38 when I start this fall with two children (14 and 11) and a great hubby.
41 when I applied, 42 when I start this fall. I will be the oldest in my class, I am pretty sure.
Had a high MCAT and a strong academic bkg with lots of community service, but very little clinical experience before this year. Did well in interviews but learned never to bring up the topics of age, significant other, or children.
I will be 38 this fall. I have two kids, 9 and 16. I hope my husband will secure the job he interviewed for so I can say that I will have my hubby at my side. It does remain to be seen.
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41 when I applied, 42 when I start this fall. I will be the oldest in my class, I am pretty sure.
Had a high MCAT and a strong academic bkg with lots of community service, but very little clinical experience before this year. Did well in interviews but learned never to bring up the topics of age, significant other, or children.
Why do you say you learned never to bring up these topics?
Because once I mentioned them, it became legal for the interviewer to ask more related questions, leading into a lot of time spent on topics other than my intellectual brilliance and wonderful character (e.g. what does my boyfriend think about med school, how would I handle long hours of rotations at my age).
Interesting approach. I would have a hard time having a discussion with people and not bring those topics up. Did you have to train yourself not too?
The other side of that coin though would be to alleviate potential adcom concerns. In my case for example, I would like to tell the committee that my spouse is whole heartedly behind the decision, and will serve as a strong support person. With regard to the age, I routinely work 60 hr at my current job and train for endurance sports such as cycling and XC skiing, so, an 80 h work week, if I didn’t train, might be a bit of a break. So, by presenting this information, I would be making the case that I can handle, and excel at the rigors of school and the profession. Whereas, if it is never brought up, it’s a question mark.
I made myself stay away from those topics, even when it was hard to do so.
I understand the point about wanting to alleviate adcoms’ concerns. I tried to do the same thing myself in my first interviews, and that is where I got into trouble; perhaps I raised questions that were never a concern of the interviewer’s and suddenly made them think, why is this person trying so hard to tell me about this? Later, I realized that if I just acted as if I was a great, well-qualified candidate, they could get all the info they needed without going into the grey areas. My ECs were full of demanding outdoor sports, for example, so there was plenty there to tell them I was physically capable.
I see what you mean about overselling. There should be a poll to determine how many times one can second guess themselves regarding the darn interview. I don’t even, potentially!, have one for over a year, and I have probably gone over different scenarios a thousand times.
Thanks for the food for thought (as if I needed any more).
If you are already involved in many activities and get good grades and do well in the MCAT that is your proof and nothing needs to be added unless of course they ask.
I’m 40 now and will turn 41 in Feb 05, I start the 6yr Med program at St. Christopher’s in Jan 05, Just accepted today!
Bill. 
Hey Bill,
Many,many congratulations! We are going to have a real strong showing across the Atlantic! Good going!
Natalie 
It has been great reading these posts and seeing just how many people my age are going to med school. We are a cool bunch of people
congratulations 
I’ll be trying for 2007…still have a while…
good luck
it’s good to hear that not everything depends on MCAT…I still have time - will try to start a medschool in 2007 - but when I saw the topics for MCAT last night I almost passed out. Hopefully I won’t do too bad…alrady started revising whatever I can for the time being
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it’s good to hear that not everything depends on MCAT…
I think it would be more accurate to say that MCAT is not the ONLY important thing. A good MCAT score will open many doors. An ordinary MCAT score will open a few doors but cause you considerable grief. A sub-par MCAT score is going to make your application life extremely difficult even if the rest of your application is excellent. The application is a package of grades, MCATs, letters of recommendation, personal achievements and experiences… and the sum total of that “package” is greater than any of the parts considered individually. Kasia, you’re new to the site so please be assured I’m not really jumping on what you’re saying here - but to be honest, I’ve heard this WAY too many times here in the last several months and I gotta tell you guys, THE MCAT IS IMPORTANT. There is no getting around it. Your competition - the college kids who are really in the groove with testing - is not going to cut you a break, and neither are med schools.
If I were to rewrite this quote, I would say,
not everything depends ONLY on the MCAT. Your application success will depend on the MCAT and so much more.
whoops, I realize that I sorta hijacked this thread with my comments about the MCAT. I stand by what I said, but would like to return to the topic, which is us old folks getting into medical school. So back to the original subject…
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I understand the point about wanting to alleviate adcoms’ concerns. I tried to do the same thing myself in my first interviews, and that is where I got into trouble; perhaps I raised questions that were never a concern of the interviewer’s and suddenly made them think, why is this person trying so hard to tell me about this? Later, I realized that if I just acted as if I was a great, well-qualified candidate, they could get all the info they needed without going into the grey areas. My ECs were full of demanding outdoor sports, for example, so there was plenty there to tell them I was physically capable.
This is a good point and it’s something OldManDave has written a lot about in the past. Sometimes we old folks can feel a little… apologetic, like we need to make excuses for not pursuing medicine earlier, or for bad old grades, or for ordinary MCATs, or whatever. DON’T approach the application that way. Instead, think of how each attribute in your application is part of a whole interesting package that no one else is presenting to that AdCom. Hold your head high! If you’ve got a checkered past that you KNOW needs a little explaining, give a brief matter-of-fact statement that explains AND makes clear that it’s old news and not the way you do things currently. (In my case, it was one sentence in my personal statement to the effect of “I didn’t have the commitment at the time.” I didn’t need to say more - obviously my commitment level had changed between the ages of 18 and 41 when I started my post-bacc, because my gen-chem and calculus C’s at age 18 were replaced by a 4.0 post-bacc at 41-43.)
Believe in yourself. You work hard to put together all the features of a strong application, but it is still up to you to SELL it in a way that conveys your enthusiasm about your career choice - you want adcoms to respond enthusiastically too. Note this is where I think old folks have an advantage, in that by now, we know ourselves pretty well and we know how to communicate effectively (we hope). Again, this is a sales job just as interviewing for any other position would be. Remember how awkward you felt at your first job interview? haven’t you gotten better at it since then? Well, a med school interview isn’t much different from a job interview, and your goal is to sell yourself so that the AdCom folks say, “We want this person at our school!”
Good application ‘package’ - good app/interview ‘sale’ - good results.
(am I ready to replace Zig Ziglar?)
Going by the numbers, 75% of all international medical graduates (IMG’s) fail to get licensed to practice medicine in the U.S. This includes IMG’s who were born in the U.S.
41 and will 42 in the Fall. Will start in May at St. Christopher’s in the UK.
Kathy
That is an interesting and alarming statistic. Where did you get that information from? As Natalie pointed out in an earlier post, there are some residencies that will not accept FMGs at all, US citizen or not. True also, that the clinical skills assessment is required. However, like Jasmine stated, for those of us who chose that route, its been an uphill battle in many ways, and just another hill to overcome.
Kathy