Med

[Sappsy]

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[Newtonian21]

If you're going to sit down there and keep contemplating on your age, I think you're mistaking big time. You think 26 years old is too old to pursue a career in medicine? Go and shadow doctors and let most tell you their age. I am 25 now planning on taking the MCAT in Jan 2018. By then I'll be 27. With God willing I'll start when I'm 28 and finishing @ 32, at the end resting at 37-38. I am an RN BSN I have no other plan than to stay in this med school path just a heads up. Good luck, and study hard.

 

[Goro]

Not at all! Just the opposite.

• Is it looked down upon for individuals with initiated/established careers to apply for medical school? For example, will my background in counseling and my license as a psychotherapist hinder my application?

Nope. This idea of "committed" as you express it is a pre-med delusion. So knock it off.

• If I cannot afford to go into a post-bac program and jump into things full-speed, and I use my tuition benefit at my current institution to take pre-requisite courses over the next couple of years and make high marks in them, will this look bad? Will it seem as though I am not committed?

Just the opposite. Non-trads bring wisdom, maturity, life experience, job skills and worth ethic to the table, something that many typical pre-meds lack. Residency directors have noticed lately that new residents have poor job skills, because residency is literally the first employment they've had!

• Are non-traditional students less desired?

What community do you represent (and please don't say "Palm Beach"). Not all Hispanics are URM, but Spanish language skills are always valued.

• I do identify with a couple of underrepresented populations in medicine, specifically Hispanic/Latino, and speak Spanish fluently (it is my native language).

Medicine is a calling, like being a cop or a soldier. You have to follow your heart. So start shadowing doctors and do some patient contact volunteering to see if this is truly for you. You've probbaly worked with the mentally ill, all the better, but see if you like interacting with sick and injured people, they dying, the elderly.

• Ultimately, my biggest fear is that I place my PhD on pause, spend time and money in getting my pre-reqs completed, shadowing, and taking the MCAT, and then not getting in. Not only will I not have met my goal to be in medical school, but I'll be (I assume 28-29 by that time) without a PhD, either.

Some of my all time best students have been int heir 30s and 40s. I graduated a stellar one last year at 50, and she's now doing her residency at a Big Name school in southern CA.

• If all goes positively and smoothly, what might a potential timeline look like for someone my age? I considered that by the time I finished pre-reqs, I might be 28-29, if I get in to medical school I'll be 33-34 by the time I finish curriculum, and then be in residency for another 3-4 years... so I won't finish until I'm around 37-38? Is this accurate?

 

[DrMikeP]

I have a doctorate in psychology and adcoms were very happy with my background, so it's all in how you present your degree/career as to whether it will be viewed as positive or they wonder why the change.

Read what Goes said!

Best of luck

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