I am an non-traditional, older pre-med that is making a life
change and applying to medical school.
I am 29, married 1 year, no kids. My husband is an engineer and
very supportive of my decision to become a doctor. I am an engineer
by training, and left my job last year to complete the pre-med
requirements full-time. I took the MCAT, am volunteering,
have recommendations, and am taking some required classes.
I plan to apply for entrance for Fall 2004.
My question is this: What are the best schools that
are friendly for OPM's, especially married OPM's? We living
in California and are able to re-locate to anyone in the country.
Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Hi,
Welcome to OPM. My feeling that there is no particular consensus on schools that are friendly to older students. Because one person’s preferences can vary so much you should try and find the schools that you feel would best fit in terms of teaching style, curriculum, location… Especially, since you have so much flexibility in where you are willing to go (anywhere). The DO schools seem to evaluate candidates on more than just their numbers but I think this varies place to place as well. There are two DO schools in Cali. These are TUCOM and Western/COMP. See the following link for a regional map of DO schools and links to them DO Schools. Just for balance, here is the link for the allopathic schools MD Schools. I am not even done with my pre-reqs so hopefully others, especially those further down the line, will put in their nickels worth. Good Luck!
I gave a rea-a-a-allllllly long answer to a similar question in a thread just the other day; here’s the link:
"non-trad friendly schools"
The short answer is, it’s not really an issue (especially for someone as young as you are) and you should just choose the schools that interest you the most.