{"id":49302,"date":"2019-02-07T12:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=49302"},"modified":"2024-10-29T12:57:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T17:57:21","slug":"acc-students-tenacity-makes-medical-school-dreams-a-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2019\/02\/07\/acc-students-tenacity-makes-medical-school-dreams-a-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC student’s tenacity makes medical school dreams a reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sammy Tran is packing his bags and stethoscope for medical school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the moment I\u2019ve been waiting for. I thought I would be stuck for the rest of my life doing a job that wasn\u2019t meaningful to me, but now I\u2019m following my dreams. I can put my full heart into serving as many people as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he was in middle school, Tran\u2019s mother suffered an injury that required daily exercise and topical ointments.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom had muscle and joint pain for five years. I made it my goal to help reduce her pain. It inspired my desire to serve others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tran set his plan in place. He graduated high school ninth in his class, loaded with extracurriculars, and went straight to the University of Texas at Austin where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology. During his time in undergrad, his passion to help others flourished.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very active in college. The philanthropy chair of Omega Phi Gamma, worked with LIVEstrong, S.A.F.E., and Project Austin. It\u2019s when I knew for sure medicine and service was my path in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tran says his grades ended up below medical school standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applied for three straight years and never even got an interview. That equals thousands of dollars in applications, schooling, and job shadowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking for work in the medical field during the gap in schooling, Tran became an urgent care scribe. He worked his way up to a hiring manager, but the fit wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMedical school seemed like an impossible dream, so I started considering a career change.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tran moved into the Information Technology field, working as a support engineer. But he couldn\u2019t let his dream die just yet. That is where ACC comes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took one last stab at raising my medical school GPA. I enrolled at ACC and UT Extension. My biggest concern was this strategy to improve my GPA wouldn\u2019t work, and I knew this was my last time to apply. I took 45 additional credits and got an A in every course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of those credits were taken at ACC.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ACC professors reinvigorated my passion for the medical field. The intimate classroom setting with more teacher involvement helped me succeed. It\u2019s something I didn\u2019t get at a larger university.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/figure>\n

One connection in particular pushed Tran to where he wanted to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Rodney Rohde was my microbiology professor. He set the standard for what a mentor should be. Through all the schooling I have done, he is the most passionate and talented teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Rohde served as a reference on Tran\u2019s latest and successful applications for medical school.  <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter three cycles of rejections, plus another gap period of working and going back to school, I was offered admissions to Trinity School of Medicine in the Caribbean,\u201d says Tran. \u201cI am also waiting on interviews with ten Texas institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tran says this unconventional path helped prepare him for what is to come.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cACC gave me a second chance to raise my grades and qualify for medical school. When I finally received my acceptance letter, I knew I was ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tran will begin his medical school journey in fall 2019.<\/p>\n

To explore careers in healthcare, visit austincc.edu\/healthsciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sammy Tran is packing his bags and stethoscope for medical school. \u201cThis is the moment I\u2019ve been waiting for. I thought I would be stuck for the rest of my life doing a job that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3930,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,15,17],"tags":[743,3424,1501,3425],"class_list":["post-49302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-students","category-facstaff-news","category-news-and-announcements","tag-health-sciences","tag-microbiology","tag-pre-med","tag-sammy-tran"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}