Internships

Hello All,

I have recently attended an interview for an internship. I was calm, had great answers, and felt well prepared.It seemed the interaction went well with the interviewers. The issue? I have a feeling I was being profiled for my age—not an insecurity… nor do I think anyone was being mean or rude…maybe just not relating to me. I am 28 and all the interviewers were 18,19 or early 20’s.The interviewees in the same room were all the same age…18,19 or early 20’s. The internship provides hands on medical experience and bed side clinical—I am applying to be an interpreter.



I do not know how to overcome this. The interview was MMI style and at the end one of the interviewers answered my questions with “yes, ma’am”…I felt the need to relate even more and reminded them I was a student and prospective intern—just like they are an intern. Have you oldpremeds run into issues with gaining internships? I believe I am more than qualified and have life/work experience that brings a lot to the table. I also look at it from their point of view—maybe they don’t think I “need” this opportunity as much as someone who has no job/out-of-school experience?



I don’t know how to go about finding internships paid/ or not that don’t have the similar age groups applying. If the interviews are the same----MMI with interviewers being the interns…then, I may run into this again.

This is pretty typical when applying to medical school, especially if there are students on the committee and will be interviewing you. You need to remember, that age is no longer a factor for you. You are not their elder nor their equal. Having them say Sir or Ma’am is a sign of respect to you because you are neither their friend or their colleague. You will certainly run into this again, you will just have to grin and deal with it,