Medical For TMDSAS, am I a Non-Traditional Applicant?

[Question]

Hello all,

I am wondering if I should put that I consider myself a traditional applicant or non-traditional applicant. The TMDSAS application doesn't give criteria for each choice, it just says to put whatever I identify as. After I got my undergraduate degree in engineering, I took a gap year then chose to start an MS with a thesis in biomedical sciences to learn more about medicine and get more experience in the field. I've seen some places say that anything other than undergrad to medical school is non-traditional, but others that say non-traditional means 30+ years old/started a career and decided to change it to medicine.

What are your thoughts on this? Should I consider myself traditional or non-traditional?

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[GoSpursGo]

It doesn't matter. It depends on your personal impression of what "traditional" means. The way you respond will have no bearing on your application.

 

[Dral]

I'd say go with your intent. If you intended medical school this whole time and then tacked on the MS to get more experience, then I'd just answer traditional.

That's about where I see the cutoff. A lot of folks extend undergrad by doing a masters with med school in mind. I personally think of that as traditional.

I always had med school in mind, but started down that path of a Masters which turned into a PhD. The PhD wasn't done with intent to increase my chances of Med school (whether it did or did not is another topic). So I considered myself nontrad when I applied. If I had just stuck with a year or two MS to get some research experience and to retake my MCAT, I would have probably thought of myself as a traditional.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

This really doesn’t matter.

 

[PerioDont]

This really doesn’t matter.

yep