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At what age does a person become a "non-trad"?
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It's not as much an age, but the fact that you aren't going the traditional route...high school, right to college and about 20-22 years of age. There are some young non-trads who may have taken a few years off of school before going to college or who went to college after high school but took off a couple of years before proceeding with applying to medical school. If you are 24+ and have spent anytime in the "real world," you are most likely a nontrad.
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njbmd
I would argue that there is no specific "age" for a non-traditional student. If you read the description of Nontraditional Students at the top of this forum "For students that entered the health professions from a different path, either as a career change, after miliatry service, or justor just later than the average pre-health student." This definition fits BS/MD students who typically enter medical school at age 19 or my uncle who entered medical school at age 16 after completing his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at UC Berkeley.
There is nothing magical about being a "non-traditional" student but more of a descriptive term.
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The average age of a matriculant is more like 23 or 24 now. That means that it's completely traditional to have a few years' activities outside of college before you start med school. Thus, not immediately applying to med school after college doesn't make you a non-trad. Doing a postbac immediately after college is just more college. Working for a couple years isn't a career. I don't even think the Peace Corps or military service makes you a non-trad, per se. (These are great EC's.)
In my mind, non-trad status is defined by two things, and a non-trad has to fit at least one:
First: a non-trad has one or more maturity-inducing responsibilities that would derail the average 19-24 yo premed from the ambition to pursue medicine. This would include things like having kids, having a responsible career that pays stable money, owning a house or business, being responsible for the care of a relative, or otherwise having at least one big adult responsibility that you can't just drop to go to med school. If you've only ever been responsible to your parents, you're hardly a non-trad.
Second: a non-trad has either been denied, or has passed up, the opportunity to pursue medicine before the age of 22-25, and has to sweat to get back in the game. About half the time, this seems to mean that the non-trad slacked during college and doesn't figure it out until several years post-college. The other half of the time, this seems to mean that the non-trad worked his/her fanny off for a career that he/she doesn't really believe in, and wants to move his/her talents into medicine.
It seems like money should be a factor, but I don't think it is. A kid who screws around until they're 28, and wakes up hungover in Thailand realizing they want to be a doctor, and has a trust fund they can use to get going on that goal, yeah, that's still a non-trad.
A lot of non-trads have made "mistakes," but this doesn't define non-trad. NJBMD is a good example of this: she left a thriving academic career to start med school at 45 or 46. There's no mistake in there. A 21yo who has a bad GPA and has to do an SMP to get into med school isn't a non-trad.
In my mind, being an immigrant is almost enough to make you a de facto non-trad, even if you apply straight out of college. Having to learn English at 13 and still excel in school fits my first "maturity-inducing event" category.
Lastly, having parental support doesn't prevent somebody from being non-trad. It's "sexier" to be an independent non-trad, but going back to school at 27 on your dad's dime, or having your mom around to watch the kids, doesn't reduce you to a 21 year old.
That's my $.02, to be taken with the usual bucket of salt.
In my mind, non-trad status is defined by two things, and a non-trad has to fit at least one:
First: a non-trad has one or more maturity-inducing responsibilities that would derail the average 19-24 yo premed from the ambition to pursue medicine. This would include things like having kids, having a responsible career that pays stable money, owning a house or business, being responsible for the care of a relative, or otherwise having at least one big adult responsibility that you can't just drop to go to med school. If you've only ever been responsible to your parents, you're hardly a non-trad.
Second: a non-trad has either been denied, or has passed up, the opportunity to pursue medicine before the age of 22-25, and has to sweat to get back in the game. About half the time, this seems to mean that the non-trad slacked during college and doesn't figure it out until several years post-college. The other half of the time, this seems to mean that the non-trad worked his/her fanny off for a career that he/she doesn't really believe in, and wants to move his/her talents into medicine.
It seems like money should be a factor, but I don't think it is. A kid who screws around until they're 28, and wakes up hungover in Thailand realizing they want to be a doctor, and has a trust fund they can use to get going on that goal, yeah, that's still a non-trad.
A lot of non-trads have made "mistakes," but this doesn't define non-trad. NJBMD is a good example of this: she left a thriving academic career to start med school at 45 or 46. There's no mistake in there. A 21yo who has a bad GPA and has to do an SMP to get into med school isn't a non-trad.
In my mind, being an immigrant is almost enough to make you a de facto non-trad, even if you apply straight out of college. Having to learn English at 13 and still excel in school fits my first "maturity-inducing event" category.
Lastly, having parental support doesn't prevent somebody from being non-trad. It's "sexier" to be an independent non-trad, but going back to school at 27 on your dad's dime, or having your mom around to watch the kids, doesn't reduce you to a 21 year old.
That's my $.02, to be taken with the usual bucket of salt.
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Nontrad in its strictest definition means you didn't go directly from high school to college to med school. So it's not age dependant. But as a prior poster indicated, since taking an extra year or two is becoming more common, it might be fair to say you are still pretty traditional at 23-24. If you want to look at it as a "shared experiences" concept, you won't face any different experiences in applying and blending in with the class if you are 25 or under.
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ha . . . i think you realize you're a nontrad when it seems like you have nothing in common with regular undergrad premeds . . .
i didn't do terrible in undergrad, nor did i leave a lucrative career. But i was not a premed or even thinking about it in undergrad, and i did have a full time job for a while, although it was a pretty crappy one.
when i started thinking about medicine, i contacted an admissions advisor from a nearby med school and he encouraged me to come in on a 'visit day' and check out the school and talk to him about how i was going to tackle applying. on this day, there were probably ten applicants in black suits there for a tour and interview, and about ten students from a different undergrad institution's 'pre-med club' there to check it out. holy crap, did i stick out. i felt like a total outcast. 🙄
but i agree with the general consensus here that the reason adcomms like nontrads is because they have maturity, experience and perspective. so although i am still relatively young, i think my path has been a lot different due to the fact that i spent my undergrad career pursuing one field only to realize it wasnt what i wanted, and at the same had to work so many crappy jobs to support myself through it and after it. and now i am having to do unusual things like getting a masters in a new and unfamiliar field, and taking undergrad premed courses at the same time (while still living the broke life.) i think if i had taken the same path, academically, but been financially supported somehow and not had to work such a wide variety of crap jobs, I would not have developed those nice qualities like perspective. now, no matter how sucky med school may, be i will always be able to look back at a horrible job or the way i felt when i was considering a career in my first major, and be happy i'm not doing that instead.
i didn't do terrible in undergrad, nor did i leave a lucrative career. But i was not a premed or even thinking about it in undergrad, and i did have a full time job for a while, although it was a pretty crappy one.
when i started thinking about medicine, i contacted an admissions advisor from a nearby med school and he encouraged me to come in on a 'visit day' and check out the school and talk to him about how i was going to tackle applying. on this day, there were probably ten applicants in black suits there for a tour and interview, and about ten students from a different undergrad institution's 'pre-med club' there to check it out. holy crap, did i stick out. i felt like a total outcast. 🙄
but i agree with the general consensus here that the reason adcomms like nontrads is because they have maturity, experience and perspective. so although i am still relatively young, i think my path has been a lot different due to the fact that i spent my undergrad career pursuing one field only to realize it wasnt what i wanted, and at the same had to work so many crappy jobs to support myself through it and after it. and now i am having to do unusual things like getting a masters in a new and unfamiliar field, and taking undergrad premed courses at the same time (while still living the broke life.) i think if i had taken the same path, academically, but been financially supported somehow and not had to work such a wide variety of crap jobs, I would not have developed those nice qualities like perspective. now, no matter how sucky med school may, be i will always be able to look back at a horrible job or the way i felt when i was considering a career in my first major, and be happy i'm not doing that instead.
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If you're the only one walking around campus without stupid white earbuds leading into your pocket, you are most likely non-trad.
how would adcoms know that you are a non trad vs trad? is there like a place to check it of on amcas?
i graduated college this past may but wont be applying until 2008, making me two years out of college by the time i matriculate. I'm an immigrant (although i came here a while back, in '93), ive worked all though out high school and college, and im currently working in a hospital (although no clinical duties). would i be a non trad? does it matter?
i graduated college this past may but wont be applying until 2008, making me two years out of college by the time i matriculate. I'm an immigrant (although i came here a while back, in '93), ive worked all though out high school and college, and im currently working in a hospital (although no clinical duties). would i be a non trad? does it matter?
