If med schools did this, I'd bet they produce better doctors

I believe you're asking for a flamewar.

 

How can you measure a person's maturity level based purely on an arbitrary cutoff of 25? Give me a break. They are trying to increase the numbers of physicians coming out of medical school not decrease it. What is everyone straight out of undergrad going to do for 3 years? No health insurance, part time jobs unless an individual majors in engineering or some kind of applied science, and it would remove the possibility for BS/MD programs keeping some of the brighter students at the same insitution. I agree it would help to have older applicants that have seen more, but there aren't that many. Nontrads are increasing in number and are being accepted, but they can't make up the whole class.

Anyway, volunteering is essentially required now. It's nice to have a rural or inner city focus, but not everyone can easily volunteer for a year long if they have to pay their way through school while sustaining certain grades.

 

I think they would also get fewer doctors. That would have definitely pushed me to NP or PA.

Some of us women want to have kids before we're 30.

 

CubanDoc grabs.....
chair, popcorn, soda and dark glasses for Firework Display

 

Are you just saying this because you got a late start in Medicine?

A minimum age limit makes no sense, especially one as high as 25. The only thing that should be considered in Medical Admissions is ability and motivation.

I think that Sho Yano kid(12year old who got accepted into the Pritzker School of Medicine MD/PHD Program) is a great example of age not being important if you have what it takes.

 

appropriate avatar

 

Yeah and you would get a lot more rich kids who could afford to volunteer for a year. Its hard to volunteer full time for a year if you need a job to pay for health insurance, car payments, car insurance, gas, rent, utilities, applications... Oh and some of us live no where near farms or conventional inner cities.

 

Heres what I think of this comment

Hahaha Oh man it great to know that being 25 is now the new 40!! The average age of my class was 25. I guess thats so old we must be nontrad I am going to get all my older applicant classmates together and eat jello and go watch a "talkie".

 

I bet all the "traditional" students ignore your "keep off the grass" sign and trample your lawn daily. After the talkie will there be jitterbugging? Maybe you guys could start a student group to share tips and tricks for covering your furniture in clear plastic

geezer.

 

I was thinking the exact opposite:

1)Set a maximum age limit of 25.

Why spend government money on people who will be around for less time?
I guess you're the person that goes to the grocery and gets the milk with an expiration date one day from now rather than a couple weeks from now. I never understood that.

2)I think doctors should be well versed in hospitals and health care. I don't see how spending a year in a soup kitchen will help doctors practice. Personally, I would rather my doctor understand biochemistry rather than how to make a beef stew.

 

You made me laugh! It just so funny hearing 25 mentioned as a nontrad when the average age nationally for matriculated medical school freshman is 24.16 years old. That extra year is like a 1000.

 

Yea, I bet they'd also produce better docs if med school was 8 years instead of 4 and residencies were twice as long. Just because it would work doesn't mean it's rational.

 

Average maybe that but I suspect the median is closer to 22. Check the MSAR chart.

 

and doctors should have to give up 95% of their salary. I mean come on people no one has a right to get more than 10,000 a year to live off of. Seriously, if you are going into medicine just because you want to put food on your table you are a bad bad person and don't deserve a seat in med school!!!!!!!

 

Who does that?

Soup kitchen? I thought we were doing inner city health clinics? If not, then I am definitely going to agree with you. Requiring that doctors know how to make a mean beef stew seems a little silly.

Are you pregnant?

 

They should make Medical Education more like that of Western Europe. That is letting students start their Medical Education straight out of High School. I don't see why 4 years of undergrad is necessary. And one can hardly argue that Western European system produces inferior Doctors.

Medical training being as long as it is should start as early as possible.

 

Yeah but there would have to be a lot of outs along the way. I dunno what the attrition rate is in Europe but if we let all the 18 year old 'pre-meds' in medical school we'd have a lot of problems.

 

Fraternity Pledges doing the "gallon challenge"....
...Or so I've heard...

 

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Alright, you caught me.

 

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/2006/2006age.htm

Sure it says mean...and with like 17,000 matriculants I am sure its a pretty damn standard bell. But come on nontrad is like 30.

 

I can with confidence say the distribution is definitely not a standard bell. I can't post the MSAR picture due to copyright but the peak is thin at 22 and has a right tail.

Edit: and traditional to me would be applying during junior or senior year of college for entering directly into medical school or a single year off. My personal definition FWIW.

 

Hmm you're a troll. But I'll bite.

1) Work on your reading comprehension. Who said have all my kids before 30. I said have kids...as in start. When you have your first child can have a significant impact on how successful later pregnancies are.

2) I have never met a female doctor who just completely stopped working. Ever. Most can't afford to. A lot work part-time, yes. But babbling off ridiculously incorrect statistics just makes you look even more ignorant than you already sound.

 

Chocolate will suffice. But thanks for the concern

 

I wasn't even rude...you must be awfully sensitive.

And you're trying way too hard to bait me.

Sorry, sweetheart. You're trying to pick a fight with the least feminist woman in the country - its not going to work. If it were possible to live on a single income - I would totally be married with kids and a stay at home mom right now. Go find another woman to irk.

 

The drop out rates are comparable to that of US Medical schools. Simply because admissions are as competitive as they are here. Except their students come fresh out of High School.

 

stirrin up the pot, are we?

while i agree med students should be more experienced and more mature, i doubt a min age of 25 will weed out even 50% of the problem. maybe preferential treatment can be given to those who have experience but i'd hardly say that's fair.

 

bull****...that kid is a joke. can you imagine him doing a female exam at the age of 15?

 

Yeah, but I know a lot of really intelligent, really gungho premeds in high school. That didn't make it by the end of college. Just seems like the attrition rate would be higher. But I guess not.

Sounds like an idea to me then.

 

No, you drink it in less than an hour.
Strong Bones

 

He was MD/PhD - he will be 17/18 before he ever gets to rotations.

 

allowing older applicants into med school who have demonstrated their commitment to medicine is one thing. thinking that 'life experience' makes you a better doctor is another. 'life experience' doesn't make you a better doctor. 'medical experience' makes you a better doctor. and no, standing behind a doctor and watching what they do without ANY sort of medical knowledge (aka shadowing) does not make you a better doctor.

 

either way assuming you are female, would you like a 17 yr old male checking you out with a speculum?

 

Haha. I hadn't even edited my post to add the troll comment at that point. You must be really sensitive. Poor thing. I take it back, wouldn't want to damage a fragile ego.

 

If he's a doctor and knows what he's doing - couldn't care less.

 

if he ACTS like a 17 yo it's one thing. if he ACTS like a 35 year old, i don't see what's the problem. given that he got into med school at such a young age, i don't think he acts like a 17 year old.

 

i think we can be friends.

 

Keep this in mind premeds when anyone mentions tiny little pictures where they think they see a right tail and someone else posts a link to actual data for the last 15 years go with the data.

Here is a link that shows that the mean was 23.7-23.8 from 1992-2001 and then shows that the mean was 22-23 over those years.

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/archive/famg122001a.htm

You must have the vision of a cyborg to see a right shift on a curve with 16,000 data points and a mean and median that are less than a standard deviation apart.

Lest I spent too much time. Notice that the 25th percentile age was 22! This means that 75% of the data points were over 22! Which would be the age you would be if you did apply the junior year of your undergraduate.

Now its possible that the 2003-2006 data has a increasing mean and a decreasing median. But its also possible that Anna Nicole was really a 50 New Jersey man named Frank. The trend for the last 15 years has been toward increasing mean and median age.

I return to the allopathic forum.

 

that doesn't sound gay at all....

 

So you preemtively added it to my post? You are really sensitive!

But there are a lot of trolls on SDN - not too hard to get called one.

 

Where are you getting your information from? It seemslike this is coming from the top of your head. So instead of working their busy making babies and that MD degree is somewhere in their closet collecting dust.

You can't have your kids before 30. And your speaking from experience?

As for me I've got no problem with Female Doctors. I mean who would I got to if I needed a Rectal Exam? The last thing I want is a guy sticking his finger up my Anus.

 

i demand sources supporting this wild claim!