Medical Schools List - Based on Age?

[MCAT1982]

Hi,

I have heard about few Med schools being picky based on the "Age" factor.

Does anyone have a list, or an idea, on list of schools, that might be fine with the age factor - I mean the ones that accept older applicants as well for sure?

Thanks,

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[MCAT1982]

🙂

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

About how old are you? The median age of medical students is slowly rising, and in your case it might be a nonissue.

 

[MCAT1982]

I am 30 now - 31/32 by the time I am in.

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

I should have guessed from your username. I doubt if it will be a problem for you. I'm also thirty and my age was never mentioned in interviews. You probably won't be the oldest one in your med school class.

 

[DrMidlife]

The only people who report "age discrimination" are those who are in denial about the weaknesses in their app. Get a great app together and apply early and broadly...just like the kiddoes.

I'm one of three M1's over 40 at EVMS. Probably a dozen over 30, out of 146.

Best of luck to you.

 

[kami333]

I am 30 now - 31/32 by the time I am in.

I'm in that age range and it hasn't been an issue.

The only time my age was brought up was when I was interviewing at a school that is majority BS/MD and it was framed in the context of how well I thought I could work with them (I said fine, I work with high school and undergrads in lab).

 

[SpaceLeftBlank]

The only people who report "age discrimination" are those who are in denial about the weaknesses in their app.

To play devil's advocate/offer a grain of salt, my wife is the same age I am, and is in a general-surgery residency (she was also a nontrad, got a PhD before starting med school). And one of the things she warned me about when I started seriously working on my quest for med school is that I am likely to face age discrimination at pretty much every stage of the game (I'll be pushing 40 by the time I start applying, and assuming I get in, mid-40s when I'm looking to start residency, then minimum of late 40s to pushing 50 as a new attending). I don't think it's because she's inclined to engage in age-discrimination, but rather has seen it in action applied to others around her.

On the other hand, there are people who are older than me--by a significant margin--who have been accepted to medical school. And I follow a blog about a guy who's in his early 50s and in his second year at, I think, Texas Tech, so obviously age discrimination wasn't much of an issue for him there. But I think you have to be a lot older than 30 before it gets to be a serious issue.

 

[DrMidlife]

To play devil's advocate/offer a grain of salt, my wife is the same age I am, and is in a general-surgery residency (she was also a nontrad, got a PhD before starting med school). And one of the things she warned me about when I started seriously working on my quest for med school is that I am likely to face age discrimination at pretty much every stage of the game (I'll be pushing 40 by the time I start applying, and assuming I get in, mid-40s when I'm looking to start residency, then minimum of late 40s to pushing 50 as a new attending). I don't think it's because she's inclined to engage in age-discrimination, but rather has seen it in action applied to others around her.

Well, that's a different issue than med school admissions. Yes, if you're already close to retirement age, there's an added burden in finding a residency and a job, where the PD and partners are looking at their investment in you and doing math on your years left to practice.

There's no doubt at all that a qualified fresh MD/DO of any age is going to find a job if they want to practice primary care outside a major metro area. Once you start adding requirements (specialty, location, type of practice, payment structure) you start losing options. But again, the kiddoes run into this as well, when they fail to distinguish themselves in med school and still expect to match ortho. Any med student who doesn't yet have good self-awareness is in a lot of trouble.

 

[SpaceLeftBlank]

Well, that's a different issue than med school admissions. Yes, if you're already close to retirement age, there's an added burden in finding a residency and a job, where the PD and partners are looking at their investment in you and doing math on your years left to practice.

There's no doubt at all that a qualified fresh MD/DO of any age is going to find a job if they want to practice primary care outside a major metro area. Once you start adding requirements (specialty, location, type of practice, payment structure) you start losing options. But again, the kiddoes run into this as well, when they fail to distinguish themselves in med school and still expect to match ortho. Any med student who doesn't yet have good self-awareness is in a lot of trouble.

I was told to expect it in the med-school admissions process, too. I imagine it isn't too hard for members of ad coms, who are so inclined, to do the same math.

That said, from what I've seen, the schools I'm interested in seem to have a track record of taking people older than I am, even. But because of that formula you reference, I imagine that, in addition to a strong application, there's probably some convincing that needs to be done that you should get a spot despite your relatively fewer years of available remaining practice that doesn't need to be done by a younger person with a similar-strength application.

 

[Snakes]

I was told to expect it in the med-school admissions process, too. I imagine it isn't too hard for members of ad coms, who are so inclined, to do the same math.

That said, from what I've seen, the schools I'm interested in seem to have a track record of taking people older than I am, even. But because of that formula you reference, I imagine that, in addition to a strong application, there's probably some convincing that needs to be done that you should get a spot despite your relatively fewer years of available remaining practice that doesn't need to be done by a younger person with a similar-strength application.

I don't think 30 is a big factor in med school admissions. Add 10 years and you may be starting to get in a weird area. Sounds like I am about your age and there's no doubt some med schools track younger. Or perhaps it is just that the med schools that are "older non-trad" friendly are just much more vocal and welcoming about it. For instance, Vanderbilt tracks pretty young. They didn't seem all that welcoming to older non-trads in my opinion when I looked at it. Case Western, Penn, Pitt, Hopkins--those schools actively recruit older non-trads (of course they are also top-ranked, so no cake-walk to get into). I would be interested to see how the state schools rate with the applicants who are pushing 40 and up.

I think one of the negative factors to being an older non-trad is that we tend to be a lot more limited in where we can realistically apply. Many of us have spouses with stable jobs and children in school, so moving becomes more than just a decision of one. If I were 22, unmarried, and no kids, I would have applied extremely broadly. I will probably narrow my scope significantly when I apply this summer. There are a lot of places that are out of the question due to family reasons. Ideally, I would love to stay where we are now. Are you stuck applying where your wife is doing her residency? I would imagine that your options may be even more limited unless you live in an area where there are a lot of med school choices, like Philly.

I'm glad to see another person pushing 40 and applying...

 

[dsoz]

AAMC data shows about 5% of all 1st year medical students are 30 (about 1,000 total across all med schools) and about 1% are over 35 (about 200). Comparing gross age data in percentiles, the spread in age for applicants to matriculants did widen with increasing age slightly. But without controlling for GPA and MCAT, you cant reached any definitive conclusions. However, for virtually every other acceptance/matriculation factor that is analyzed, the effect almost always vanishes when you look GPA and MCAT.

By the way, the AAMC estimates on average 12 people a year over 50 graduate medical school. Both the AAMC and AACOM typically report each year an acceptance of someone in their early 50s.

I am the 1%!!!!!

I will be 42 when I matriculate this August.

I was accepted to three schools, wait listed at two others, and canceled more than ten interviews. I had only two outright pre-interview rejections. Look at my MDApps under my avatar to see the breakdown of schools.

The funny thing is that OHSU accepted student Facebook page is dominated by non-traditional students. Most are around 30. OHSU is notorious for only accepting a small number of people out of each interview. Most are put on "hold" until May when the class is populated and the ranked wait list is published. It seems that since most of the early acceptances are non-traditional, that it is the old folk that do best in the MMI interview. We know how to show interpersonal skills better than those that are fresh out of college. That is purely my speculation, but the limited numbers that I have access to seem to support my theory. 🙂

Good luck with your journey.

dsoz

 

[DrMidlife]

By the way, the AAMC estimates on average 12 people a year over 50 graduate medical school. Both the AAMC and AACOM typically report each year an acceptance of someone in their early 50s.

I'll be 6 weeks shy of 50 when I get my MD.

 

[Goro]

You heard wrong. Discrimination based upon age is illegal.

Some of my all-time best students were >40. Our oldest matriculant ever was 53.

Hi,

I have heard about few Med schools being picky based on the "Age" factor.

Does anyone have a list, or an idea, on list of schools, that might be fine with the age factor - I mean the ones that accept older applicants as well for sure?

Thanks,

 

[grt398]

As everyone above pointed out your age is unlikely to be a factor. I matriculated at 29 and know several people who did so b/w the ages of 28-31. We all ended up at schools ranked in the T20 per US News and b/w us received interviews at pretty much every school from Harvard on down. We did all have strong GPAs/MCATs/research experience etc. So there's really no indication of age discrimination as far as I can tell even at the very top schools as long as your application is strong.

And there are several late 30s/early 40s people in my class right now.

 

[SantaClausius]

So there's really no indication of age discrimination as far as I can tell even at the very top schools as long as your application is strong.

And there are several late 30s/early 40s people in my class right now.

Interesting discussion. I'm in my mid-30s and applied this cycle. In my experience age was definitely an issue that I was asked about frequently at my interviews (i.e., every interview I went on). Typically, the questions involved "Why has it taken you until your mid 30s to decide that a career in medicine was for you?" I feel that these questions were warranted as far as trying to assess my motivations for pursuing a career in medicine, even though by some accounts certain age-related questions are not "supposed" to be asked [see, for example, Avery Jr. DM et al., Am. J. Clin. Med. 2010(7), 94-95.]

That being said, at more than one interview I think the interviewers crossed the line between legitimate questions about my thought processes and outright hostility and/or inappropriateness. At one interview I was chatting with the interviewer in the few minutes that remained in our time after she stated that I had answered the questions to her satisfaction. I was asked what I thought about the interview process and said that it was a great opportunity to see schools and get a sense for the atmosphere of each place, but also that the waiting to hear from schools was challenging at times. She replied that "If you were maybe 6 years younger, you probably would have been interviewed earlier in the season and maybe even admitted already." I sure hope I kept my poker face on, because inwardly my jaw dropped at such a candid admission on her part.

What shocked me the most was not the fact that the interviewer said this to me (if anything, I appreciated the honesty), but rather that these were factors that were used to evaluate my application. To be fair, this was only the comment of one person, and I don't know whether this interviewer was just a loose cannon, or whether this particular comment did, in fact, reflect the ethos of the adcom.

This was certainly the most egregious case of these sorts of questions, but I had interviewers at other schools who strongly implied that same sentiment of age being a negative at their institution. Needless to say, this experience made it very difficult for me not to believe some of the worst things I've occasionally thought about the application process: that it is in many ways arbitrary, utilizes factors irrelevant to aptitude for medicine, etc.

I suppose one just has to chalk it up to the black box-ness (pardon the neologism) of this whole process. I obviously can't say for sure, and will never know, how much or how little my age had to do with how my application was evaluated. Somewhat frustrating, but the criteria that adcoms use to evaluate applicants is something over which I have no control, and on which I have no influence.

Just my $0.02 worth, if that, even.

 

[neuro2013]

I will turn 32 at my med school graduation, haven't felt any issues with age during application to med school or residency. In fact, I think that starting med school around age 28/29/30 is actually seen as a plus by many schools, simply because it gives them students that may have interesting backgrounds and experiences, and may round out the student body. Perhaps the cut-off is starting med school in late-30's when you might experience an attitude about age. My friend who was 40 applying for IM residency definitely did get comments and questions about her age. I think she felt like she had to explain herself...

My take on it: I think it may be because med school and residency will wear you down, they involve a LOT of nonsense in general, and admissions people imagine trying to complete the process with less energy (i.e. as an older person) and think that may make it more difficult. It may also seem that older people should have more common sense - with more life experience, etc - and thus realize the whole thing is silly process with silly hoops. This common sense may be concerning to them (i.e. the person may choose not to finish).

 

[squat]

Though age isn't supposed to be a factor, it undoubtedly is.

To be honest with you, I feel like my age is an advantage, and I shared that opinion at my interviews. Having a few more years to "figure out" grown-up life is a plus at some schools, but may be seen as indecisiveness at others.

You MUST be able to answer the "why now" question, not because some one might ask you that during your interview, but because this whole process is so damned emotional (and I'm just at the beginning) that you better have a pretty convincing argument for yourself.

 

[Legally Insane]

I am 53 and in my second year of medical school (on an accelerated three year track). Personally, I chose to inject the issue of my age in the interviews because I knew that, law or no law, the powers that be would be taking it into account and once I brought it up, it could be freely discussed. I felt that I was able to use my age as an advantage because of the deep well of life experiences it allowed me to tap. Do not allow anyone else define you, be it through your race, gender, creed or age. If you have a passion to aid others through the practice of medicine, allow that passion to shine through and scant attention will be paid to your chronological age.

 

[jl lin]

I am 53 and in my second year of medical school (on an accelerated three year track). Personally, I chose to inject the issue of my age in the interviews because I knew that, law or no law, the powers that be would be taking it into account and once I brought it up, it could be freely discussed. I felt that I was able to use my age as an advantage because of the deep well of life experiences it allowed me to tap. Do not allow anyone else define you, be it through your race, gender, creed or age. If you have a passion to aid others through the practice of medicine, allow that passion to shine through and scant attention will be paid to your chronological age.

There's a lot of good sense in this thread, but I just have to be honest at this point. When you hear a school say "We are preparing the next generation of physicians," what would you tend to think if you read between the lines? Some people might say generation was not meant to mean age, but really? Come on.

At some point, getting significantly beyond 40 may be seen as a liability. It doesn't mean age makes it an impossiblity--obviously not as you demonstrate; but it may well be seen as a liability. People bypass what is legal all the time by not making it the reason for rejection. You don't really know if it will weigh in to your rejection probability or not by anything that can usually be measured. Bias and beliefs about age and use of seats to be given to those that may put more years into medicine are both real mentalities that exist. It's naive to suggest that they don't.

All a person can do is their best to put forth their best application, connect with people, and get good healthcare experiences, etc. But I have no illusions that I will necessarily be easily considered as readily and equally as someone younger with a similar application and experiences. I'm not going to b!tch about it, b/c life is tough, and there are always unfair things flying in people's faces. But I do acknowledge it now, based on reasonable things I have heard and seen.

There aren't good stats on the issue b/c not enough people that are significantly beyond 40 have applied to medical schools. But of those that have applied within this group, I'd like to see comparative statistics; b/c ageism is alive and well.

Also, I see the mentality continue as I look at all the med students, residents, attendings an so forth that generally write off patients primarily b/c of age aside from other factors and comorbidities. It's as if a certain age = expiration date.

But all I am saying is be honest and realize, whether it's spoken or not, age may be something that factors into acceptance into med school, apart from one's whole application and experience. Biases are tough to change.

Legally, are you in a MD or DO program.? Yes, for the end game, it may make no difference, but I am curious. I am also curious as to what your application for medical school looked like, and long did it take you to gain acceptance? Did you get interviews right away? Did you have to apply more than once? Did you do SMP or a PB program? Did you have connections? What's the total number of schools to which you applied?

 

[Legally Insane]

There's a lot of good sense in this thread, but I just have to be honest at this point. When you hear a school say "We are preparing the next generation of physicians," what would you tend to think if you read between the lines? Some people might say generation was not meant to mean age, but really? Come on.

At some point, getting significantly beyond 40 may be seen as a liability. It doesn't mean age makes it an impossiblity--obviously not as you demonstrate; but it may well be seen as a liability. People bypass what is legal all the time by not making it the reason for rejection. You don't really know if it will weigh in to your rejection probability or not by anything that can usually be measured. Bias and beliefs about age and use of seats to be given to those that may put more years into medicine are both real mentalities that exist. It's naive to suggest that they don't.

All a person can do is their best to put forth their best application, connect with people, and get good healthcare experiences, etc. But I have no illusions that I will necessarily be easily considered as readily and equally as someone younger with a similar application and experiences. I'm not going to b!tch about it, b/c life is tough, and there are always unfair things flying in people's faces. But I do acknowledge it now, based on reasonable things I have heard and seen.

There aren't good stats on the issue b/c not enough people that are significantly beyond 40 have applied to medical schools. But of those that have applied within this group, I'd like to see comparative statistics; b/c ageism is alive and well.

Also, I see the mentality continue as I look at all the med students, residents, attendings an so forth that generally write off patients primarily b/c of age aside from other factors and comorbidities. It's as if a certain age = expiration date.

But all I am saying is be honest and realize, whether it's spoken or not, age may be something that factors into acceptance into med school, apart from one's whole application and experience. Biases are tough to change.

Legally, are you in a MD or DO program.? Yes, for the end game, it may make no difference, but I am curious. I am also curious as to what your application for medical school looked like, and long did it take you to gain acceptance? Did you get interviews right away? Did you have to apply more than once? Did you do SMP or a PB program? Did you have connections? What's the total number of schools to which you applied?

I will attempt to answer your questions. I am in an M.D. program. I did a post-bacc at UT Dallas. I had a 4.0 post-bacc GPA, a 35 MCAT, and a successful legal career. I applied to 7 schools, all in Texas and got interviews at three, accepted at two and put on rolling admission list at UTSW (had a late interview there). I got two interviews right away and then nothing for quite sometime. I finally realized that TMDSAS had included my law school GPA into my cumulative GPA, which made the cumulative look somewhat ordinary. My law school practiced grade depression to the point where I graduated in the top ten percent of my class with a grade point under 82%. I emailed the remaining schools to clarify my GPA and got an interview at Southwestern within two weeks. Given the way my application was handled, I cannot form a reasonable opinion as to whether age discrimination played any role in me not getting more interviews. I did not pull any strings or have any connections. I just worked hard and demonstrated a sincere desire to practice primary care. So far I have experienced nothing but support from my classmates, faculty, and patients (I have been doing my family medicine rotation during my second year and have had the pleasure of seeing numerous patients). It have no doubt that my age was a hurdle for me to overcome in my journey, but I knew that it would be going into it and I do not fault anyone for considering my age in light of the scarcity of spots available.

 

[dsoz]

Legally, are you in a MD or DO program.? Yes, for the end game, it may make no difference, but I am curious. I am also curious as to what your application for medical school looked like, and long did it take you to gain acceptance? Did you get interviews right away? Did you have to apply more than once? Did you do SMP or a PB program? Did you have connections? What's the total number of schools to which you applied?

I will also try to answer. Although my story is a bit different from Legally Insane's.

I just turned 42, and will be matriculating to an MD school. I was also accepted to two DO schools. I was also wait listed at (MD) U of Arizona, Phoenix and LECOM-B (DO). I canceled all my other MD and DO interviews after my acceptance to COMP-NW, except one interview at OHSU.

I felt that I "fit" better at one of the DO schools, but living circumstances dictated that I choose OHSU. I cannot sell my house for what I owe on it, and it is within commuting distance of school (20 minutes by car, an hour by city bus). COMP would have been either commute 90 minutes each way, rent out my house and then rent an apartment for the same price as my mortgage, or take a loss and sell my house. Also, tuition at the state school so more than 10k less per year. That adds up.

Look at my MDapps link under my avatar for a more detailed timeline for my application process.

I have been a high school science teacher for almost 20 years. So I had most of the pre-reqs already in my undergrad. I did take an intro to immunology at a CC, biochem at a univ, and A&P at a CC before I applied to "prove" that I wasn't brain damaged.

I applied early, and was verified in July. I had multiple early secondaries, and had 5 interviews before the end of October, three of which were outright acceptances. OHSU is notorious for putting most people on "post-interview hold" status until May. Only about 5-10% get accepted post-interview without being put on hold. I was one of them.

If anything, I feel that there was "reverse discrimination" working in my favor. If anything, the schools where I interviewed were very accommodating, and open to having me attend. I didn't feel like my age was a negative factor at all. In fact, just the opposite. Maybe it is the communication skill that I bring from my teaching career. Or maybe it was that I was just lucky.

Realistically, people of my generation are not eligible for Social Security until they are really old. I could conceivably have a medical career that is longer than 20 years. That is how long I was a teacher. I get to have two full careers in my lifetime. That is more than most people can say.

dsoz

 

[jl lin]

I will attempt to answer your questions. I am in an M.D. program. I did a post-bacc at UT Dallas. I had a 4.0 post-bacc GPA, a 35 MCAT, and a successful legal career. I applied to 7 schools, all in Texas and got interviews at three, accepted at two and put on rolling admission list at UTSW (had a late interview there). I got two interviews right away and then nothing for quite sometime. I finally realized that TMDSAS had included my law school GPA into my cumulative GPA, which made the cumulative look somewhat ordinary. My law school practiced grade depression to the point where I graduated in the top ten percent of my class with a grade point under 82%. I emailed the remaining schools to clarify my GPA and got an interview at Southwestern within two weeks. Given the way my application was handled, I cannot form a reasonable opinion as to whether age discrimination played any role in me not getting more interviews. I did not pull any strings or have any connections. I just worked hard and demonstrated a sincere desire to practice primary care. So far I have experienced nothing but support from my classmates, faculty, and patients (I have been doing my family medicine rotation during my second year and have had the pleasure of seeing numerous patients). It have no doubt that my age was a hurdle for me to overcome in my journey, but I knew that it would be going into it and I do not fault anyone for considering my age in light of the scarcity of spots available.

Legally Insane, thank you for your reply. Yes, you worked hard, and you should be proud, and of course we can only look at ourselves in the process--for the most part.

I have been continually disheartened by the regular sense of ageism that I have been seeing--in general. Even in my young 20's, as a nurse, I never wrote patients off simply b/c of their age. I looked at the whole picture with them. It bothers me that a fair number of folks really don't adjust their thinking enough to do this--but that they regularly generalize. I fear we are becoming a people that thinks EBP = generalizability = generalizing broadly to each person within a certain set of demographics. to the point of exlusion when approaching individual practice. I have not practiced nursing that way, and I don't believe in practicing medicine that way.

People love easy "labelism," where pretty much every person and situation is allotted a set place on a shelf. You hear all these medical school graduates that say they were taught to take a holistic approach, but then you hear them generalize apart from the value of each particular individual. I think it gets processed into folks over time. It's troubling.

We live in an ageistic, superficial society, and over time it creeps into peoples' thinking. Seems that the exceptional will think beyond the bias. I want to believe med school adcoms would take a holistic approach; but I doubt if that is always the case when they think they are basing decision on "return of investment" / time. It doesn't matter that I know quite a number of docs that are practicing into 70's-80's. That's anecdotal/exceptional from their standpoint. It doesn't matter if you question the number of younger med school grads that don't stay in direct practice of medicine. I want to ask if they ask the younger applicants if they engage in high-risk extracurricular activities; b/c that increases their probability of a certain "return of investment" (medical school education) / time. So, it it's all about what the numbers generally look like, what about those that engage in highrisk activities?


But we all know that social injustices occur, and I can't waste my time whining about them all. I do, however, have to be realistic in the process.

Thanks again for your response, and the best to you in your medical career.

 

[jl lin]

I will also try to answer. Although my story is a bit different from Legally Insane's.

I just turned 42, and will be matriculating to an MD school. I was also accepted to two DO schools. I was also wait listed at (MD) U of Arizona, Phoenix and LECOM-B (DO). I canceled all my other MD and DO interviews after my acceptance to COMP-NW, except one interview at OHSU.

I felt that I "fit" better at one of the DO schools, but living circumstances dictated that I choose OHSU. I cannot sell my house for what I owe on it, and it is within commuting distance of school (20 minutes by car, an hour by city bus). COMP would have been either commute 90 minutes each way, rent out my house and then rent an apartment for the same price as my mortgage, or take a loss and sell my house. Also, tuition at the state school so more than 10k less per year. That adds up.

Look at my MDapps link under my avatar for a more detailed timeline for my application process.

I have been a high school science teacher for almost 20 years. So I had most of the pre-reqs already in my undergrad. I did take an intro to immunology at a CC, biochem at a univ, and A&P at a CC before I applied to "prove" that I wasn't brain damaged.

I applied early, and was verified in July. I had multiple early secondaries, and had 5 interviews before the end of October, three of which were outright acceptances. OHSU is notorious for putting most people on "post-interview hold" status until May. Only about 5-10% get accepted post-interview without being put on hold. I was one of them.

If anything, I feel that there was "reverse discrimination" working in my favor. If anything, the schools where I interviewed were very accommodating, and open to having me attend. I didn't feel like my age was a negative factor at all. In fact, just the opposite. Maybe it is the communication skill that I bring from my teaching career. Or maybe it was that I was just lucky.

Realistically, people of my generation are not eligible for Social Security until they are really old. I could conceivably have a medical career that is longer than 20 years. That is how long I was a teacher. I get to have two full careers in my lifetime. That is more than most people can say.

dsoz

Hey dsoz,

Thank you. Yours was a great reply as well.

I would like to see application trends for those say, into their 40's.

I do think your career as an educator of science also weighed in your favor.

As I said, all I can do is the best I can do, and then see what happens. I learned first hand, a long time ago, that there is no guarantee of tomorrow, or even the next five minutes.

The best to you in your career as well.

 

[Simon Templar]

I will also try to answer. Although my story is a bit different from Legally Insane's.

I just turned 42, and will be matriculating to an MD school. I was also accepted to two DO schools. I was also wait listed at (MD) U of Arizona, Phoenix and LECOM-B (DO). I canceled all my other MD and DO interviews after my acceptance to COMP-NW, except one interview at OHSU.

I felt that I "fit" better at one of the DO schools, but living circumstances dictated that I choose OHSU. I cannot sell my house for what I owe on it, and it is within commuting distance of school (20 minutes by car, an hour by city bus). COMP would have been either commute 90 minutes each way, rent out my house and then rent an apartment for the same price as my mortgage, or take a loss and sell my house. Also, tuition at the state school so more than 10k less per year. That adds up.

Look at my MDapps link under my avatar for a more detailed timeline for my application process.

I have been a high school science teacher for almost 20 years. So I had most of the pre-reqs already in my undergrad. I did take an intro to immunology at a CC, biochem at a univ, and A&P at a CC before I applied to "prove" that I wasn't brain damaged.

I applied early, and was verified in July. I had multiple early secondaries, and had 5 interviews before the end of October, three of which were outright acceptances. OHSU is notorious for putting most people on "post-interview hold" status until May. Only about 5-10% get accepted post-interview without being put on hold. I was one of them.

If anything, I feel that there was "reverse discrimination" working in my favor. If anything, the schools where I interviewed were very accommodating, and open to having me attend. I didn't feel like my age was a negative factor at all. In fact, just the opposite. Maybe it is the communication skill that I bring from my teaching career. Or maybe it was that I was just lucky.

Realistically, people of my generation are not eligible for Social Security until they are really old. I could conceivably have a medical career that is longer than 20 years. That is how long I was a teacher. I get to have two full careers in my lifetime. That is more than most people can say.

dsoz

Thanks MOTIVATOR! I am a Fleet Marine Force Navy Corpsman(serving with the Marines), in my 40s and will attend UT Dallas in the fall to take Orgo & Physics........MCAT. I love to see non-trads putting in work and making a difference in spite of age. I bring a LOT of severe trauma exp. from Afghanistan and Africa. Can't wait to apply/ get accepted so I can get from behind this desk.