I think you are still misunderstanding my point. I said a 21-22 year old would NOT necessarily be seen in a negative light, but they wouldnt be seen in as positive a light as someone who is 24-26 with real world experience.
I do not disagree with this. My point was that the 21-22 year old applying for matriculation immediately after college would be looked at it in a neutral light; their age would not cause them to face discrimination or difficulty, even though their experiences were limited to the experiences that could be had in college. It would just
be. Yet, if that same person was 17-18, I have a feeling their age would not be the neutral factor it was for the 21-22 year old.
The average matriculant to medical school's age is like 24-25, so what you said is not true. I would be willing to bet the there are more people 21-22 applying than 24-25 year olds though, but they are not making up the majority of a class. And it's not like there is an abundance of 30+ year olds to balance the abundance of 21-22 year olds, resulting in an average age of 24-25. In a given class, there are only a handful of 30+ people, so that tells you the majority of matriculants are 24-25.
No, what I said was not incorrect, nor was it correct.
I am aware that the
average/mean age is 24-25 for matriculates. An average, however, does not automatically equal the majority.
That said, via my combing through AAMC data, it seems the data does not seem to exist. AAMC reports medians and means, not modes. Even then, I can only find information for each gender, not the group as a whole.
My intuition still holds that the vast majority of matriculates are 22-23 (21-22 at the time of application). Though it does not absolutely prove it, obviously, anecdotal class profiles seem to support this (
UPenn,
Pitt,
Brown,
UMich,
Northwestern [states 9% of their students are non-traditional students/taken more than two years off]).
And you also misunderstood my point about 18-19 year olds. I said I would not be surprised if they ARE discriminated against. There are exceptions to the rule obviously, but if the average age for matriculants is 24-25, then there will be some adcoms and interviewers who will have an issue with your age. Like I said, you may be an exception, but this process is extremely subjective and to enter it thinking you are immune to age discrimination as an 17-18 year old is not true. I hope this doesn't happen to you, but personally I feel a few years out of school makes me so much more prepared for medical school. I wouldve never said that when I graduate college because I thought I was as ready as I could possibly be. In retrospect, it was not the case. I would never belittle your experiences because I do not know you, but your average 17-18 year old just finished high school. Ive been mature for my age for quite some time, worked hard in college but enjoyed all the partying and whatnot as well, yet upon graduating I didnt know half as much as I know after having real world experience.
It seems that I may have misunderstood you a tad; however, you may have also misunderstood my definition of discrimination. Discrimination occurs when someone is treated poorly based upon a trait or condition, such as age. In education and employment, this would occur when an applicant is rejected despite being properly qualified and when, if another applicant of different age were to present the same application, that other applicant would be accepted. You claimed that it was experience, not age that causes younger applicants to do poorly in the application; if that experience is a needed qualification, then rejecting them would not be discrimination [as far as I know]. My response was that, while I hope this is true, that I highly doubt age-based discrimination is not present.
As for experience, though it may be a case of not knowing what I don't know, I do not see what taking a year or two off after college will give me in the realm of experience that I do not already have, beyond the experience of being forced to begin making payments on my loans. I am entirely self-supporting [not out of choice; but force of circumstances] including working, paying my own bills and living on my own; I have been homeless; I have faced abuse, neglect, the task of caring for a parent and grief; I am chronically ill and have managed my own care, both medical and self, for quite some time; and, if not for my younger looks and birth certificate, there is, otherwise, nothing about the way my life is structured that would lead one to think that I am 16. Yet, when applying for jobs, volunteer positions and, it seems, medical school, the fact that I am 16 becomes a disqualifier and/or negative in how I am judged. And, though there is nothing I can do about it, that reality is starting to cause an insurmountable amount of frustration. That said, I did expect all of this; expecting it, however, does not stop me from wishing that I could exclude my age on the application for just about everything.
