40 and want to go to medical school

[aj7541]

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Hello posters,


I'm new to this forum and wanted some advice from those of you in the medical school or applying. I'm 40 and have a MS in Pathology. However, I have always wanted to go to medical school. I am considering leaving my job as a Research Assistant to do this (don't worry, the money isn't that great). I'm not worried about the debt I will accrue, I just want to actively be involved in helping my community first hand via education and resources. I have always loved the challenge of solving puzzles and no other puzzle is greater than the human body. What are my chances at this stage in life, and will medical schools exclude me because of my age? I'm not married and don't have any kids to support. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[EdLongshanks]

Hello posters,


I'm new to this forum and wanted some advice from those of you in the medical school or applying. I'm 40 and have a MS in Pathology. However, I have always wanted to go to medical school. I am considering leaving my job as a Research Assistant to do this (don't worry, the money isn't that great). I'm not worried about the debt I will accrue, I just want to actively be involved in helping my community first hand via education and resources. I have always loved the challenge of solving puzzles and no other puzzle is greater than the human body. What are my chances at this stage in life, and will medical schools exclude me because of my age? I'm not married and don't have any kids to support. Any feedback is appreciated.

I'm turning 48 this month and have been accepted to medical school for this fall. Age discrimination is disallowed by law. It happens but it is not a serious problem.

The way that age-discrimination can work (legally) is by making you answer the "Why Now?" question. If you don't have a really good answer to this (your short answer in this post is a little weak, in my opinion) then they can exclude you for insufficient commitment to medicine.

Your post has a naive feel too me. If you want to do this, then you will want to do considerable shadowing to prove that you know what you are getting into.

If you have all of your pre-reqs already taken, then you have a very short time to apply for the application cycle starting in June and ending 14 months later in July 2012. You will have to prep for the MCAT to be taken 3 months from now in May (do not underestimate this test!) and have sufficient clinical experience before July. You should already have research experience from your MS degree. I wonder if your last university courses are over 3 years old. If so, then they are out of date and only a superior score on the MCAT will get you a waiver.

If you don't already have a great volunteer resume at the age of 40, then I would wonder why you think you should be a doctor. By that age any other-oriented person should have an arms-length list of things he has done for his community.

You also have to put together an incredible Personal Statement - which is a ~7000 character essay explaining why you should be admitted. This is the most important part of the application for any 40+ student. There are handsome and interesting 20 somethings out there. What makes a geezer like you interesting?

 

[aj7541]

I kept the post short because I didn't want to tell this long story. I mainly wanted to give an overview of possibly applying to med school. I have 4 years of research, done work in the community related to homelessness and HIV/AIDS. As well as, worked with seniors in their homes. I have clocked over a 1000 hours of shadow experience in an urban setting (which is where I want to practice, primay care hopefully) as of this date, therefore the LOR's won't be a problem. Now I must prepare for the mcat in order to apply (ps had been written and reviewed by 3 MD's, all giving me the green light). I just wanted to know if adcom's would look at my age as a negative.

p.s. congrats on your acceptance

 

[anothercaliapp]

Some may and some may not. You certainly have more clinical experience than I did when I applied. In my interview trails, I do believe that age was an issue in one interview. It made have been a subtle one in others but impossible to tell. But I have emerged on the other side with multiple acceptances. I am not quite 40 but definitely closer to you in age than the ave. matriculant age for medical students.

The best advice I recieved was apply early and broadly. Do it right the first time.

 

[DrMidlife]

Being older than the average applicant is not much different from being younger than the average applicant.

It's bad in an older applicant to have too little of the good stuff in common with the young applicants (energy, enthusiasm, good physical health, curiosity etc).

It's bad in a younger applicant to have too little of the good stuff in common with the older applicants (maturity, experience, perspective, job history, independence, have paid own rent etc).

So an older applicant who looks and acts like they're pretty darned ready for retirement doesn't do so well in med school admissions. A younger applicant that can't take the time to spell out "your" or "you're", or maybe you wouldn't let them babysit your kids... you get the picture.

Edit: also, they can hate you for arbitrary reasons, or love you for arbitrary reasons. Age/weight/suit color/laugh like a dolphin/etc.

Best of luck to you.

 

[EdLongshanks]

laugh like a dolphin.

clickety-click-click-click-clickety.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I kept the post short because I didn't want to tell this long story. I mainly wanted to give an overview of possibly applying to med school. I have 4 years of research, done work in the community related to homelessness and HIV/AIDS. As well as, worked with seniors in their homes. I have clocked over a 1000 hours of shadow experience in an urban setting (which is where I want to practice, primay care hopefully) as of this date, therefore the LOR's won't be a problem. Now I must prepare for the mcat in order to apply (ps had been written and reviewed by 3 MD's, all giving me the green light). I just wanted to know if adcom's would look at my age as a negative.

p.s. congrats on your acceptance

I shall take back the "sound naive" comment. You're in great shape. Be ready for the "why now" question in the interview. It came up in every one of mine and was examined, picked over, challenged and asked in different ways to make sure that it didn't change.

 

[EdLongshanks]

BTW, just a note on the timing of your application. Make sure and get your transcripts into AMCAS and ACOMAS before June 1st. You can send them as soon as May 1st. You don't get in line to be verified until all of your transcripts are received. The line moves quickly on June 1 through 10 and then gets slower and slower until late September. You can work on your application the entire month of May and then hit enter at Midnight June 1. This will get you in line for the first interviews.

Also, you want to have your LOR's into interfolio very early. Some schools will request them as soon as July 1. Letter writers are notoriously slow. I'd get them now.

 

[jl lin]

If you don't already have a great volunteer resume at the age of 40, then I would wonder why you think you should be a doctor. By that age any other-oriented person should have an arms-length list of things he has done for his community.

You also have to put together an incredible Personal Statement - which is a ~7000 character essay explaining why you should be admitted. This is the most important part of the application for any 40+ student. There are handsome and interesting 20 somethings out there. What makes a geezer like you interesting?

👎
1. What? Wow...a volunteer resume not written down by 40...well then you suck and aren't physician material. Lolololololo. WOW.

2. Speak for yourself about the geezer part. Probably what makes him cool is he is not a geezer. Um...you can be a 23 year old geezer --aka a boring dork.



👍
Dr. Midlife, well said as usual.

 

[EdLongshanks]

👎
1. What? Wow...a volunteer resume not written down by 40...well then you suck and aren't physician material. Lolololololo. WOW.

ual.

You added two words to my quote "written down". I didn't say that. I said that if you, at the age of 40, have not volunteered for anything, then I wonder why you think that you want to spend the rest of your life caring for other people.

Some people, especially traditional students, treat volunteering as a box to be checked before they can get into medical school. I imagine that an adcomm would have difficulty telling the difference between a truly other-oriented person and yet another student wanting to make hordes of money and live the high-life.

But non-trads are different. You can tell if they are really service-oriented people because they worked for others before they thought about med-school. That was my point. Don't distort it by putting words in my mouth and morphing my quote into something weird.

 

[DrMidlife]

Seconded: ji lin, maybe you can clarify whether it's the volunteering or the resume that you're scoffing at. Longshanks is using "resume" in the abstract - a history of activity, not the document that describes that history.

In my experience, making it to 40 without having volunteered in the community would be as weird as still being a virgin. Definitely not something you'd want people to know.

Didn't there used to be a "5 hours a week" public service announcement? Maybe back during Gilligan's Island?

 

[jl lin]

Something about the tone that seems condescending to me.


People volunteer all the time and don't seek to write it all down in some neat little package. Also it bugs me a bit b/c plenty of people can have their hands full helping people close to home and otherwise, and they are not some kind of slackers that don't care about humanity.

And of course when people prep for med school, they can look for all kinds of things to squeeze into the whole "why I am a wonderful humanitarian and belong in med school" column.


Ed, you said resume...resume is usually written down, no?



Mostly it's the way Ed replied to this person that bugs me...yes my problem. I am OK with
that. But it hasn't just been his responses to a few people...


His stuff just comes off as a bit condescending and irksome to me sometimes. I don't think I am alone on that. I'll leave it alone now.

 

[ilmdoc]

I'm 37 and will be starting classes in August. I was asked a great question in one of my interviews: "You're a little older than your fellow applicants. Tell me how your recent undergrad classmates would describe you."
A big part of the interview process is them finding out if you will fit in well with the rest of the class. The interviewers are the ones that will be managing the class and dealing with the personalities in that class.

To answer your original question, being 40 will NOT keep you out of Med School. But, it does present a different set of challenges. Prepare well, apply early and broadly, and go for it!

 

[EdLongshanks]

Mostly it's the way Ed replied to this person that bugs me...yes my problem. I am OK with
that. But it hasn't just been his responses to a few people...

I will bow to your obvious assumed superiority.

 

[whouse]

.

 

[jl lin]

I will bow to your obvious assumed superiority.

Sigh, see that's even more condescension. OK. I see that you don't get it.

Following the late King Hamlet's advise to the prince with re: to Gertrude: "Leave her to heaven."

 

[jl lin]

I'll turn 40 this April before starting med school this Fall. I know my age was a huge benefit to my application. Personally, this is the perfect time for me to begin. I've had two very interesting careers, travelled all over, and gained life experiences that will be exceptionally beneficial to my practice (family medicine).

I honestly think the year you were born is nearly irrelevant to when you begin an endeavor - whether med school or having kids or deciding to summit your first mountain. It's all about being ready. Sometimes we don't get the luxury of being ready obviously, but when you are and things begin to fall into place it's one of the best feelings in life.

👍 Excellent reply. Readiness makes ALL the difference in the world, and it does not necessarily have anything to do with age.

Society uses base demographics to make conclusions about individuals. The thing is demographics should mostly be used as a baseline about groups of people at certain times. Doing such is neither holistics nor is it particularly true or insightful. The thing is, it is simply a matter of what seems easiest in terms of drawing conclusion. It may at times be useful in the general gathering of information, but as you move into the specifics, it should take on less importance. And this is true in the practice of medicine as well.


Thank you for your reply. It is true and edifying. 🙂

 

[EdLongshanks]

Sigh, see that's even more condescension. OK. I see that you don't get it.

Following the late King Hamlet's advise to the prince with re: to Gertrude: "Leave her to heaven."

Thank you for your correction. I'm glad that you have descended from your height of wisdom to correct my condescending tone.

 

[DrMidlife]

Take it outside.

 

[EdLongshanks]

Take it outside.

I'm sorry. I was having too much fun. I'll stop teasing the animals now.

 

[jl lin]

I'm sorry. I was having too much fun. I'll stop teasing the animals now.

Beautifully condescending. . . calling others animals when you don't agree.


Try what I am doing:

I'm sorry DM, et, al. . . Let's get back to the OP's focus. Done with this.