Need some good advice

[FutureDoc32]

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I'll be applying to med school next year and am seriously trying to appraise my chances of getting in. Any advice you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I graduated college with a 3.68 GPA, but my inorganic chem grades weren't too hot (including a "D" in an inorganic lab course). I'm 32 years old and completed college over ten years ago.

On the plus side, I have ten years experience as a research tech (with a few publications) and am doing volunteer work in a hospital. My other college grades were very good (not including inorganic). I have several strong motivating factors that have made me decide I want to study medicine. I will take the MCAT this spring.

With a good MCAT score, do you think my lousy inorganic grades will be overlooked, or do I actually need to think about re-taking these classes? How about my age? Can my maturity work on my side or is the fact that I'm 32 a detriment? What is the best way for me to go about getting a letter from my former pre-health advisor at school? I have some old recommendations on file that are literally more than a decade old! Should I expect that the pre-health advisor at my alma mater use more recent recommendations that I could easily get from my employer or must the recs come strictly from profs?

Thanks a million for your responses!

 

[mophead]

Hi there. I'm about the same age but in a different situation, since I didn't take any science courses in undergrad. I'm applying for 2001 and have so far been accepted at four schools, so if that makes me an expert ;-) I'll give my opinion.

I've noticed that for nontraditional students, lots of med schools look at recent coursework. To prove that you can handle the academic load in med school, they'll want to know more about your recent abilities. Your undergrad GPA was good, but the D in lab will sink you unless you retake the lab and preferably get an A. Most med schools require a C or better in all prereqs, and science labs are prereqs. Beyond that, you should probably do at least a couple advanced science classes (and maybe organic chem again, to prove you can do it). My own premed advisor told me that med schools look favorably on post-bacc students taking a full load of science courses, with labs, to show they can handle it.

As for recommendations, you definitely will need more recent ones than from ten years ago. Employers are good for some of them, but some professors will be required.

Sounds generally like you're in good shape with your experience of the past ten years, and good undergrad GPA. Life experience and wisdom definitely helps in the admission process! Good luck.

 

[Cobragirl]

On the same note, you may want to check the schools you plan to apply to...some will not take sciences that are more than 6 years old. This will mean you'll HAVE to take those pre-reqs over, good grades or not.

As for your age, I'm 30 and things are going great in the application process for me. I've already had one interview (one of my interviewers was a first-year in her late 30's) and received secondaries from EVERY school I applied to. I expect more interviews after the holidays (my MCAT scores were delayed) and have received NO rejections. Matter of fact, many schools out there are starting to look VERY favorably on non-trad students such as ourselves (Miami & EVMS for example). They like the fact that we have a little "life experience" under our belts and will be able to relate to patients a little better than our younger counterparts. Good Luck!