An old man

[Sulcata]

An old man sincerely need some advices about my chances for med school.

1) I will be 44 next month.
2) Graduated from a foreign university twenty years ago with poor GPA 2.1
3) Work in the hospital as R.D. during the early years of my career
4) Work for a multi-national pharmaceutical company for 12 years and feel my position is no longer secured
5) MCAT 28Q
6) I started to retake all my basic science subjects, English, Speech and others in a local community college two years ago, sGPA 4.0 and cum GPA 3.86
7) nothing particular for other fields except real estate and Pharmacy Technician license
8) married with three kids

Thanks in advance for all the replies.

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[longhorn09]

I remember TX schools have a policy of forgiving grades that are 10 yrs or older. You should def. check that out!

 

[phospho]

I remember TX schools have a policy of forgiving grades that are 10 yrs or older. You should def. check that out!

well, either way, since it's a foreign university, they don't include those grades... and even if they did, it's not like they can "know" about them if he doesn't mention anything

 

[Sulcata]

Thanks for the information. But I do need to disclose those foreign works for my application. We need at least 90 semester units, don't we? I really cannot spent another 2-3 years for a B.A./B.S. degree which I might not need the rest of my life. And I will be 47 then.
Do they really don't care about the age? I highly doubt it.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

well, either way, since it's a foreign university, they don't include those grades... and even if they did, it's not like they can "know" about them if he doesn't mention anything

I've once heard of a federal computer system that schools use to varify students' schooling records. I wouldn't jeopardize it!

 

[student1799]

Thanks for the information. But I do need to disclose those foreign works for my application. We need at least 90 semester units, don't we? I really cannot spent another 2-3 years for a B.A./B.S. degree which I might not need the rest of my life. And I will be 47 then.
Do they really don't care about the age? I highly doubt it.

I think you need to repost this query in the nontraditional students forum, where there are more knowledgeable people to advise you. Having said that, I'm a nontrad myself (46, and got into med school this year), and I'll give you a couple of quick points.

1.One of the posters here is mostly right: AMCAS wants transcripts from foreign schools, but they don't verify or convert them into US grades, so they won't be counted in your GPA. However, you are also right that you need 90 units in the US or a US bachelor's degree, and your foreign credits won't count. So if you want to apply here, you'll have to take some more classes. (Really, you're better off this way, because if the did count the foreign credits, it would lower your GPA a lot.)

2. As for the age, under the law the schools are not allowed to consider it, but in reality I'm sure they actually do. I got 8 interviews out of 27 schools where I applied, but only got into 2 places (1 outright, and 1 off the waitlist), and was WL'd at 4 others. I think my age did play a role, but its hard to say exactly how much, except for one school where I think there was really blatant age discrimination (I was rejected post-interview there).

So the answer is that this can be done, but it will take a lot of work, and only you can decide whether you want to go for it. Good luck.

 

[flip26]

Thanks for the information. But I do need to disclose those foreign works for my application. We need at least 90 semester units, don't we? I really cannot spent another 2-3 years for a B.A./B.S. degree which I might not need the rest of my life. And I will be 47 then.
Do they really don't care about the age? I highly doubt it.

You need 90 units to apply, but you ultimately need a US or Canadian college diploma to matriculate, so you really do not have any way to get around this requirement.

Research the rules on foreign credits and US degrees carefully. If any of your foreign credits can be used towards a US degree, then that could shorten your path (US colleges have their own rules about how many foreign or outside credits can be applied towards a degree).

Given your concern about your age, you should look into alternate health care careers with shorter, simpler, and less competitive paths such as nursing and PA programs...under the best possible circumstances, it sounds like you will not be ready to apply for at least another 2 cycles...at some point, inspite of laws protecting you against age discrimination, I have to believe that your age will become a factor in the admissions process...

 

[txprodigal]

i think texas schools want foreign transcripts