Hey Croyd,
Good luck with your Bach at UCR - Riverside for me is the best part of the IE, well, and Redlands I guess. Didn’t mean to dis the IE, ah, its just that traffic and smog . . . otherwise, its great.
I spent half my life trying to breathe in Riverside. I graduated from Norte Vista High School. My brother went to UCR before transferring to UCSD, and I went to CSULB (but I didn’t graduate until much later).
When you fly into Ontario, does it still look like someone took a brown paintbrush and painted the first 1/3 of the sky with it?
Personally, I think you should automatically be accepted into medical school for having the ability to breathe under extremely adverse conditions.
Have you thought about Loma Linda? They’re one of the schools on my application list for this spring.
Here’s to fresh air and your success in medicine!
jeffc 
Quote:
I stumbled on this board, during my seemingly nightly “inform myself as much as possible about the cliff I may be about to dive off of” ritual…
Honestly, I’m borderline speechless. I’ve felt utterly lost during the past few months as I was coming to grips with the fact that what I’ve always wanted to do was sitting right under my nose for who knows how long, and then it suddenly jumped up and hit me upside the back of the head. I’d felt absolutely lost, and probably way past my “prime”, in doing research to prepare myself- as a 30 year old premed- for an amazingly daunting task.
This site is exactly the kind of thing that I’ve been looking for.
I don’t feel quite as uninformed as I did an hour ago. Or like I’m the only “nontraditional premed” out there anymore. So I threw my hat in the ring, joined as a member, and now I’ll start soaking in the info.
I guess I’ll post a more appropriate introduction when I pick my jaw up of the floor.
I’m grateful for those who’ve put forth the effort to create, and build, this unique community and tremendous resource.
Many Humble Thanks,
Ron
Ron;
WELCOME TO OLDPREMEDS!!! As the leader of the band & founder of this rag-tag crew of misfit toys, I can personally assure you that you are far far far from alone in your quest as a nontraditional applicant to medical school. In fact, there is an entire Society of us that continues to grow & evolve…yeah, you guessed it - it is us, OldPreMeds!
Even better, we have an annual Conference & Workshops that will be held in Washington DC at the Crystal City Marriott - 2006 Conference & Workshops – Washington DC - on 8, 9 & 10 June. Inside this forum, there are informational threads, a link to make hotel reservations and the newly announced speaker line up. In the not too distant future, we will add information on the conference registration process & a link to pay the fees.
Washington DC is a fabulous place to take along your family - TONS of free & educational stuff to do. AND, OPM has negotiated a superbly discounted hotel rate ($119/nt vs the normal ~$200/nt) in a hotel that is right on the metro - the precludes having to rent a car saving you a ton of moula!
This conference will not only be a fantastic educational & networking opportunity for you; but also an excellent family vacation - killing several birds with one stone!
Again, welcome to OldPreMeds!
I can’t breathe in IE, either, one problem with Western. I hope to get into some of the oceanic schools.
I wanted to apply to Cal State San Marcos, but the school was not accepting post-baccalaureate students. Actually, the only state school in Cali (including UC schools) that would even take my application was San Bernardino…I have not yet met any pre-med advisors, but probably will in the next few months. I am not sure if CSUSB has a pre-med assoc…that would be great if one exists. I can’t wait to get started this fall! It’s good to hear that CSUSB is a good school 
You may want to check into CSU Fullerton too, it is an extremely good school and their pre-med program is simply outstanding. They claim to have a 84% acceptance rate with their premeds who use their health professions advisors. I’m not sure what their policy is on graduate students but it might be worth checking into. Good luck!
Hey bcrash, my school wasn’t accepting postbaccs either (are any of the CSU’s right now?) but that didn’t keep me from being a walk-on. I picked an uncrowded school on purpose and take all my classes through extended ed. I just have to show up on the first day and beg my way into each class. So far, I got in every class I tried- the teachers are very accommodating. “Sushi” is so new, I am the pre-med advisor (scary, huh?)
I do occasional trips to Mexico to do medical work under the auspices of a “flying doctors” group. On one such trip last November, I met a 54-year old peds (pediatrics) resident from Loma Linda. She went to CSU San Bernadino and then to UC Davis med school, matricualted at age 50. So it can be done.