Hello Everyone,
I am so happy to find this forum. I was feeling so alone in my desire to attend medical school at my age. I am seeking a mentor and guide through this process to share experiences and give advice as I begin the application process. I have been out of college for >10 years but I do have a health professions doctorate degree (pharmacist). I am concerned about the recommendation requirements (at least one being an academic professor) and the MCAT ( like most). These are just the top things that I are on my application focus list. Anyone interested sharing and helping someone on there path to reach a long delayed goal? Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Welcome to the site!
For the MCAT, the only thing I can really recommend is taking a commercial prep course to relearn all of the "high yield’ testable stuff. It’s way more time efficient than trying to study everything on your own, and they focus on teaching test content and strategies.
For the recommendation, there are a lot of schools that don’t actually specify who the letters have to come from. For schools that did specify, email them, explain your situation, and they’ll likely give you a waiver. I did that for several schools I applied to since I was pretty far removed from the classroom. I ended up submitting letters from the doc I shadowed plus 2 supervisors from work. Because you’re a “non-traditional” applicant, don’t be afraid to email schools at which you don’t fit their exact applicant mold and get them to be flexible for your situation. Also, don’t get down if schools don’t email you back or deny you. There are tons of schools out there who are open to helping out.
Thank you! This is most helpful.