Average age of med student

[MEG@COOL]

I see that many schools have an average age of like 23 or 24. Is this due to a few old people bringing up the average or are many people actually 23 or 24

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[MrBurns10]

Most actually are 23 to 24...unless you're in my class, in which if you're 21-22 you're average. I swear I matriculated at 23 and I was one of the older people.

 

[45408]

we've got a few in the "much older" category, but honestly, I think most people were 23 or 24 when they started.

 

[searun]

Most actually are 23 to 24...unless you're in my class, in which if you're 21-22 you're average. I swear I matriculated at 23 and I was one of the older people.

Yeah, Duke likes to snatch them right out of college before they get out into the world. I think about 90 percent of the Duke med students come directly from college. But many med schools, including the one I will be attending, prefer applicants who have knocked about in the world abit, so the average age is around 24 instead of 21.

 

[TheRealMD]

Just using Texas as a representation for the rest of the US, you can see that most are 21-23 (67%), a few are 24-26 (27%), and still even some at 27+ (11%). So you can see that most are really 21-23, but because of the outliners in age, it comes up to 24.

Now, for those nerds that bothered count up the percentages, a whooping 1% (13 people) were 20 or younger. Boy, I feel special. 😀

Info: http://www.utsystem.edu/tmdsas/Final Statistics Report-EY 06-Medical.pdf

 

[gotmeds?]

I see that many schools have an average age of like 23 or 24. Is this due to a few old people bringing up the average or are many people actually 23 or 24

Don't worry, MEG. By the time you get in you'll be old, too.

 

[stat3113]

That's interesting. I've tried to find hard data on this. I came across an article in a Harvard magazine from 2002, which writes: "with a nationwide average age of 26 for students entering their first year of medical school, the road to "having it all" with a balanced life of family and work seems even more difficult."

http://webweekly.hms.harvard.edu/archive/2002/5_6/student_scene.html

From this, it seems that average entrants to med school have spent 3 yrs in the real world after college. But it seems to contradict what many of you are saying. Can anyone else try to find better stats?

 

[TheRealMD]

That's interesting. I've tried to find hard data on this. I came across an article in a Harvard magazine from 2002, which writes: "with a nationwide average age of 26 for students entering their first year of medical school, the road to "having it all" with a balanced life of family and work seems even more difficult."

http://webweekly.hms.harvard.edu/archive/2002/5_6/student_scene.html

From this, it seems that average entrants to med school have spent 3 yrs in the real world after college. But it seems to contradict what many of you are saying. Can anyone else try to find better stats?

Look at my post. There's enough info to do the math and get an average age of 24 after assuming a few minor details.

 

[silverchola]

Wow, I never thought being above 25 would be considered old

 

[TheRealMD]

Wow, I never thought being above 25 would be considered old

yep, time to put you out to pasture and let the young guns take the reins.

 

[silverchola]

Actually it would be a respirator...

 

[LifetimeDoc]

We old folk are taking over medicine. Muhahaha! 😀

 

[MrBurns10]

Yeah, Duke likes to snatch them right out of college before they get out into the world. I think about 90 percent of the Duke med students come directly from college. But many med schools, including the one I will be attending, prefer applicants who have knocked about in the world abit, so the average age is around 24 instead of 21.

Seriously. When the year started, one kid was still a minor (17), two kids were 19, and another was 20. One guy deferred for a year and still only turned 22 this year. The ones who are 25 and up call themselves the G-Unit (i.e. geriatric).

 

[TheRealMD]

Seriously. When the year started, one kid was still a minor (17), two kids were 19, and another was 20. One guy derferred for a year and still only turned 22 this year. The ones who are 25 and up call themselves the G-Unit (i.e. geriatric).

Geez, the 17 year old will make ME look old and that's saying something!

 

[mvenus929]

Seriously. When the year started, one kid was still a minor (17), two kids were 19, and another was 20. One guy deferred for a year and still only turned 22 this year. The ones who are 25 and up call themselves the G-Unit (i.e. geriatric).

Good to know I might not be the youngest. But I'm used to it 🙂

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Geez, the 17 year old will make ME look old and that's saying something!

I'm over twice his age...kinda scary. 😱😴

 

[neopentanol]

Personally, there are so many things I wouldn't have learned about the world if I had jumped straight into med school, I'm glad I'm starting at 25 instead of where I was mentally at 22.

 

[lilnoelle]

The average may be around 24, but I'd say that as long as a person isn't one of the outliers, they'll find that there are plenty of people their age in med school. With large class sizes, there is plenty of variety in age, race, interests, etc. No one should feel like they stick out or don't belong.