I think I'm ok, what do you guys think?

[Jeffrey Winner]

I have read many posts for weeks and all of you have given great advice. I just need to hear you guys comment on me. I will be completing my degree through Central Michigan, about half has been done at satellite campuses and the other half will be done online. The degree through CMU is transparent it is the same as going on campus; my point is the medical school will not know it was done online, but they may ask, that's my first hurdle. My second hurdle is I will be 43 when applying, my third hurdle is if I ace out of all my classes I will have 3.74 GPA. Now I will be taking all of the prereqs at a community college or the University of Iowa and will do my best to ace those as well. I will study hard for the MCAT, take a Kaplan program and then study again before taking the test. I don't have any volunteer work but I do have 6 years of military experience in the medical field which should help. It's what I want to do and have always wanted to do it just never thought I could until recently I just said go for it. So, what are my chances?

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[Chemdude]

I have read many posts for weeks and all of you have given great advice. I just need to hear you guys comment on me. I will be completing my degree through Central Michigan, about half has been done at satellite campuses and the other half will be done online. The degree through CMU is transparent it is the same as going on campus; my point is the medical school will not know it was done online, but they may ask, that's my first hurdle. My second hurdle is I will be 43 when applying, my third hurdle is if I ace out of all my classes I will have 3.74 GPA. Now I will be taking all of the prereqs at a community college or the University of Iowa and will do my best to ace those as well. I will study hard for the MCAT, take a Kaplan program and then study again before taking the test. I don't have any volunteer work but I do have 6 years of military experience in the medical field which should help. It's what I want to do and have always wanted to do it just never thought I could until recently I just said go for it. So, what are my chances?

If you are capable of representing your interest in medicine, I don't think you will have a problem. You are much older than the average applicant, which is a disadvantage, but there people your age who were fortunate enough to get an acceptance.

I'm assuming you are an MI resident. If so, you should consider Wayne State University. I heard that they are non-traditional friendly. Your stats should also be competitive there (30+ on the MCAT).

 

[Grobe57214]

Anything is possible, but you have an uphill battle ahead. As a 43 year old, you need to ask yourself, what can I do to prove that I want to pursue medicine for the adcomm's? You definitely need to get inside a hospital and volunteer/shadow. You will need an AMAZING MCAT to get yourself through the door, imo. Good luck to you. It is possible.

 

[Jeffrey Winner]

I own a home in Iowa and in Michigan, so I will apply to UofM, Wayne State, and maybe Michigan State DO school as well as Carver in Iowa City. I know everything is riding on my MCAT score. I think if I can get double digets I have a chance. I work full time and have a wife and two kids so volunteer work or shadowing might be a difficult. I do have 6 years working in hospitals, aid stations, and MASH units while serving in the military, would that transfer as shadowing?

 

[zwitter]

As a medical student, and not a premed, know this. Your age can be the single greatest asset you have going for you. Unlike chemdude's comment (a premed), you can make a very convincing argument about how your age and experience allow you to have a greater motivation to pursue medicine. You will be interviewing against neurotic 21 year olds....feel good about that.

 

[mdeast]

As a medical student, and not a premed, know this. Your age can be the single greatest asset you have going for you. Unlike chemdude's comment (a premed), you can make a very convincing argument about how your age and experience allow you to have a greater motivation to pursue medicine. You will be interviewing against neurotic 21 year olds....feel good about that.

True. The age is also a negative though. If the medical school invests in a 21 year old...they like have a 35-45 year career ahead of them. A 43 year, has that many years less. Part of medical school is looking at how each candidate w ill in the end contribute to society and use their training.

Having said that, I think there are many schools that do not discriminate against this. Certainly there aren't many 43 year olds applying to school, so you do end up sort of being a "niche" candidate in the process.

Good luck.

 

[Kip]

I suggest going to the non-traditional forum. They will probably have better input.

 

[Jeffrey Winner]

Thanks for responding, the rest is in my court all I have to do is ace my prereqs, finish my degree, take the mcat and score well. No problem!!

 

[morning]

DON'T take the pre-reqs at a community college after finishing your degree at a university. It's okay to do community college first, then university, not the other way around.

 

[Seven of Nine]

As a medical student, and not a premed, know this. Your age can be the single greatest asset you have going for you. Unlike chemdude's comment (a premed), you can make a very convincing argument about how your age and experience allow you to have a greater motivation to pursue medicine. You will be interviewing against neurotic 21 year olds....feel good about that.

+1

also, i think the one of the main concerns i've heard mentioned here related to being an older applicant, is not so much length of career, but more so attrition... is your noggin still fine working order? they want to know that you are capable of learning (and retaining) vast amounts of information and keeping up with the kids.

 

[Catalystik]

Oops, I posted on your duplicate thread and then saw that this is the more active of the two. Sorry.

 

[Chemdude]

As a medical student, and not a premed, know this. Your age can be the single greatest asset you have going for you. Unlike chemdude's comment (a premed), you can make a very convincing argument about how your age and experience allow you to have a greater motivation to pursue medicine. You will be interviewing against neurotic 21 year olds....feel good about that.

What did I say wrong?

An older person might be more qualified than a 21-year-old, but being 40+ is a disadvantage. A person who is 40+ is going to be fully licensed when they are in their early 50's. How long does that give them to practice? 15 years? 20 years? This factor is going to be considered by adcoms.

This in no way means that the OP should not apply. He looks like he genuinely wants to pursue a career in medicine. I was just noting that being significantly older than the average applicant is a disadvantage.

 

[Jeffrey Winner]

As far as my brain goes it has never worked. As of my later years it seems to be working a little better than it did when I was younger. When I was in my 20's I just wasn't mature enough, I didn't take school serious nor did I think it was worth the time. Then came children and they change everything. I want my son's who are 3 and 5 to do better than their father (me). I want them to have to really work at out doing me. Following my dream that unfortuneatly took me 20 years to finally realize I can do, will give them a decent goal to overcome and I may even be able to pay for their college in the process... after paying for mine that is.

 

[Jeffrey Winner]

One more thing, I do appreciate everyone's comments. I have been told and felt my entire life that Medical school was just unreachable, to long, to expensive and so on and so on. I have made a decision to do what I have wanted to do and all I can do is prepare myself the best that I can, apply to schools and see what they say. If they say no then I can say at least I tried rather than I wish I had tried.