New to oldpremeds! Thoughts/advice

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hi everyone! I am new to this and have some questions but will give you some background information first. I am 39 and have started preparing for my dream of attending med school. I graduated college with a degree in Biology and a GPA of 3.8 (pre-med pre-req’s completed) and took the MCAT. After taking it, I decided I wasn’t 100% ready for med school and joined the Marine Corps. Once I got out of the Corps, I got my Master’s in Education (2006) with 18 credits of Master’s level Biology (4.0 GPA) and did work in a research lab with one of my professors. From there I decided to teach and have now taught 11 years of AP Biology and Anatomy and Physiology for high school and 8 years of college level Biology. In the fall of 2014 my wife started encouraging my dream of attending med school because I never stopped talking about it. We began looking into it and realized that it is never too late. So with encouragement and support from my family (which includes a 2 and 8 year old), I have begun studying for the MCAT. I have a few questions that I would like to hear your thoughts on…


  1. I have heard that most schools do not have a time limit on pre-req’s. Aside from those schools that do, I should be ok with not taking a post-bacc program, right?
  2. I have heard that the later you take the MCAT the more difficult it is to get accepted. I would be ready in August to take it but would I be better off waiting until April so I am in the early enrollment group and not the later group? Especially as a Non-Traditional?
  3. Do programs/school require a minimum number of volunteering/shadowing/clinical hours before applying? I have begun volunteering/shadowing and will get more hours now that high school is out for the summer, but during the school year it is difficult to squeeze hours in that work with the doctors in this area.



    Any other thoughts, suggestions, advice? Thanks so much!
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  1. Some schools do, some don’t. If there are any that you’re particularly interested in, call them and ask directly. I had some prereqs that were ~15 years old when I applied, and it was never brought up as an issue. Also, check the prereqs at the schools you’re interested in, some have changed and added things like sociology/psychology and biochemistry to their requirements. I wouldn’t worry about retaking the courses you’ve already completed, though.


  2. Yes, taking the MCAT later can put you at a disadvantage. Bear in mind, it takes about 4 weeks to get your MCAT results back. So, if you took it in August, your application wouldn’t be ready to go until September, and then secondary applications make take a few more weeks, which could put you into October so far as a completed file. That’s fairly late so far as applications go. Could you get in this cycle? Yes, it is possible. However, you’re at a big disadvantage starting this late.


  3. There’s no minimum requirement that I’m aware of. I would suggest focusing on getting some clinical exposure to be able to demonstrate to the Adcoms that you know what you’re signing up for.
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I only ever saw one requirement for shadowing, and it was a min of 40 hours for UW Seattle. As far as I know there aren’t required volunteer minimums, but I bet there might be some unwritten rules at some schools. I had zero hours and got 5 interviews… Seems like some schools like military service too.

4

It seems like your application is in a pretty good place, I would definitely work on shadowing and volunteer stuff though. Some schools absolutely have minimums, others have guidelines (the school where I was accepted wanted 80 hours of shadowing, I had ~65). Even if it’s not required where you’re applying, it’s a safe bet most of the people you’re competing with for slots will have some hours in those categories and it seems like a mistake to me leave such an obvious hole in your application.



As far as the MCAT goes, applying early is absolutely the best way to go, which means having your MCAT scores posted before the end of June ideally. I’ve heard the new MCAT is taking ~6 weeks to get scores back as opposed to the 4 weeks it was for the old one, so if you take in August, that’s mid to late September before Schools even see your application, never mind secondaries. I had my first acceptance by that time last year (I submitted my app June 1, and had my secondaries submitted within 2 days of receiving them).



If this is really what you want to do, don’t handicap yourself just to speed up the process a little bit. Take the extra time to study for the MCAT and really knock it out of the park in April (or earlier if that works for you). Also gives you time to get shadowing and volunteer hours in, LORs from those activities as well. Rolling admissions means applying early is a huge advantage. Can you apply later and still get in? Sure, happens all the time, but why wouldn’t you take every edge you can get?

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SUNY Upstate does not specify shadowing, but would like you to have 500 hours of “experience in a medical setting”. Could be work, volunteering, or shadowing.

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Ditto what everyone has said here. No need to be in a hurry with all this. I will be 55 years old in October, and I will be an MS1 this August :slight_smile: I would take the MCAT in April and apply next June…



My son is a Marine! You have a lot to offer coming from a military background, and the med schools seem to know it. Just an n=1, so, for what it’s worth–I also felt they were biased in my favor as a much older premed. Ended up laughing and joking with the interviewers!