my original goal was to fulfill his dream by becoming an aeronautical engineer.
Early Years
By the time I was 13, my parents’ marriage had deteriorated and I found myself in a home with only my father and my sister at an age where so much was changing. With many Asian households, it is difficult to talk about emotions and feelings and mine was no different. I vividly remember my mother sitting down with me and asking, “Who do you want to live with?” I do not remember what I had said but it does not surprise me if I did not answer at all. What a question to ask a 13-year-old. Nonetheless, in this new household, the values remained the same. “Hard work and dedication will lead you to a better life”, my father always said. I did my best to succeed in school and sports. There were some hiccups along the way. I did not understand them at the time but they were the struggles of living in a bicultural household. Wanting to do American things such as sleepovers, football games, prom always came with such resistance from my Dad. He did not grow up with these types of events so I do not blame him. I realized the limits of my dad’s support when it came to applying to college. I remember finishing the SAT and listening to my classmates talk about how much they HAD to study. “My mom made me study for hours every single day.” In my mind, I thought to myself, “Wait, we were supposed to study for this?”
I began to see the differences in upbringing play itself out and how it only amplified the obstacles I faced as a child of immigrants.
My classmates had the luxury of following their parents’ lead of how to get to college, while I had to figure it out all on my own.
My Pre-Med Journey
College came and I was still set on becoming an engineer. Two terms later, I almost failed calculus and found myself reeling and starting to feel the effects of impostor syndrome. I began to question whether I even belonged in college at all. It was a matter of soul-searching and realized that maybe my father’s dream is not what I truly wanted in a career. Up until this point, I was going through the motions of studying hard and trying to get good grades and it finally surfaced that maybe engineering was not what I was truly passionate about. So, I changed into a Psychology major only because I knew I loved that class in high school. The end goal still was in question. What do I want to become? Clinical Psychologist? Researcher? Physician? On a whim, I decided to explore that last option and applied to become a volunteer at a student-run clinic in the homeless district of Sacramento. This was the single experience that helped me find my calling.
I found myself surrounded by others who had pure hearts, wanting to provide free access to healthcare to the underserved of Sacramento. I had a first-hand look at medicine in its simplest form. No discussions of insurance, policies, or money. It was a haven of undergraduates, medical students, and preceptors hoping to make a difference in the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness. With each encounter, I learned about medicine but I also learned about life with each patient instilling some sort of wisdom that I carry with me each day. I spent 5 years of my life at that clinic doing everything I could to make an impact in the lives of everyone we treated.
In the pre-medical process, I found myself going through the same struggles that I had in high school. How did my classmates know so much about the process when I knew so little? I found myself always being late to the certain decisions pre-meds had to make. Conducting research, joining clubs, securing letters of recommendation, and studying for the MCAT were all parts of the process I had to figure out from my peers or online forums. Throughout the process I thought to myself, there has to be a better way in making the journey to becoming a physician easier. Don’t even get me started on the paywall on these so-called medical school advising websites, along with the staggering costs of applying to medical school. It was another realization as to why a lot of matriculated students come from high-income backgrounds or doctor families. They are able to shoulder the costs of the whole process. It was recommended to me that I apply broadly because I was not a stellar applicant by any means, just an average applicant across metrics and experiences. I had to open up two credit cards and spend about $3,000 on applications. I applied to nineteen MD schools and two DO schools. I got accepted to the two DO schools and luckily both were in California so I got to stay in my home state. (Check out my one-pager on MD vs. DO)
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The purpose of writing this case study was not only to shed light on my journey to medical school but highlight the advantages of having guidance during this whole process. I would not change any of the experiences or my upbringing in any way, but I have no doubt that my journey would have been easier had I known someone like me who has gone through a similar path to lead me through.
My greatest advice is to be proactive in looking for extracurricular activities and mentorship. There is no timeline to being a physician, but the quicker you become aware of what it takes to get there, I believe hard work and resilience will take care of the rest.
I hope that with Stepping Stones to Medicine and my story, the pipeline to medical school for underrepresented minorities becomes easier.