Based on the information I got from AAMC, I’m going to say a resounding “NO”!!!
Here’s a link to the data for you to judge for yourself:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321468/data/factstablea6.pdf
Age 40 puts an applicant at the 99th% for matriculated students.
Hmmmmmmmmmm.
What is it for DOs? Med school is by far a “young person’s game”… Even as an over-30 male, I appear to be in the 95th percentile and got in.
There are drastically few people 30+ that matriculate into med school. The other question to ask is how many people over 30 actually tried? At matriculation, my class (MD) had a 41 year old and I think 6 people in their 30s. Average age of the class was 24, which is roughly the national average.
I think if you’re an attractive candidate (read: grades + tests + life experience), you still have a shot regardless of age. If you aren’t an attractive candidate, then it doesn’t really matter how old you are. I won’t comment on age discrimination type issues because I don’t have any experience or data on it. Can’t get in if you don’t at least try… Someone has to be the oldest in the class…
While there are arguable a number of confounding factors that could give someone’s app a boost, my real issue with the AAMC’s data is that they no longer report it using exact age ranges i.e. 21-55. IMHO, this is HIGHLY useful information for applicants over age 40 in deciding where to apply.