~NonTraditionals~: Ages

BU Medical Sciences
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gramdoc said:
I am so impressed with your success so far----I have been in the clinical lab business for years as well as a famous pharma company, My passion has always been to go to med school but life got in the way and kids, educ took precedence. I haven't lost hte passion or drive for med school I am not looking for $$$$--just survival and the ability to help those underserved (which I have seen in many of my client;s HIV offices). I have post Bacc clasess (exp for Phsyics) at UCLA--haven't taken the MCAT yet but will. Can you give my a suggestion--should I head for the Caribbean or DO school (Touro in NV)? Any anecdotal info would be most helpful!:)
Marie (gramdoc)
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Between those two choices, you should definitely choose the DO school. However, given that you haven't taken the MCAT yet, I think your focus on those options is a bit premature.

Take the MCAT, see how you do, apply broadly to both MD and DO schools, and avoid the Caribbean at all costs.
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I'm 32.

I read somewhere that writing down a goal/promise for yourself will cement it in your mind and help you achieve it.

Here it is:

I'm going to be a doctor one day.

I'm currently an X-Ray tech, and I absolutely love working in health care. I've done a lot of different things in life, from the military (Marine Infantry) to waiting tables, and being in health care is exactly where I belong.

Next step is finishing up my undergrad stuff, so it'll be a few years, but seeing you other old codgers do it and a lot of prodding from the docs I work for has finally given me enough confidence to embrace this dream of mine.

Holy smokes - I sound like freaking Stuart Smalley. Still....I'm going to do it.
 
eccles1214 said:
42, going on 43
but I'll probably be 48 when I apply; it will take that long for me to 1) overcome a crappy undergrad GPA (and a sort-of-crappy post-bacc GPA), and 2) get the experience I need for the MSTP that I'm interested in doing.
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I'll turn 48 and become a newly minted EMT at just about the same time.

I'll do Paramedic if I can, school and expenses may cost me $20k so it's like 1930s med school costs but I'm on a 1930s budget in a 1930s world. It'll be a real financial stretch and that huge-for-me amount of money may mean it's not possible. I won't borrow what I can't pay back. If I were younger and hadn't heard of electronics I'd have tried to become a doc probably. But now, this late in the game, just being useful is enough for me.
 
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I just turned 27 and am applying for the fall of 2011 so that would make me a lovely 28 when I start med school...if I get accepted :) I have a B.SED and M.SED in education, taught English to international students for 2 years and realized it really wasn't entirely for me. Loving this ride much more! Good luck to all of us non-traditionals!!
 
I just turned 25 and am having a "quarter-life crisis." Volunteering in a hospital and working in cancer research made me realize that I'm truly passionate about medicine and health, and I don't want to do anything else, even if it's not practical. If I get into an SMP/post-bac when I'm 26, then hopefully I can be in med school when I'm 27 or 28. These threads truly inspire me, with the passion and dedication amongst the non-trads here. I sincerely hope that every single person here finds their success. :)
 
I am 27 and still working on my undergrad. I will be in my 30s before I start med school. Life is about living in the present moment and seeing value in the task/challenge at hand, so I don't really think about being older by the time I graduate. If I graduate med school when I am 36, I can have a good 50 years of practice before retiring, so what does being a decade or so late matter? Plus I LOVE school, so the long road to becoming a doctor actually sort of sweetens the deal for me.
 
Im 31 and will probably be 40 by the time im done with residency. im married and have three kids.
 
I'm a 27-year-old, college freshman who plans on entering a med school in 2013.
 
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I'm 25. I graduated college in 2006 and finished my pre-reqs last year. I also got married and had a daughter since college as well. I'm applying this year... hoping to start in 2011.
 
Just turned 27. Hoping that an SMP and a good MCAT will overshadow my past mistakes :). Shooting for 2011 or 2012. Thinking of being 32 or 33 by the time I graduate from med school sucks, but I gotta do what I gotta do.
 
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Yeah, there is a thread here somewhere....lol....I'm too lazy to look it up so wont get on anyone else for not looking it up. :D

I'm 32 by the way, will turn 33 a couple months after starting.
 
I'm 28 (soon to be 29) thinking of applying DO for class of 2015, if all goes to plan I'll be 30 when I begin.

SLC
 
My gawd you all are babies compared to me.
 
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I am 25 and going to do a SMP this year and hopefully reapply for 2012. I don't think of myself as non-trad for some reason. It took me 4 1/2 years to graduate from undergrad because I worked full-time while in school and also didn't decide to take my pre-req's until my junior year. After school was done I did a paid pre-medical internship for about 2 years while also applying to MD schools for the first time. Got waitlisted and didn't get in , so I took some time off and really thought about my career choice. I realized that I cannot imagine myself doing anything else for the rest of my life.

Now, I will be starting my SMP in a few months and could not be more excited to be back in school. Its odd, when I was finishing my undergrad I just wanted to work and not have to go to class, have freedom and not have to study but now, I cannot wait to be back in school and not have to work.
I feel that after taking a few years off, I appreciate life and school a lot more and have a different point of view in things in general.

We all come from different walks of life and our experiences make us who we are as people.
If you think about it, in 20 years is it really going to matter that you started later than some other people? Probably not.
I am glad I'm not the only one. :oops:
 
Getting my bachelors in chem at age 27, starting MD school age 28.

But people tell me I look 20-ish, :laugh: .
 
23..

but ill be 26 or 27 when I apply to medical school...

best of luck to y'all.... :)
 
33 right now, hoping to be 34 when I start. :D

I was several years younger than everyone else when I first went to college, so it's really interesting to be on the opposite end of the spectrum now!
 
27 years old, and starting Med School at MSU COM this June!
 
26, currently working on pre-reqs, most likely will apply for med school around 28
 
I am 34 will be starting this year. I have taught high school math and science for 6 years.
 
LeavingTheLaw said:
33 right now, hoping to be 34 when I start. :D

I was several years younger than everyone else when I first went to college, so it's really interesting to be on the opposite end of the spectrum now!
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.
 
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22...hoping to apply when I'm 24. Good luck everyone!
 
ChimpanzeeMinky said:
Too bad whenever I pull out my HP48GX, all I get are blank stares.

Then if I start talking about RPN....
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Mine is a wee bit older 48SX...in classic poo-brown HP color scheme, but I'm staring at is as I'm reading your post...three LCD lines gone and a dent where I think a brother of mine used it as a weapon in simulated hand-to-hand combat with a friend one day...

Yup...and they get offended when they find out what the 'P' in RPN stands for...

Oh...and if I didn't post before...I will be 34 less than a month after starting medical in July...
 
DrMidlife said:
HP28 right here. RPN rocked.
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I remember borrowing my teacher's calculator for a quiz back in high school electronics. The 5 minute lesson on RPN helped...until I had to use my current results in new calculations (something that apparently wasn't included in the 5 minute lesson).....I guess that was my teacher's way of teaching me to never forget my calculator.
 
28 and applying in June :)
 
I'm 31, almost 32 now. I'll be finished my B.S. in about a year or so, hoping to apply in about 2 years. My goal is to be starting med school at 35.

I have 2 small children (4&5) and my husband is a Marine currently in Afghanistan. Whoever said this was supposed to be easy?? :laugh:

Just keep swimming.
 
I'm happy to have found some virtual company!! I just turned 30, after taking ten years and a couple significant detours, I will earn a BS in three weeks-

+ two kids + one spouse + plenty of real-life drama ~

Accepted at three great schools, waitlisted at four more, including two top tens...

p.s. dropped out of high school at fifteen, GED at nineteen.

keep your eye on the prize.


Rock on.
 
I am 34 next month.

I have been completely out of school for 10 years now, and I have a doctor's degree (finishing with a high GPA when I was 24) in another health field. This is the first time I will apply to a medical school.

I will apply and work myself into the integrative medicine model that healthcare is progressing toward.

I reacquainted myself with the basic science material (mainly physics) to take the MCAT.

I really enjoy school and am very competitive. I have a family now and will have to be conscious of meeting the balance so my wife and kids don't lose a husband and a father for the next 4-8 years.
 
28 yrs old and will be applying this summer.

Is it just me or did anyone else turn grey haired prematurely during the process?
 
Hi! I'm 29 and will be starting med school this fall.

I started post bac premed classes at 24 (or 25? can't even remember now! anyway a few years out of college). I always knew it would take me a few years after graduating from college to figure out what I wanted to do for graduate studies (same for all my friends)... and I did, it was just a field I never expected! Doing all the pre med classes in 2 years was overwhelming while also working FT, and I enjoyed my work and didn't want/couldn't afford to cut back to PT, so stretched it out over an extra semester. After that I spent semester on a research grant abroad while doing med school apps... and then 2 years living abroad with my now-husband. Needless to say, I deferred a year after acceptance to make that timeline work.

All this, starting with entering the workforce and exploring different jobs before moving into graduate studies, all seemed natural to me, not "non-traditional." My husband and I will probably be having children while I am in med school, and that also feels natural, as I always new that I would have both a family and a demanding career I loved. I imagine a lot of your feel this way.

It seems that there are more and more people like us in the medical field, and I think that medicine most definitely will be positively impacted by us non-traditionals! Is it time to find another term, or does it not really matter? I always felt irked on the secondary applications when they just assumed that you were still in college, and if not they ask what you did during your "time off." HUH?? Working and living your life is considered time off to med school admissions committees? As though being in school is the only "time" that counts. In fact in undergrad I remember we were always talking about going out into the "real world" and leaving our undergrad "bubble."

Anyway, just wanted to express this and am curious about what others on the "non traditional" forum feel?
 
28, currently active duty Army serving in Afghanistan.
Graduated with a BA in history in 2004.
Looking into taking intro science and math courses at a CC this fall when i get back to the states and starting a formal post-bacc program next summer (2011). Any suggestions on programs?
 
I will be about 30 when I matriculate. I have been working on a second degree and soon will graduate but my heart is in medicine. So I am following my nose and here I find myself, a little nervous but happy about the whole situation.
 
will be 25 in June Starting....majoring in Psych. starting pre-reqs right now and should be applying around 28 :)
 
I'm 31. I'll have my Associate's in Surgical Technology next year at 32, after which I should be 4 semesters away from a BS in Biology, giving me a graduation date of either December 2012 or May 2013. If I am able to get accepted into med school for the fall semester of 2013, I'll be 34 when I start. As long as I can get in by the time I'm 36 I'll be happy.

PS- I'm assuming I won't be aging at all over the next 4 years while I try to make medical school and beyond a reality. Please don't rob me of that delusion just yet. :D
 
I am 31 and have worked as PA-C for 6 years. I am a military PA school alum and combat vet.
 
Im 28. have a bs in communications(#1 useless degree ever). though right now im unemployed. :( still need all science pre reqs before i even can apply to med school. part of me thinks i should just do Radiography, cause hey, 60k a year aint bad and it only take me about 3 years. last job i had was 30k/yr and i highly doubt i will be able to ever make more than that.
 
32, at a crossroad, undecided, currently pursuing Master's in Accounting and CPA. No pre-reqs yet, but will try to take intro-chem, just to see. Used to excel in chem and bio in HS.
 
31 B.S. in Biology,minor in Chemistry. 10 years prior service Army. I've got two kids and a very understanding wife. I'm applying now and hope it will be the only time!
 
29 as of last week.

I'm just starting out. Single mom. Autistic child. Incredibly grateful to be taking this first step.
 
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27 and doing my Master's right now. I will apply in 2 years if I decide to stick with my Master's. I admire you guys who still have the drive to do this. I hope I do to in the long run.
I am losing my patience, it's such a long journey and the Caribbean schools are so tempting to put an end to the agony.
 
I am 25 right now. I still have roughly two years left for my pre-reqs/bachelors and I am hoping to be applying in 2012.
 
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