This is an abhorrently false statement and a blatant overreach of your assumptions of an entire population. You are displaying an absolute disregard for life circumstances which you don’t seem to understand. This makes sense as you haven’t had these sorts of life experiences, however it would behoove you to heed the advice of those who are living through them and have lived through them as opposed to continuing to insert your own implicit biases and assumptions into the mixture.
As someone who has been an advisor for nontrads going in to the premed pathway, let me list for you all of the most common reasons they may be underperforming when compared to their younger peers:
1) They are many years removed from undergrad. This leads to a number of issues:
a. Far removed from undergrad means much more effort is required to study for the MCAT, leading to lower MCAT scores at higher ages even with equal effort
b. Far removed from undergrad means post-bac classes, it means completely relearning new material you haven’t touched in a decade, lower GPAs with equal effort
c. Far removed from undergrad means less access to on campus resources, advising, tutoring, writers center
d. Far removed from undergrad means less access to LOR writers, no access to committee letters
2) Older applicants have careers, spouses, children, actual real world obligations beyond being premed. While some of these factors also apply to traditional applicants (particularly URM and low SEE) they are exacerbated and stacked for older applicants as they have all of these things going on at once. How can this affect them?
a. Full time employment. Do you know the time commitment required? It is extraordinarily difficult to even take one or two classes and do well at the same time as working full time.
b. The case for 2.a also applies for volunteering
c. The case for 2.a and 2.b also applies for research
d. The case for 2.a, 2.b and 2.c also applies for even being able to find classes that are at a time where you can go that doesn’t conflict with work. Most likely a community college, you know - the ones that some schools have a stigma against.
e. In addition to the time conflicts in 2.d, there are financial constraints the older lifestyle brings. Can’t afford to reduce hours or pay tuition because you have to pay for a 2 bed, or your child’s supplies, or two car payments, etc. etc.
f. If you didn’t start out towards a clinical career, you are not easily able to start getting clinical hours now.
3) An infinite number of other nuanced subjects that you really only understand once you have lived through them on how being a non-trad, like a real non-trad not “took a gap year” non-trad, is extraordinarily difficult. An example is just the simple social stigma- imagine being a 35 year old asking to shadow a physician. If you were a physician would you want someone that doesn’t obviously look like a college student shadowing you? If you were a patient would you want some creepy balding dude in a suit staring at you from the corner? (I say as a creepy balding dude who shadowed in the corner)
Reasons that people don’t choose to go towards medicine later in life:
1) They hate their current career and figured “YOLO I’ll be a doctor.”
You know the application process,
@KnightDoc you got that down. But when people are giving information from a more credible source than our own opinion and biases, try listening.
With all due respect: 😎😎😎😎😎
