Forty six year old looking for med school

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Looking for the recipe for getting into medical school with 25 years experience as a critical care nurse, 3.9 GPA on all pre-med required courses and 18 Q on MCAT . Do I need to take the fast boat to the tropics? Is there any hope for an open minded medical school here in the states? Looking for wisdom and sage advice.

2

You will need to retake the MCAT. While you GPA is great and your experience is fabulous, your MCAT is going to be the weight.

3

congratulations…you are almost there. thanks for the advice. Will do.

4

Ditto on the MCAT. 18Q is not competitive - given your GPA I suspect your low MCAT is a result of your test taking strategy and other nuances rather than a real issue with the material.

5

Totally agreed. MCAT is too low. I believe that if you are able to get it up you will have a decent shot.


Given your GPA, I would focus and prep really hard over the course of 6 months to 1 year.


Note (and I haven’t taken the MCAT): IMHO preping the MCAT solely based on prep courses seem a mistake. That’s why I would recommend a long sustained preparation. Prep courses will reinforce that (at then end).

6

Agreed on all the above. MCAT needs to be high 20s to be competitive onshore. Kaplan won’t teach you what you don’t already know, but will help organize your thought processes and test-taking strategies. Well worth the time and money.

7

No, there is not medical school in the US that will consider an 18. You need to retake period.

8

goldwasa - I’d also bear in mind that you want to be successful in getting a good residency AFTER med school, and trying to save a year by going offshore is only going to bite you when matching comes around…


I know very well how a number in one’s age can loom large in the mind, but really the investment in solid test prep will help put you in line for a great med school here in the US. As the OPM “staff” say (repeatedly), it’s a marathon, not a sprint.


Kate (53 yr old 1st year med student)

9
  • Kate429 Said:
goldwasa - I'd also bear in mind that you want to be successful in getting a good residency AFTER med school, and trying to save a year by going offshore is only going to bite you when matching comes around...

I know very well how a number in one's age can loom large in the mind, but really the investment in solid test prep will help put you in line for a great med school here in the US. As the OPM "staff" say (repeatedly), it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Kate (53 yr old 1st year med student)



Here is a link to a post on some real data to show how FMG/IMG (foreign medical graduates/international medical graduates) do in the residency match.

Link to Post with MD, DO, and FMG residency match rate data