Such a thing as being a tad bit too young?

[OntheRoof55]

hey I applied this year, i'm a little younger than the rest (20)...only applied to a few schools in comparison...accepted at USF, waitlisted UF and Columbia, waiting to hear from Georgetown...age not that important as compared to maturity

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[fakin' the funk]

I would absolutely have to say that YES OF COURSE there is a thing as being too young.

Personally, I graduated undergrad at age 20 and had no idea what I wanted to do. I consider myself an extremely mature person, and yet even if I'd known all along that I wanted to be a doc I would have been too young at age 20.

In my interviewing experiences I was almost always the oldest applicant (at 23) and it definitely gives you confidence and poise. I had an advantage in maturity and real-life working situations with ~4 years of real-world fulltime employment, having gone through tons of job interviews and the like, working with real people (i.e. regular working people, not lab PIs and docs).

If I was on an adcom, I would definitely look for applicants who have shown their maturity and people skills in the real world.

...

But who am I kidding? Most top-tier matriculants are rich daddy's girls/boys with no experience working with low or middle class people and no financial concerns! Screw maturity!

 

[jetproppilot]

California Bound, Antissa, and other "prodigies",

I'm in awe reading your stories. I'm a private practice MD so have been out of med school for a while. I had one prodigy dude in my med school class at U of Miami (GO CANES! ) -started med school at 20- was just "one of the guys", and did fine in the classroom and with clinicals as well.

Looking back at my life, yeah, high school was fun and all that, but I say GO FOR IT early if you have a body with 92% neurons, 8% water, unlike mine which is probably the other way around. haha

I came out of residency in my early thirties and I have to say these have been the best years of my life- you can still be a kid even when you are grown up- I'm a clinician, have a family, but still like to "play". My "toys" are a little different then they were in high school, though!

When you come out of residency, you can do some catching up on playtime- just think of yourself as a kid with a much larger bankroll!

Best of luck to all of you. You guys are studs/studettes!

 

[morganlefay]

Wow, this is a great thread. I've always thought I was the 'only one' when it comes to being really young. I started college at 15 and will graduate this May having just turned 19 (did independent study HS). Now that I think about it (along w/my low MCAT), I think it's one of the reasons why I haven't had much luck this application cycle.
But I'm applying for masters programs, and looking at studying in the UK for a year, if I get proper funding, and all that stuff. I was really bummed last semester b/c I thought everything I worked for had gone to pot, but it's really just another opportunity to expand my horizons. I go to a liberal arts school, so I 've been able to double major in Lit and get a nice perspective on education as a whole. So I'm just taking it as it comes. Loco, no worries, you have a ton of interviews and you should be fine. But even if you don't get in, take it as a chance to grow for a year and experience other things. Best of luck, my fellow youngin's!!

 

[antissa]

California Bound, Antissa, and other "prodigies",

I'm in awe reading your stories. I'm a private practice MD so have been out of med school for a while. I had one prodigy dude in my med school class at U of Miami (GO CANES! ) -started med school at 20- was just "one of the guys", and did fine in the classroom and with clinicals as well.

Looking back at my life, yeah, high school was fun and all that, but I say GO FOR IT early if you have a body with 92% neurons, 8% water, unlike mine which is probably the other way around. haha

I came out of residency in my early thirties and I have to say these have been the best years of my life- you can still be a kid even when you are grown up- I'm a clinician, have a family, but still like to "play". My "toys" are a little different then they were in high school, though!

When you come out of residency, you can do some catching up on playtime- just think of yourself as a kid with a much larger bankroll!

Best of luck to all of you. You guys are studs/studettes!

You can't imagine how many people have said to me "are you crazy? Enjoy yourself while you're still young instead of thinking about med school all the time" but what they can't understand is that I just couldn't enjoy myself while I remain uncertain about my future (I wish that I could! But I suffer from non-fatal uptightness that won't ever let me completely relax) so slowing down would just prolonging my worrying. Instead, I'm looking forward to having the time of my life after residency.
So it's awesome to hear that you're enjoying your life! Thanks for the bright light at the end of the tunnel, and hope I'm as lucky as you in that regard

 

[Nflow]

California Bound, Antissa, and other "prodigies",

I'm in awe reading your stories. I'm a private practice MD so have been out of med school for a while. I had one prodigy dude in my med school class at U of Miami (GO CANES! ) -started med school at 20- was just "one of the guys", and did fine in the classroom and with clinicals as well.

Looking back at my life, yeah, high school was fun and all that, but I say GO FOR IT early if you have a body with 92% neurons, 8% water, unlike mine which is probably the other way around. haha

I came out of residency in my early thirties and I have to say these have been the best years of my life- you can still be a kid even when you are grown up- I'm a clinician, have a family, but still like to "play". My "toys" are a little different then they were in high school, though!

When you come out of residency, you can do some catching up on playtime- just think of yourself as a kid with a much larger bankroll!

Best of luck to all of you. You guys are studs/studettes!

Good luck to all you young-ins. I had the oppurtunity to start college at 15, but my parents wouldn't let me, so I wasted an extra year in high school taking electives and four TA classes. How? I took summer classes for fun, skipped sixth grade and started school early. I didn't skip college though, I spent the extra time doing research via HHMI. Decided to take a year off before starting medical school at 21 (so I would have started at 18 or 19). I like to think that working experience helped my application, it helped show maturity, even though I already had it, plus it gave me something to talk about during my interview. My GPA, MCAT were good, not excellent, yet I got 10 interviews out of the 13 schools I applied to.
Like someone said before, the job route might be more benefitial.

goodluck

 

[masterMood]

lemme guess, you're desi and your parents basically forced you subconsciously to like medicine and that you can do nothing else with your life or you'd become a failure.

 

[antissa]

lemme guess, you're desi and your parents basically forced you subconsciously to like medicine and that you can do nothing else with your life or you'd become a failure.

I don't know if this was directed to me, but 1) I'm not desi, 2) my parents wanted me to be an accountant, of all things and tried to subconsciously force me to like that

But I was an only child in a neighborhood where the # of adults >> the # of kids, so maybe that contributed

Just out of curiosity (because I once did a study back in high school), how many of the young'uns here are only children or firstborns?

 

[lightnk102]

Hey Loco.

I'm sorry about the tough breaks. But here's some advice from a former young'in (because you need even more advice after 3 pages worth of it). I went to college at 16 at an Ivy and graduated at 20. My story has nothing to do with skipping grades and everything to do with starting school in Europe and living there for 8 years (does this disqualify me from being part of this club?). As an undergrad - I was very strongly premed, but fell off the wagon my sophomore year and ended up working in business consulting in New York City. Initially it was only supposed to be for a year, but I ended up staying longer than anticipated. Money and good living can do that to you. I applied this past cycle for the first time (age 24). When I look back to my younger premed self and think of myself now - I feel like I'm ages and ages more mature, and it had nothing to do with taking extra academic classes or extra volunteering or even living life for an extra 3 years. It had everything to do with having worked and lived in the "real world" instead of the academic bubble. I've been told at every interview that it shows.

Though I don't think being younger has anything to do with maturity, unfortunately, I've found that very few people can look past age as a number. Like all the other posters here, I believe that you naturally adapt to your peers, regardless of your numerical age. To this day, I claim that I'm a 26 year old trapped in a 24 year old body since all my friends are a few years older than me, and I'm sure that you're just as mature as your graduating peers (who are what, 21? 22?). Sure, you know you're mature and experienced - but what will it take to make the adcoms believe it? In my personal opinion, getting a Master's wouldn't be the most helpful thing for you. In the adcoms eyes, it would just be another year of school, and you're now "graduating" again at the age of 20. Still young. Perhaps a year of working/researching full time and living on your own with a few classes on the side would be more helpful in convincing the adcoms. This could also put you closer on the road to an MSTP program, especially if you can slide into a lab with a big name PI.

I know this is the road you likely don't want to take (because I didn't want to either when I was your age), but you have to ask yourself - IF age was really your downfall this time (and that's a big IF), will getting a Master's really change that and make you seem more mature?

 

[morganlefay]

antissa, i'm a firstborn
and I think you're right, most of us are prob. firstborns or only kids

 

[avinash]

ah crap i just relized that il be 20 when i go through this whole proccess....

 

[atomi]

Myself, I just turned 19, and after submitting secondaries to 48 schools (That's right, forty-eight)

Where did you get the money, at age 19, to apply to 48 schools?

This board really cracks me up. Good luck Loki, you're obviously very motivated, but maybe you should consider something else besides clinical medicne in the long term. People like you who are willing to put in 100+ hour weeks typically do very well in the corporate world (although they do tend to die fairly young).