Hi all,
I have an unusual situation and could use a little help from the “hive-mind” that is this forum. I appreciate the collective wisdom present here, and would really appreciate a helping hand.
I will graduate from a local public university at the age of 18 (I am 15 now) with a biology pre-med degree and both a chemistry and music minor. To be clear, I am not looking for judgement and/or disapproval of my grade accelerations, there is no way that I can give you my life story via a medium such as this, so just rest assured that my education has been guided by many professionals and is done with the agreement of all parties involved. This is not a result of parents “pushing” me, I am very independent with regards to my education and, in fact, my parents have tended to be the voice of reason . Thank you in advance for understanding.
A little background info: I will be entering my sophomore year of college this fall. I am looking to enter a MD/PHD program after graduation, and know that it may be difficult to get schools to accept me due to my age. I will have all the other needed attributes for my application (strong ECs, shadowing, clinical experience, research, etc.) My GPA (as of now) is a 4.0, and as I’ve taken many of the more difficult science courses already (organic chem, cell bio, etc.), I don’t expect it to change much. Assuming a high MCAT score (if I don’t get a high score I have many years to retake ), I will be looking to attend a top-tier university.
My questions are as follows:
1) Do you know of anyone who went through a similar situation to mine who would be willing to give me some advice?
2) If you were on an applications committee looking at my application, what would you want to see to show maturity and social competence, to help counteract concerns that would be brought up with my age?
3) What issues, if any, would you foresee coming up with a significantly younger person in a medical class (besides maturity of the subject matter)? Now, one of the reasons I have chosen an MD/PHD path (besides my love for research) is that it will “catch me back up” in age so that my M3 and M4 I am the same age as most of my non-PHD counterparts. Because of this, I don’t foresee clinical appropriateness being as much of an issue either.
4) Does anyone know of ways to get clinical experience under the age of 18? I have a few ways but I am looking for more ideas.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you may be able to offer. I appreciate any insights that you can provide .
6zebo6
I have an unusual situation and could use a little help from the “hive-mind” that is this forum. I appreciate the collective wisdom present here, and would really appreciate a helping hand.
I will graduate from a local public university at the age of 18 (I am 15 now) with a biology pre-med degree and both a chemistry and music minor. To be clear, I am not looking for judgement and/or disapproval of my grade accelerations, there is no way that I can give you my life story via a medium such as this, so just rest assured that my education has been guided by many professionals and is done with the agreement of all parties involved. This is not a result of parents “pushing” me, I am very independent with regards to my education and, in fact, my parents have tended to be the voice of reason . Thank you in advance for understanding.
A little background info: I will be entering my sophomore year of college this fall. I am looking to enter a MD/PHD program after graduation, and know that it may be difficult to get schools to accept me due to my age. I will have all the other needed attributes for my application (strong ECs, shadowing, clinical experience, research, etc.) My GPA (as of now) is a 4.0, and as I’ve taken many of the more difficult science courses already (organic chem, cell bio, etc.), I don’t expect it to change much. Assuming a high MCAT score (if I don’t get a high score I have many years to retake ), I will be looking to attend a top-tier university.
My questions are as follows:
1) Do you know of anyone who went through a similar situation to mine who would be willing to give me some advice?
2) If you were on an applications committee looking at my application, what would you want to see to show maturity and social competence, to help counteract concerns that would be brought up with my age?
3) What issues, if any, would you foresee coming up with a significantly younger person in a medical class (besides maturity of the subject matter)? Now, one of the reasons I have chosen an MD/PHD path (besides my love for research) is that it will “catch me back up” in age so that my M3 and M4 I am the same age as most of my non-PHD counterparts. Because of this, I don’t foresee clinical appropriateness being as much of an issue either.
4) Does anyone know of ways to get clinical experience under the age of 18? I have a few ways but I am looking for more ideas.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you may be able to offer. I appreciate any insights that you can provide .
6zebo6