Originally posted by DoctorInSpace
I'm a non-trad student and found that both MD and DO schools were equally receptive to older students, but I think it also depends on what schools you talk to. I think in general, the schools believe that older students have more maturity, life experience, and have more thoroughly stopped to think about the decision to go into medicine. We aren't just following the course set out by our parents, or by a decision we made in our sophomore year of undergrad when we had to declare a major and decide the rest of our coursework. Not that there is ANYTHING wrong w/taking the traditional route at all....don't whomp on me for my statement please. I WISH I could have done it the traditional way, because I would be a doctor already. From what the various schools have told me, an older student can sometimes be chosen over a younger one with the same stats, because the older studens are thought to be more dedicated.
Personally, I don't think I am necessarily more dedicated than my younger counterparts, or that i'm more mature or thought this out any more than they did. I'm just relaying the info told to me by several schools. But I'm not convinced that there is a difference between the way MD schools see non-trad students and the way they are seen at DO schools. I just wanted to go to a DO school b/c i wanted to learn OMM and be taught w/the underlying philosophy that the body is a unit.