My name is Troy. I am a 32 year old married father of 3 and live in Texas. I am a pre-med student. I went back to school after 10 years of full-time work in the fall of 2005. This is my third consecutive semester back in school. Since returning to school, I have excelled with a 3.5 GPA while working 25 hours a week and being an active husband and father.
My problem is that when I attended college right out of high school I was a poor student. I didn’t have any direction or goals. I accumulated a 1.7 GPA in about 4 years of school.
I want to know if someone like me has a chance to get into medical school. I don’t want to waste my time as my family is making great sacrifices so I can pursue my goals. I know that I will continue to excel and even excel more as my study habits continue to improve. I have the option of doing academic fresh start which would eliminate all coursework 10 years or older. If I used this option my GPA would be 3.5 or so rather than my 2.3 overall GPA. I still have at least 3 semesters left to bring my GPA up if I don’t do academic fresh start, and could probably get it up to close to 3.0 overall. If I did do academic fresh start it would take at least 3 extra semesters until I would be read to apply to medical school becuase I would lose many credits.
I would greatly appreciate any advice and opinions.
Yes! You definately have a chance, but it requires hard work… The upward trend in academics, and doing well on the MCAT are your determining factors. I did horrible when I initially went to college: 1.6 gpa and academic probation for several semesters. Once I decided to become a doctor, I refocused, worked hard and pulled my GPA above 3.4… I did wll on the MCAT, however I did take it twice. After my second score, I applied to 9 allopathic schools, with acceptance offers from 2, interview invitations from the remaining 6, and a flatout denial from one (out of state school in the midwest). All of the schools I applied to are in Chicago, the surrounding midwest, and upper east coast. I’m still waiting for the other responses.
Keep your head up, and realize the future is yours to change by working hard in the present, and learning from the past, which is history…
Everything is achievable!!!
Blessings
Troy, I think the Academic Fresh Start is probably a good option for you. You are going to have to put in a lot more time in school anyway, to get new grades to try and balance out old grades… with that pretty abysmal old GPA, I think you are better off wiping it out even though it will take more new school work. If you keep it, you might end up having to do more new school work than you realize.
Just my 2 cents… good luck to you and keep up the good work!
Mary
Hello Troy:
At 55, I am a first year medical student at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine and I’m pleased to say we have a number of over age 30 students in my class – we compose about 10% of the class. It took me three rounds of applications to get into medical school including three delightful days spent with the MCAT over three years. 
Anyway, yes, getting into medical school when you are older and have obstacles related to GPAs can be done, but as one other member has noted, it takes work. You don’t mention clinical experience, but if you have none, start getting some. Older students need to pad their resumes with experience to demonstrate their commitment to medicine and provide them with letters of recommendation. I found this to be critical in my own process and I credit my presence here at UNECOM to doctors, nurses, etc., who were willing to testify to my appropriateness for medical school. Also, even though you are still doing premed work, visit some of the colleges in your area (there are two in the DFW area) and make yourself known to admissions counselors. It never hurts to make contact with personnel at colleges that have your interest and sending them periodic updates – you want to make yourself memorable. That helped me a great deal. We don’t usually think of medical school admissions in terms of selling ourselves, but that is very much what it is about. There are only so many admissions slots available and you want one for yourself. This means you have to convince an admissions committee that you, and not someone else, is their best choice. Grades, MCATs, are a part of this, but they aren’t the whole story. If you don’t mind moving to Maine and you like osteopathy, I’d suggest you give UNECOM some serious consideration. Good luck to you!