Do nontraditional students have mentors?

[Lots2offer]

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Hi everyone,

I would really be interested to hear from non traditional students who started medical school post 30. I would like to know if you have a mentor. Why and how did you choose that person?

Thanks a lot in advance.

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[Law2Doc]

Hi everyone,

I would really be interested to hear from non traditional students who started medical school post 30. I would like to know if you have a mentor. Why and how did you choose that person?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Sent from my Vodafone 858 using SDN Mobile

Med schools often make mentors available, and once you settle on a particular field, it's a good idea to snag your own to give you insight on the various programs. Before that, not so much.

 

[DrHoffy]

Absolutly!
I had many mentors. I used my almuni pre med service; but I found that they were ill equipped to handle the reality of a non trad. (not to say all of them are...)

I ended up finding the oldpremeds group....from there I have many mentors....from Judy Colwell, to the leaders of the organization, to people who are one step ahead of me in this process and the adcoms who come to our conference each year. They have provided support, read my personal statements, given advice on how and when to apply to med school, etc.

Trust me, I would not of made it this far without them!
Marcia

 

[QofQuimica]

I would really be interested to hear from non traditional students who started medical school post 30. I would like to know if you have a mentor. Why and how did you choose that person?

Mentoring relationships are much more fluid and circumstance-specific than you're making them sound. Most people have several mentors, and this is entirely appropriate. You won't be able to get everything you need from one person in terms of advice, support, resources, etc. During medical school (started at age 31), I had three mentors I found on my own, as well as an assigned academic advisor and a research advisor. The roles of the academic and research advisors are self-explanatory. One of my other mentors helped me with the practical aspects of moving to a new city and then turned into more of a friend than a mentor; one was my main source of moral support and encouragement (we're still in touch); and one was the program director in my specialty who helped me with residency app advising. None of my mentors could have filled the roles of the others, and all of them were more or less important at different stages of my time in medical school.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I had quite a few mentors. Most of whom were doctors at the hospital I worked. My main mentor went to medical school at age 38 and was able to anticipate the difficulties we would face as older students, lack of money, move across the country and supported me and my family with advice and money along the way.

 

[Lots2offer]

Thank you so much for the responses.

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[MT Headed]

SDN was my mentor.

 

[MedPR]

sdn was my mentor.

+1000

 

[Lots2offer]

SDN was my mentor.

Lol. For now it pretty much is for me too.

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[ccrone]

Hi everyone,

I would really be interested to hear from non traditional students who started medical school post 30. I would like to know if you have a mentor. Why and how did you choose that person?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Sent from my Vodafone 858 using SDN Mobile

I haven't started medical school yet. But I am just now finishing my BS degree. My experience is that it was far easier for me to find mentors as an undergrad than it was for my classmates. I'm younger than my professors, but we're in the same place in life. We're married and have kids. As such, it's much easier for us to relate than it is for traditional students.

Doing things non-traditionally is definitely hard, but I really lucked out forming great relationships with professors in a position to help me. One professor's kids ended up becoming best friends with my kids. She recommended a great nanny when I needed one. Another professor had her son in the same preschool as my daughter. I coach soccer. One professor's daughter ended up on my daughter's team.

All of these things happened outside of class, and when these professors weren't teaching me. But it has been a huge influence on the opportunities I've had, recommendation letters, etc.

 

[yossarian444]

I started med school at 28. No mentors whatsoever before medical school - in retrospect I wish I did have somebody - I had no idea what I was doing when I applied. During medical school, I didn't have any mentor to speak of. I relied heavily on people in the classes ahead of me for advice. But, when I had specific questions, I had no problem finding an attending to bounce ideas off of. Be careful about relying on SDN during medical school. There are way too many worriers on here that freak you out into thinking you have to read every review book twice or else you'll never get above 220 on step 1 or 2. Very anxiety-provoking! Reading the SDN residency forums during residency interview season also just filled me with anxiety and doubt. SDN can be helpful; just know when to take a step back. I'm on here now since I'm an M4 with too much time on my hands.

 

[LaEsponja]

SDN was my mentor.

The information I've found here has been invaluable in setting me up for success. I have yet to find a mentor through this process, but I'm just getting started 🙂