Mature Student & Med School .... when is it too late.

[Guest Cristina]

I would appreciate some advice from others out there. I am 42 yrs old. Completed my Hon BSc at UofT approximately 20 years ago, then went on to take my MBA at McMaster. I did not have an incredible GPA in undergrad but I did do very well in my MBA. After being in the workforce for 17 years I feel I really want to follow my heart and apply to med school. I have a wealth of work and business experience, published articles, worked in genetics labs, am raising two children etc but when I spoke to the admissions dept at McMaster it sounded as though my GPA would rule everything. They wouldn't even really look at my individual grad work, rather they would apply the 'median' mark of all grad students in Ontario and give it a one year weighting.

Am I wasting my time? (please say no) ....are there any suggestions as to what I might do to increase my chances of acceptance. Because I live in Hamilton and have kids, I am only considering applying to McMaster. I am highly motivated but recognize that given my age I have to start NOW!! In honesty, is there much consideration given to 'special circumstances' ie work experience etc or does it really all start and end with a GPA that I had 20 years ago?? Any suggestions would be appreciated ! What can I do to help my situation if anything?

[Guest MEDCOMPSCI]

Well, for starters how about some infor about how terrible that GPA really is. Mac required a 3.0 too apply, and with the weigthing formula giving you 1 year at about 3.5 or so, what does your cum. GPA come out to? Is it above 3.0, or just below? If you have a 3.0, then don't worry too much about it being too low; Mac accepts a few students every year who have GPAs in that range provided (like you do) have considerbale life experince.

 

You are 42 now, so with the Mac sysem (considering that you cannot start until next year, when you may be 43) you will be 46 upon graduation, so I doubt that doing extra years of undergrad is a feasble option.

 

Hopefully you have the 3.0. If not, then maybe setting up an interview with Mac to discuss your situation might help.

[Guest Ian Wong]

I wish I had more information for you. Perhaps consider making a duplicate post in the McMaster forum, where it's more likely to be read by one of those moderators.

 

If you've already spoken to the Mac admissions offices, and you have your heart set on applying there, then I think you already know a fair amount about what you'd need to do to make your goal of medical school a reality. There were 2-3 mid 40's graduates in the UBC medical class of 2001. I think they all went on to pursue family medicine, although I'm not sure whether they did that because of its flexibility and two year program (as opposed to all other residencies which take 4-6 years), or because that was exactly what they wished to practice.

 

Realistically, I think doing a surgical specialty would be brutal in your mid-40's, although there are a number of other specialties that have more benign residencies. eg: Pathology, Radiology, Dermatology, Ophthalmology (?), Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Radiation Oncology, to name a few. Family isn't necessarily your only option, but it is the shortest route to becoming a practising physician.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest mn]

Have you seen the site mommd.com? It's geared to women who are pre-med, med students or practising physicians, and a lot of the participants in the discussion group are mature students. You're certainly not the oldest one!

 

From what I've heard from admissions offices at Mac and U of T, age is not a factor in considering applications. I agree with MedCompSci that as long as your GPA is 3.0 or higher, you have a chance at admission if you can demonstrate through your application and interview that your life experience, skills and maturity give you an edge.

[Guest Cristina]

Hi...and thanks for the input and advice.......I will post my question on the McMaster forum as well...meanwhile....I am calculating my cumulative GPA to see if I make that minimum 3.0 cutoff (I attended 3 universities and they all seem to have slightly different schemes regarding GPA calculations so I guess I have to use the OMSAS standardization table to figure this out. If I do have the minimum , I'm going to apply and see what happens hopefully my work experience etc will stand me in good stead. However, I think I will book an appt in the next couple days with the Chair of Admissions to Med School and see if I can discuss this on a more one-on-one basis with him. If I am below the 3.0, I suppose I'm SOL and short of taking some 'refresher' courses in Biochem or something to bring my mark up....I'm not sure there would be much more I can do. Thanks for the advice.