Older and wanting to pursue MD. Next step?

[EMTB2MD]

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Hello Everyone,

I'm new here and looking forward to meeting some great people on SDN. Last month I just turned 31 years old and for the past year I have been thinking about my life and what I would like to do with the rest of it.

Ever since I was young I have aspired to be an MD. My parents never pushed me or even mentioned it to me. It is just something that I was always interested in. I went to college, majored in biology, and fell in love with a girl (one of the major factors why I didn't pursue medicine) that I'm now married to. After college I decided against pursuing my dream of becoming a physician and went to work in a different field (financial) in which I had some success in.

For the past year or so my dominating thought has been about going to med school and achieving my dream. It is a calling that is so strong I'm willing to give up everything for it. I'm not quite sure where to start. I graduated from college in 98' with a degree in bio and most of the information I've forgotten. Time is very precisous and I can't really afford to get another degree and then apply to med school. Somehow when I was in college I never took the 2 required semesters of organic chem (i took an elementary oro and biochem class instead) so I know i have to take those at a minimum.

Here is my profile (from when I was in college 1994-1998)Degree: Biology (Gpa=3.47)
peter white research fellowship (1 summer and fall research with the physical therapy department (back in 1998)
volunteer work at a hospital for inpatient/outpatient physical therapy
worked full time as a physical therapy aide for about 8 months.

Currently
Volunteer work: President of the Jaycees (a local group of young professionals age 21-40 specializing in leadership development and community service.
- currently working on my EMT-B certification and also voluteer (ems) at my local fire station.

My question is what next? Does my volunteer experience from my college days mean anything? How about the research fellowship I had? How does my current voluteer work look? Should I retake any classes?

In Caculus I got a C
In Genetics I got a C-

I talked with my school and they said all I needed to apply to med school was to take the two required orgo classes and they strongly suggested I take calculus again as well. I've been playing the EK MCAT audio osmosis CD's to and from work every day and the bio basics are starting to come back to me although the inorganic chem and physics are like greek. I really don't want to take physics over again (since you don't encounter a lot of it in med school) and was just going to take an mcat prep course to help me out there.

Any ideas?

Thanks so much for any and all replies!

Ken

 

[jlr18]

Hi Ken,
I don't know if you're familiar with them, but Old Pre-Meds is an excellent resource for "older" future physicians - their message boards in particular are great for specific advice, because many of the members have successfully navigated that tricky path.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Well in terms of remembering info for the MCAT, I would recommend buying a prep book, kaplan, princeton review, exam crackers. I recommend Kaplan b/c that is what I did and it worked out from me. They present all the info you need in a very organized fashion. Also, if you opt to just get the book instead of spending a fortune on the test prep classes you can buy practice MCAT from AAMC and certain Kaplan and princeton review centers will let you pay to sit in on a full length practice exams they give.

Your age is not a negative factor at all. It may work out to be a positive. In my class I have a lot of people who graduated in '98 and even one person who is 38. The one pitfall is that you have to make it apparent that this is not an early mid-life crisis but instead a thought out decision. You have to make that apparent in the personal statement (on the primary application) and also through secondary experiences (extra curriculars).

The EMS thing is a huge plus. I would also recommend shadowing a bunch of physicians and/or volunteering at a free clinic. That way you can say, 'look guys I have thought this through and have tested out the water, this is where I want to be.' As for shadowing, it could be as little as 4 hours in the evening on a few separate occasions with a few doctors of different specialties.

I feel that the volunteer experiences from college will be a plus, especially the research fellowship but you do need more 'updated' volunteering/extra curriculars. Again shadowing and free clinic. If you can, between now and when you apply to medical school, cure cancer. That would really be a wow factor.

If you want, retake calc and genetics. It will help. If you do opt to retake, make sure to get at least an A-. Adcoms expect pretty decent grades from classes that you are retaking.

I guess the last few things are do well on the MCAT and spread out the application to a lot of places (20+) that way you can ensure you will only have to apply once.

Finally, don't worry about the time frame. If you really want to go to medical school and do not get in the first go round, do a grad program. Remeber, at best you will start practice 7 years after you first matriculate into medical school (at worst it could be 10+), what's one more year?

 

[sunriver]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new here and looking forward to meeting some great people on SDN. Last month I just turned 31 years old and for the past year I have been thinking about my life and what I would like to do with the rest of it.

Ever since I was young I have aspired to be an MD. My parents never pushed me or even mentioned it to me. It is just something that I was always interested in. I went to college, majored in biology, and fell in love with a girl (one of the major factors why I didn't pursue medicine) that I'm now married to. After college I decided against pursuing my dream of becoming a physician and went to work in a different field (financial) in which I had some success in.

For the past year or so my dominating thought has been about going to med school and achieving my dream. It is a calling that is so strong I'm willing to give up everything for it. I'm not quite sure where to start. I graduated from college in 98' with a degree in bio and most of the information I've forgotten. Time is very precisous and I can't really afford to get another degree and then apply to med school. Somehow when I was in college I never took the 2 required semesters of organic chem (i took an elementary oro and biochem class instead) so I know i have to take those at a minimum.

Here is my profile (from when I was in college 1994-1998)Degree: Biology (Gpa=3.47)
peter white research fellowship (1 summer and fall research with the physical therapy department (back in 1998)
volunteer work at a hospital for inpatient/outpatient physical therapy
worked full time as a physical therapy aide for about 8 months.

Currently
Volunteer work: President of the Jaycees (a local group of young professionals age 21-40 specializing in leadership development and community service.
- currently working on my EMT-B certification and also voluteer (ems) at my local fire station.

My question is what next? Does my volunteer experience from my college days mean anything? How about the research fellowship I had? How does my current voluteer work look? Should I retake any classes?

In Caculus I got a C
In Genetics I got a C-

I talked with my school and they said all I needed to apply to med school was to take the two required orgo classes and they strongly suggested I take calculus again as well. I've been playing the EK MCAT audio osmosis CD's to and from work every day and the bio basics are starting to come back to me although the inorganic chem and physics are like greek. I really don't want to take physics over again (since you don't encounter a lot of it in med school) and was just going to take an mcat prep course to help me out there.

Any ideas?

Thanks so much for any and all replies!

Ken

I'm not the one to advise you on the academic side, but do not let age be a factor at all. Ten years from now you'll be 41, like it or not. What do you want to be, on that birthday? That is the real question. If the answer is a physician, go for it, and don't get too hung up on having to repeat/take pre-med classes. I think you'll find you will do much better the second time around, the motivated adult learner thing. Best of luck from an old doc who got a late start.

 

[daeojkim]

I'm not the one to advise you on the academic side, but do not let age be a factor at all. Ten years from now you'll be 41, like it or not. What do you want to be, on that birthday? That is the real question. If the answer is a physician, go for it, and don't get too hung up on having to repeat/take pre-med classes. I think you'll find you will do much better the second time around, the motivated adult learner thing. Best of luck from an old doc who got a late start.

Bravo. Could not agree more. 👍

 

[EMTB2MD]

Thanks everyone for your replies. This looks like a great forum to share information in and I look forward to to getting to know you guys.

Thanks again,

Ken