Wondering if I am too old for Med School

[QofQuimica]

That could be true for some. I wanted to be an astronaut and the idea of becoming a doctor didn't even occur to me until I worked in hospital pharmacies to help pay for college and even then I was sure I was supposed to be an astronaut. My secondary path from aerospace engineering was to get a degree in computer science, so that shows you that even then I didn't think being an M.D. was something I'd want to do. My younger brother works at NASA, I was going to work at NASA, my grandfather... no, I did not come from a family that thought being a doctor was a great accomplishment. LOL. They STILL don't! But I'm A LOT older now. I want to be a doctor. We can pull MCAT scores out later and see whose is longer. I got diss.

I grew up here in FL, and I was school-age when Sally Ride blasted off; I wanted to be an astronaut as a kid too. Bad eyesight and bad motion sickness issues though. And I felt a bit less enthusiastic after watching the Challenger blow up live a couple of years later....my fifth grade teacher had applied to be on that flight. :-/

Regardless, the general point still stands: you gotta have reasonably competitive stats, no matter what your age. If you have good stats/ECs and apply strategically, you can feasibly get into med school in your 40s or 50s.

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[NEVERSURRENDERMD]

I grew up here in FL, and I was school-age when Sally Ride blasted off; I wanted to be an astronaut as a kid too. Bad eyesight and bad motion sickness issues though. And I felt a bit less enthusiastic after watching the Challenger blow up live a couple of years later....my fifth grade teacher had applied to be on that flight. :-/

Regardless, the general point still stands: you gotta have reasonably competitive stats, no matter what your age. If you have good stats/ECs and apply strategically, you can feasibly get into med school in your 40s or 50s.

I will.

 

[TheTao]

Let's be honest: if these previously underperforming nontrads who have "always wanted to go to med school" had done well in college the first time around, they would have been trads.
>>>>>>>

This is actually not necessarily true for some nontrads. For some especially women, motherhood/marriage changed our priorities.

I also imagine that students from lower income backgrounds may have had financial reasons to go from trad premed to nontrad premed.

 

[esob]

Let's be honest: if these previously underperforming nontrads who have "always wanted to go to med school" had done well in college the first time around, they would have been trads.
>>>>>>>

This is actually not necessarily true for some nontrads. For some especially women, motherhood/marriage changed our priorities.

I also imagine that students from lower income backgrounds may have had financial reasons to go from trad premed to nontrad premed.

This was me. I had a full scholarship my freshman year due to a high ACT score but my GPA dropped to a 3.48 and the requirement was a 3.5 for renewal so I lost all my funding. I had always planned on joining the military after I graduated anyway but since I had no money for college it just made sense to step up the timeline and join my sophomore year of college instead in order to get $$ for school.

 

[QofQuimica]

Let's be honest: if these previously underperforming nontrads who have "always wanted to go to med school" had done well in college the first time around, they would have been trads.
>>>>>>>

This is actually not necessarily true for some nontrads. For some especially women, motherhood/marriage changed our priorities.

I also imagine that students from lower income backgrounds may have had financial reasons to go from trad premed to nontrad premed.

I get your point, but what I'm trying to say is that motherhood, marriage, and working your way through school don't automatically equate with tanking your GPA. Plenty of women do some or all of those things and still manage to do well in school. I worked and got married during college myself, got accepted to med school, and went to grad school instead so I could be with my ex. I was a nontrad because at the time, I cared more about him than I did about medicine. But I still did well in school.

 

[NEVERSURRENDERMD]

Let's be honest: if these previously underperforming nontrads who have "always wanted to go to med school" had done well in college the first time around, they would have been trads.
>>>>>>>

This is actually not necessarily true for some nontrads. For some especially women, motherhood/marriage changed our priorities.

I also imagine that students from lower income backgrounds may have had financial reasons to go from trad premed to nontrad premed.

You can look at it from many different perspectives and come up with a million reasons as to why what you're saying isn't necessarily true, but the most obvious reason is probably the most common one, and it's my reason, too. Many, many, MANY students graduate from high school, go off to college (in a big city in my case, and I was a good little boy who'd never had a beer or smoked a cigarette during HS when I went off to the Big Bad City), and they lose focus, discover girls and partying, and their GPA's are trashed by it. That doesn't mean they're not smart, or even freaky smart. It just means they were immature and it took them a while to grow up. Good god. If I studied back then the way I study now, I'd have had a 4.0 with med schools begging ME to come to them. Alas, twasn't so. To say that just because a previously underperforming nontrad wasn't a trad because they COULDN'T do it the first time around is just plain stupid. It's quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever read on these forums.

 

[jl lin]

Even this is a false dichotomy, because people who truly retire early don't typically do nothing. I will be retiring in March at the age of 42. Here's how I plan to spend the first few years of my retirement:

- Go to Israel for two months. Live on a kibbutz, travel, learn to speak Hebrew.
- Fellowship. Likely a little moonlighting on the side, but only 2-4 days per month.
- Work abroad. Maybe Alaska. Or Australia. Or Antarctica. One of those A places.

Not sure what I'll do after that, but this will cover me at least until I'm 45.

That's b/c you are not really retiring. You are re-structuring your life---a huge difference! Plus, you will continue to use your education and work in some capacity--it's just how you are choosing to structure your time. This is NOT how most people retire. So the above really isn't a false dichotomy AT ALL.

 

[jl lin]

It has nothing to do with your age or your IQ score. Med school is a lot of work, but the concepts are not intellectually difficult; a person with a dead average IQ of 100 coupled with a strong work ethic could certainly handle the medical school curriculum. I'm talking about academic achievement, or the lack thereof. Many nontrads are applying after a less than stellar UG performance 5, 10, or more years ago. Let's be honest: if these previously underperforming nontrads who have "always wanted to go to med school" had done well in college the first time around, they would have been trads. And not to say that adcoms don't respect or give credit for reinvention and life experience, because they certainly do. However, if you have a sub-3.5 GPA, you are already significantly below the average at many med schools, including the state school I currently work at. If you are below 3.0, you are significantly below the average for ALL medical schools in this country. Every single one. So yeah, no adcom anywhere is going to salivate over an applicant with a sub-3.0 GPA, not at age 19, not at age 29, not at age 39, and not at age 49.

Bottom line: If you can hang with the trads stats-wise, then your nontrad strengths (life experience, ECs, etc) can be a real asset. But you gotta prove that you can perform in the classroom and in the testing center.

Well no; b/c life doesn't always work out by way of "perfect planning." If I had decided to do X first instead of starting a family, given my maternal hx, I probably wouldn't have been able to have children, or at least other children. And this was important to me. It really depends upon what is important to the person at the particular time in their lives. Also, a number of nontrads are people that did not live up to their fullest potential b/c of impossibly tough lives growing up, feeling like total **** about themselves, feeling held down by hard or tragic circumstances. There are a ton of reasons why people may not be the stellar, shining trad-stars earlier on in their lives. Life is this strange, messy kind of thing--and that's not always a bad thing. It helps to make us the individuals that we are.

 

[jl lin]

I get your point, but what I'm trying to say is that motherhood, marriage, and working your way through school don't automatically equate with tanking your GPA. Plenty of women do some or all of those things and still manage to do well in school. I worked and got married during college myself, got accepted to med school, and went to grad school instead so I could be with my ex. I was a nontrad because at the time, I cared more about him than I did about medicine. But I still did well in school.

Getting married is one thing. Throwing kids into the equation makes it significantly different. Also, I am not one that was apt to just let strangers raise my kids. It wasn't about that for me, so I worked a ton of nights and weekends etc to be w/ them. It's not easy, but you make the choices you can best live with, right? I'm funny though, b/c I think there are some people that shouldn't even be dog or pet owners. I see people who tie their dogs up to trees and I want to scream. So, I am like, if you don't have that whole oxytocin thing going on in your brain and you can't do the caregiving to dogs, children, etc, just forgo having them, b/c they require love, a lot of time (not matter what anyone says--when you are the primary person raising them), and commitment. I will also add that it is nice to have a decent level of quiet in your home when you are trying to study, and that can be tough to get when you are raising kids--add a few dogs, and up goes the noise factor. LOL

 

[jl lin]

Hi guys!

So I am currently 26 and finishing my masters in exercise physiology. I have all the pre recs for med school. However, due to illness and unfortunate circumstances through my undergrad years I do not feel that I am competitive enough to apply for med school.

I am thinking about taking undergrad again, or is it possible to just retake classes I needed to improve in? Am I too old to start all of this? I would love to hear from others as I have such a desire to try, but feel very lost and confused in fully making the decision.

Thank you ahead of time for your responses. They are greatly appreciated and much need.

Just want to say that the age factor is completely relative. So, try and see. There are a tons of hoops in the process, and some of them should give some indication as to whether this is something you want in your life in the long haul. Of course, this may not be true w/o strong, clinical exposure. I truly believe this is a major reason why so many become disgruntled with their choice of medicine after having gone through it all. They just really didn't get a close enough perspective of what it looks like in reality.

 

[TheTao]

You can look at it from many different perspectives and come up with a million reasons as to why what you're saying isn't necessarily true, but the most obvious reason is probably the most common one, and it's my reason, too.

I can come up with ONE reason why your post is moot. YOU'RE A GUY!! The rest of your post is simply a misrepresentation of the meaning of my posts in this thread.

 

[jl lin]

Hey @TheTao I am not going to apologize for my personal choices re: family--or for my non-traditional status, if you will, or my personal life from infancy to adulthood. Everyone has their stories and perhaps tales of woe. I again am not apologizing for them, and I am even grateful for them. They have helped to make me, me. I don't blame the short comings of my parents or circumstances. (As for my parents, their good influence and love has far outweighed the negative or trying times.) I don't blame people that harmed me as a young child. I have forgiven them, and see that it has made me stronger in ways I do not have the time to share here on the Internet. I also realize that like Viktor Frankl shared, it's not necessarily what happens to you, but it's how you respond to it. That can be a hard thing to face, especially if a person doesn't have some help as they work through the heavy burden of it. I am who I am. My demographic information is what it is. My academics are as well, and they reveal that I am, thankfully, more than capable. I don't apologize for my age, life, or circumstances. I do apologize for any time where a lack of humility stunts my growth and learning or the needs of others. And that's what hard times can give you--a sense of meekness, acceptance of your strengths and WEAKNESSES, and the ability to acknowledge them w/o shame but w/ determination toward growth.

 

[mynextlife]

Hi guys!

So I am currently 26 and finishing my masters in exercise physiology. I have all the pre recs for med school. However, due to illness and unfortunate circumstances through my undergrad years I do not feel that I am competitive enough to apply for med school.

I am thinking about taking undergrad again, or is it possible to just retake classes I needed to improve in? Am I too old to start all of this? I would love to hear from others as I have such a desire to try, but feel very lost and confused in fully making the decision.

Thank you ahead of time for your responses. They are greatly appreciated and much need.

I would think a better question to ask would be, " Do med schools age discriminate?"

 

[gallons]

yes, you are too old. So is your friend here https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/physician-assistant-41.1238521/#post-18565469

 

[jl lin]

Probably because you didn't actually read my post.

"Frankly, I think it's irresponsible of a medical school to accept someone who is 50+."

I said literally not one word about the candidate.

Well, you know what they say about opinions being like buttholes; everyone has one. You can think as you like. I am just laughing at people that put all their eggs in the chronological basket rather than they biological basket. And trust me. No one, not one person of any age, is guaranteed tomorrow or decent health and wellness. Learned this well in healthcare over quite some time. Your definition of "irresponsible" is limited and weak. There are plenty of students accepted at younger ages, for whom lack of responsibility and having what really matters for sound and caring practice fall way short; but they meet "the numbers." It's the bottom line mentality that has gotten healthcare in the mess that it is in today. LOL. This is all such a tiresome argument.

 

[jl lin]

Even this is a false dichotomy, because people who truly retire early don't typically do nothing. I will be retiring in March at the age of 42. Here's how I plan to spend the first few years of my retirement:

- Go to Israel for two months. Live on a kibbutz, travel, learn to speak Hebrew.
- Fellowship. Likely a little moonlighting on the side, but only 2-4 days per month.
- Work abroad. Maybe Alaska. Or Australia. Or Antarctica. One of those A places.

Not sure what I'll do after that, but this will cover me at least until I'm 45.

OK. But your Kibbutz, travel, et al are like someone else's med school plans. Some have already done a few of these things. Retiring is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[jl lin]

I would think a better question to ask would be, " Do med schools age discriminate?"

Right, or rather, exactly. If they do; what are you going to do? You can only do your best. All the negative "what ifs" are a huge waste of time. Counting the cost is one thing; doing what you are purposed to do, well that requires courage--at any age. Watching people die of cancer and other horrid things on a regular basis; my mindset has become this: Each of us can only live one day at a time; b/c we aren't promised tomorrow. Find your purpose; do what you love--something you love so much that although it may be sucky many times, it is still your love.

 

[ChopinLiszt]

 

[jl lin]

People seem to be fascinated with zombies nowadays.