Advice on possible medical or age discrimination in university acceptance.

[jdubs1984]

Hello Everyone,

I've been rejected from the 4 year university I applied to transfer to from my community college. I'm unsure how I would not be in the top pool of applicants unless they are holding my medical withdrawals against me from years ago. I have a 3.2~ over the years, I'm currently top 5 of all my classes and I submitted letters of recommendation from professors who were enthusiastic about my performance. I'm taking full time classes while having two jobs supporting my family, and dealing with cluster headaches, which I'm sure most here know how debilitating those are! I also have a 99% percentile ASVAB(military entrance exam). I didn't submit any standardized tests because I wasn't required to as a transfer, and I haven't taken one in 25~ years anyways, so that doesn't seem relevant. Being a military veteran I should also be getting preference on top of that. And the icing on the cake is that I'm a software engineer and have been professionally for a decade and applied for the computer science program at a STATE school. How am I not considered one of the most likely candidates to complete the program? I really just do not understand how I could be rejected! Is it unreasonable to think this is likely discrimination? I actually had already decided on a different school anyways, but if they are discriminating they deserve to be taken to court and I don't mind spending the money to teach them a lesson.

Also, this makes me extremely worried about my future prospects at medical school

Just hoping for a sanity check here on if this could be age, medical, or other discrimination, (and also doing a bit of venting!)
Thanks guys,
J

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[PipetteDreams]

Congrats on literally everything you've done - amazing!

Have you tried reaching out for feedback on your application? Since the non-trad pool is so small for these programs, directors will often provide some sort of guidance if you say you're looking to grow/improve for future applications. There are so many factors at play here, that there may be weak spots in your application you're blind to (i.e., they really do want test scores, for example).

Don't worry about medical school quite yet - there are students of all ages. But agree that when bumps in the road come your way, it's super cathartic to vent those emotions.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Sorry to hear of the disappointing news. I echo what @PipetteDreams is saying: reach out to an admissions person at the university to get their feedback.

My suspicion is that you applied to a very competitive program with a relatively low GPA and your app just got filtered out, despite your myriad additional strengths. The state school where I did my postbac has something like a 90% acceptance rate for most of its programs, but a ~25% acceptance rate for the CS major with a 3.5 GPA requirement.

But all this is a moot point anyway, since you’re going elsewhere. None of this should make you worried at all about med school. Medical schools love veterans, so that will be a huge benefit to your future application. Keep getting excellent grades in your premed classes and you’ll be fine.

 

[jdubs1984]

Sorry to hear of the disappointing news. I echo what @PipetteDreams is saying: reach out to an admissions person at the university to get their feedback.

My suspicion is that you applied to a very competitive program with a relatively low GPA and your app just got filtered out, despite your myriad additional strengths. The state school where I did my postbac has something like a 90% acceptance rate for most of its programs, but a ~25% acceptance rate for the CS major with a 3.5 GPA requirement.

But all this is a moot point anyway, since you’re going elsewhere. None of this should make you worried at all about med school. Medical schools love veterans, so that will be a huge benefit to your future application. Keep getting excellent grades in your premed classes and you’ll be fine.

Maybe I got autofiltered and no one really reviewed my application? It just seems silly to turn down someone for computer science who already does it professionally and has programmed for almost 3 decades! Anyways, I got advice from an adcom about choosing a degree and they suggested I take this adult completion style degree called university studies. Essentially they customize a program to get me graduated with the least amount of credits possible and with a focus on subjects I'm interested in. So that means I can save a whole year off my degree or more! They said that degree doesn't matter, only that I do well in my prereqs and MCAT. Is it too early to start studying for MCAT? I haven't taken chem 2 or orgo 1 or 2 yet, so I don't want to waste my time, but I'd be interested in perusing some study books if you think it would be helpful.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I agree with JanetSnakehole, this doesn't sound like discrimination but rather inadequate systems. I think it is entirely possible your application was auto filtered out. Most admissions offices rely on some type of screening tool to help them wade through the large number of applicants they receive. Unless the program is well known for having a non traditional or veteran population, it is entirely possible they do not have systems in place to ensure applications like yours get reviewed by an actual person. I would reach out to the admissions office and inquire what it would take to have a more successful application to their program. I would also check with local veterans groups to see if there are other veterinary friendly colleges or universities in the area. Best of luck to you!

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Maybe I got autofiltered and no one really reviewed my application? It just seems silly to turn down someone for computer science who already does it professionally and has programmed for almost 3 decades! Anyways, I got advice from an adcom about choosing a degree and they suggested I take this adult completion style degree called university studies. Essentially they customize a program to get me graduated with the least amount of credits possible and with a focus on subjects I'm interested in. So that means I can save a whole year off my degree or more! They said that degree doesn't matter, only that I do well in my prereqs and MCAT. Is it too early to start studying for MCAT? I haven't taken chem 2 or orgo 1 or 2 yet, so I don't want to waste my time, but I'd be interested in perusing some study books if you think it would be helpful.

Degree does not matter at all, as many of us nontrads can attest. MCAT and prerequisite grades are key. Get your clinical experience in too, if you haven’t already.

It’s way too early to start serious MCAT prep (wait until after all your prerequisites are done - you really do need the context that the classes will give you), though if you wanted to get a head start on CARS, it definitely would not hurt to sign up for the daily Jack Westin passages. Your primary MCAT prep at this stage is doing as well as you can in your classes to master the foundational knowledge that the MCAT tests.

 

[jdubs1984]

Degree does not matter at all, as many of us nontrads can attest. MCAT and prerequisite grades are key. Get your clinical experience in too, if you haven’t already.

It’s way too early to start serious MCAT prep (wait until after all your prerequisites are done - you really do need the context that the classes will give you), though if you wanted to get a head start on CARS, it definitely would not hurt to sign up for the daily Jack Westin passages. Your primary MCAT prep at this stage is doing as well as you can in your classes to master the foundational knowledge that the MCAT tests.

I'm looking at some prep sites, and this one MCAT Content has 140 different sections...If I started studying today, I would have enough time to spend less than a week on each one before my MCAT about 2 years from now! I sorta feel like I should start now and just try to organize these sections in a way that would hopefully mimic the class order I will be taking. It's a bit overwhelming!

 

[GreenDuck12]

I'm looking at some prep sites, and this one MCAT Content has 140 different sections...If I started studying today, I would have enough time to spend less than a week on each one before my MCAT about 2 years from now! I sorta feel like I should start now and just try to organize these sections in a way that would hopefully mimic the class order I will be taking. It's a bit overwhelming!

I wouldn’t simply because it’s not sustainable to retain information over that period of time. The prereq classes are going to demand you learn the material to a higher level of detail than the mcat will. Also the skills necessary to do well in prereqs and the mcat are quite different. Prereqs require you to master details, concepts, and application. The mcat asks you to reason with information presented in the passage based on foundational chemical/physical/biological concepts. For now, focus on doing well in the prereqs - that will lend itself more to doing well on the mcat than an extended prep period.

 

[jdubs1984]

I wouldn’t simply because it’s not sustainable to retain information over that period of time. The prereq classes are going to demand you learn the material to a higher level of detail than the mcat will. Also the skills necessary to do well in prereqs and the mcat are quite different. Prereqs require you to master details, concepts, and application. The mcat asks you to reason with information presented in the passage based on foundational chemical/physical/biological concepts. For now, focus on doing well in the prereqs - that will lend itself more to doing well on the mcat than an extended prep period.

Thank you for this, I was going to split out some of my study time to work on the mcat prep. I'll spend that time instead on my prereqs. Although there will come a point where I have no more prereqs and will be taking unrelated classes. How important is non-science GPA? Would it be wise to aim for B's in those classes and spend the extra time on MCAT prep end of junior year and beyond?

 

[GreenDuck12]

Thank you for this, I was going to split out some of my study time to work on the mcat prep. I'll spend that time instead on my prereqs. Although there will come a point where I have no more prereqs and will be taking unrelated classes. How important is non-science GPA? Would it be wise to aim for B's in those classes and spend the extra time on MCAT prep end of junior year and beyond?

You should aim to get the highest grades you can in every class, prerequisites or otherwise. For medical school, you cumulative GPA and science GPA are incredibly important. I would not recommend aiming for Bs in any class in order to prepare for the MCAT. A better strategy would be to take the mcat when you are not taking classes or have a relatively light academic load. The three most important numbers in your initial application is your cGPA, sGPA, and MCAT score. As someone likes to put it on here: your GPA and MCAT score will either open doors or close them but they won't be enough alone to get through them.

 

[esob]

I don't think age/disability discrimination a rampant problem for most undergrad institutions, though you will see it be more prevalent at the medical school level IMHO. Regardless, there is nothing you can do other than to make yourself the best possible candidate that you can be and know that any school that does discriminate against you doesn't deserve all the things that you bring to the table anyway.