Which schools are more friendly to non-traditional applicants?

[mikeybeats]

I've been out of school for 5 years, will be about 7 by the time I'm ready to matriculate. My cGPA is on the lower side, but has an upward trend and I have a good sGPA. I formed and run a non-profit and have been doing so for the past 4 years. I believe my life experiences are a real advantage for me over a fresh out of school 22 or 23 year old. I always hear about certain schools being more non-trad friendly...does anyone know which ones would be more accepting of someone in my shoes?

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[DrMeows]

I've been out of school for 5 years, will be about 7 by the time I'm ready to matriculate. My cGPA is on the lower side, but has an upward trend and I have a good sGPA. I formed and run a non-profit and have been doing so for the past 4 years. I believe my life experiences are a real advantage for me over a fresh out of school 22 or 23 year old. I always hear about certain schools being more non-trad friendly...does anyone know which ones would be more accepting of someone in my shoes?

I don't exactly know which schools are "non-trad friendly", but from the research that I've done, it seems like they all are. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but adcoms love to see people that went into the workforce and did something else or are completely changing their line of work. I agree - if I were an adcom I'd like these people over some 21 year old senior in college also. I don't think you need to worry about the odds being against you in that aspect.

 

[mikeybeats]

I don't exactly know which schools are "non-trad friendly", but from the research that I've done, it seems like they all are. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but adcoms love to see people that went into the workforce and did something else or are completely changing their line of work. I agree - if I were an adcom I'd like these people over some 21 year old senior in college also. I don't think you need to worry about the odds being against you in that aspect.

Thanks for your comments. It wasn't so much that I was concerned about having the cards stacked against me bc of my non-trad status; rather, I was wondering if my life experiences, being a business owner, and time since my poor grades would counteract the low cumulative GPA at some schools more than others.

 

[DrMeows]

Thanks for your comments. It wasn't so much that I was concerned about having the cards stacked against me bc of my non-trad status; rather, I was wondering if my life experiences, being a business owner, and time since my poor grades would counteract the low cumulative GPA at some schools more than others.

Hopefully someone on here can answer that question sorry!

 

[gyngyn]

Thanks for your comments. It wasn't so much that I was concerned about having the cards stacked against me bc of my non-trad status; rather, I was wondering if my life experiences, being a business owner, and time since my poor grades would counteract the low cumulative GPA at some schools more than others.

All schools consider special circumstances. You just have to be special enough to outweigh any numerical deficiency!

 

[abolt18]

I am not certain because I've only just been through it as a student applying, but in my 3 interviews I always brought up and talked about my family (wife and baby) and also about my 2 year mission I did for my church from age 19-21. These are not the same as your "non-trad" situation as I'm still finishing my bachelors, but they always came up in a respectful, inquisitive way. I was asked "how will you handle school when you have a family" and I just told them it'd be no different from now because I work full time on top of school and in med school I'll be studying full time instead. Basically what I'm trying to say is I felt that me being a non-trad was viewed as a positive thing, but do expect some questions about WHY change and HOW will you handle it. I think they're sincere questions and it gives you the opportunity to show a side of you that is not necessarily displayed in the application.

So for you, I'd imagine you could expect questions about why you've changed paths, the struggles and successes, and goals. I agree with meows in that I think schools will see this as a plus and it can only help you stand out at all the schools. I don't believe any school would have any problems with you being a non-trad!

 

[djtiesto14]

Yes and no. Depends on the school. But generally, nothing makes up or accounts for a poor GPA and MCAT. It is best to retake classes you did poorly in when you have some spare time and get a grade replacement. Also, keep in mind, some schools will not accept grades that are older than 5 years and MCAT scores older than 3 years. In the former case, it is best to just retake everything, do well, and apply to MD or DO schools, depending on what fits you best.

Good luck!

 

[mikeybeats]

Yes and no. Depends on the school. But generally, nothing makes up or accounts for a poor GPA and MCAT. It is best to retake classes you did poorly in when you have some spare time and get a grade replacement. Also, keep in mind, some schools will not accept grades that are older than 5 years and MCAT scores older than 3 years. In the former case, it is best to just retake everything, do well, and apply to MD or DO schools, depending on what fits you best.

Good luck!

Thank you for your comments. My situation is such that I took all of my science pre-reqs well after graduating (finishing up my last two classes this semester).

So in reality, my post-bacc is a 3.7ish, my sci GPA is a 3.6, and my cGPA is about a 3.1. I could certainly go back and re-take my 100 level nutrition, economic, etc courses which I did poorly early on in my college career...but would acing health 101 really mean much to an adcom at this point?

 

[djtiesto14]

I don't know what health 101 is or means. It depends what the title of the class is.

On the other hand, it never hurts to retake a class and get an A if your applying to DO school. It's going to raise your overall GPA and your non-science GPA or science GPA, depending what category the course falls under. The higher the GPA in these categories, especially sGPA, will help you getting far in the cycle.

Cheers.

 

[doctorold]

Yes and no. Depends on the school. But generally, nothing makes up or accounts for a poor GPA and MCAT. It is best to retake classes you did poorly in when you have some spare time and get a grade replacement. Also, keep in mind, some schools will not accept grades that are older than 5 years and MCAT scores older than 3 years. In the former case, it is best to just retake everything, do well, and apply to MD or DO schools, depending on what fits you best.

Good luck!

Can you give an example of schools that don't accept older than 5 years classes? Are they many, or just a few?

 

[kami333]

Can you give an example of schools that don't accept older than 5 years classes? Are they many, or just a few?

link

You should check with the schools you are interested in to double check (I think UMass and Miami should be on the list too).

 

[sarus23]

I graduated in 2006 from college and finished all my masters course work in summer 2007. I took all of my basic prerequisites in college some were in fall 2002. I was worried about schools accepting my classes so my pre-health advisor recommended I take one class to show that I can still do well. I hadn't taken biochem yet so I took that in the spring at a community college and received an A. Its only come up at 1 interview my being out of school for so long and when I said I received an A while working full time they seemed fine with my response. I applied to 14 schools and have received 8 interview invitations (only going to go to 5 though) and 1 acceptance so far (still waiting to hear back from the others).

 

[corpsman33]

I haven't heard of any DO schools that have expiration dates on classes (I am not saying there aren't any but I havent heard of them). DO schools are very very nontrad friendly and this means accepting old classes. The link that was provided was all allopathic schools.

In my case they accepted physics and chemistry prerequisites from 1998 (14 years ago). I applied to like 15 DO schools and none of them had a problem with this. I also had to take many classes recently to prove that I could still make it in school (including O Chem 1 and 2). As long as you've had some recent coursework and a decent MCAT (the great equalizer, which you have to know the prerequisites to do well on) you should be fine.

 

[Poliscidoc]

.

 

[corpsman33]

LMU-DCOM 60 some year old woman is a MS1



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ignore spelling and/grammar

She is 62 and pretty cool. So, yes, DO schools are very accepting of non-trads.

 

[Poliscidoc]

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[corpsman33]

Yea she's super nice was just using as an example


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ignore spelling and/grammar

No worries, I understood what you meant.....

 

[Owlie]

I don't exactly know which schools are "non-trad friendly", but from the research that I've done, it seems like they all are. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but adcoms love to see people that went into the workforce and did something else or are completely changing their line of work. I agree - if I were an adcom I'd like these people over some 21 year old senior in college also. I don't think you need to worry about the odds being against you in that aspect.

I agree. I've had a chance to overcome adversity, and show that when things look grim or hard, I can push through and overcome past mistakes. Being a pre-med with a kid and 9 Ws in my early college career is quite adverse.

 

[dsoz]

I will be 42 at matriculation in the fall of 2013. Accepted at two schools and waiting to hear back from my state MD school.

Being "old" does not wave the need for a good GPA and MCAT.

BTW, almost all my classes are from nearly 20 years ago. I didn't have any school that I applied to say anything bad about my classes being almost older than some applicants. Ha ha.

It does help that I have been a high school science teacher for many years. I probably use most of the basic science that schools desire on a daily basis.

dsoz

 

[cliquesh]

I will be 42 at matriculation in the fall of 2013. Accepted at two schools and waiting to hear back from my state MD school.

Being "old" does not wave the need for a good GPA and MCAT.

BTW, almost all my classes are from nearly 20 years ago. I didn't have any school that I applied to say anything bad about my classes being almost older than some applicants. Ha ha.

It does help that I have been a high school science teacher for many years. I probably use most of the basic science that schools desire on a daily basis.

dsoz

What are you planning in specializing in?

 

[coolingglasses]

I'd say any school that doesn't let you substitute a committee letter could be seen as nontrad unfriendly.

 

[CallistaisFraud]

I will be 42 at matriculation in the fall of 2013. Accepted at two schools and waiting to hear back from my state MD school.

Wow, that is awesome! Congratulations and hope you have a great year