This is a bit of a rant, but at least some people here might understand. As you can probably tell from my username, I started this quest when I was 44. I turn 50 in a few days. I came out of the gate swinging, and quit my job, went to school full time in order to knock out my pre-reqs I was missing from my undergrad. It went pretty well, not amazing. As happens, life took some interesting turns, and I ended up with like a 3.6 post-bacc and a 28 on the MCAT.
I actually got a couple of interviews at allopathic schools with that, and got wait listed, and the emotional roller coaster took a lot of life out of me. At this point, I had sort of built up life expected to enter school again, and when it didn’t happen, I had to drop back and punt. I started working again, and prepared to do it all again.
After a short time at my job, I tried to cram in an evening MCAT prep course, which ended up being a disaster. My job as a software engineer can become demanding at times, and I was never able to complete the course, or even sit for the date I had scheduled. Then another year rolls by.
In the mean time, my last coursework is all 3+ years old, my letters of rec are all old, and just to top things off, the job that I had been killing myself for, let me go this past Friday with no notice. I don’t know if I should take it as a sign, or just another kick in head.
Unfortunately, I don’t really have the funds to just go take some undergrad classes for fun, and I had to move to California for work, and taking classes here isn’t as easy as it was in TN.
I feel like even if I studied, and did well on the new MCAT, the lack of recent volunteer experience and letters will hurt me, not to mention no recent coursework. Of course I’ve considered international schools, but the whole thing scares me to death for multiple reasons. I was really hoping to get in to a DO school like LMU-DeBusk, which I’ve really come to be impressed with. I just don’t know how to make it work anymore.
I just really want to crawl in a hole.
I’m sorry things haven’t gone fully according to plan. What’s the quote? “A best laid plan doesn’t survive first contact with the enemy” or something like that. I say don’t give up if it’s what you really want to do!
Is your mcat expired? A 28 should put you into the competitive applicant pool for DO schools as well as some allo schools (as you were in the past). If you have to retake the test and can afford it, I’d highly recommend trying another prep course. I did it on-demand style and had a pretty good experience with it while balancing a full time job. With the new test rolling out, it wouldn’t hurt to go over the new format and new testable concepts in a more formalized approach than a DIY study approach.
Course work doesn’t “expire” for a lot of schools. You learned the material you were expected to know, and your continued knowledge/ability to learn should be reflected in your score on the MCAT in your case. Maybe consider an “upper level” science course for recency. To me, 3 years isn’t that long ago though.
I think a fault of almost all older premeds is lumping ourselves in with the traditional premeds. Life happens. What you learned and grew from in your non-academic life speaks volumes of you as a person. You have experiences that the normal college kid can only try to mimic through volunteering, school clubs, etc. Just because you don’t fit the cookie cutter mold anymore doesn’t necessarily make you an unfit candidate. Granted, your past should probably still reflect the qualities and characteristics that med schools seek out. You just don’t have to show them in the same way that a 21 year old college kid does.
You seemed to have hit the “check boxes” in the past. Have you become any less altruistic because things changed and you had to adapt your schedule? Have you forgotten what you learned through those experiences you had that made you desirable enough to interview before? This is all stuff that can be discussed on the personal statement and follow up secondary essays that I think make us stronger applicants, at the right school, than we give ourselves credit for. (Granted, I’m biased)
Your MCAT score is well in the upper half of the range for most DO schools and definitely for LMU (I’m going by what I read on that “other” forum - people seem to get in at LMU with 24+). Why don’t you try reaching out to LMU staff and explaining your situation? Ask what they recommend you do in terms of coursework, MCAT, and ECs moving forward, or if what you have from 2-3 years ago is sufficient. Couldn’t hurt, right?
Edit: You could also post on that “other” site and see what someone like Goro has to say.
First step - get off the forums and start talking to the admission committee members (like Dullhead said).
You may get a sympathetic ear and they may provide you with a road ahead. Heck, they may tell you to submit because your scores are good enough.
The only real thing I can see that will hold you back RIGHT NOW, is your MCAT date. Not the score, but your date.
Go makes some phone calls, focus on the MCAT and get ready to submit in July!
Jimi, I was 44 when I started this path; I think we both joined here in the same time frame.
I turned 50 last August.
My pre-req GPA is 3.9; I took the Kaplan MCAT course and was registered for tomorrow’s exam.
But I cancelled that … I was not in my comfort zone…
So, I will be taking the new MCAT (less physics, more biochem playing to my strength) on May 22.
I will apply in June, pray for my score to be released in late June, my file with AMCAS finalized by end of July early August and pray that someone finds me interesting enough to send secondaries and then … interviews.
I did not talk to my potential LORs until I was sure I was ready for MCAT … but I kept in touch with them for the past few years, let them know periodically what I was up to … and last, when I was taking the MCAT.
Now, it is up to me.
I am 50… and wicked smart. I’m also tenacious, enthusiastic and resourceful unwilling to let my short term crap stop my path.
With a solid MCAT, I WILL get in somewhere.
And so will you.
Do or do not, there is no try (with respect to med school).
Keep us/me posted - it is nice to know there is someone else with similar story (in fact, for a minute I thought you stole MY story 
)
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