(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