Question

I am a 56 year old woman with a 3.56 on my masters and I have always wanted to be  physician but could not because I was too busy with my seven children.  I always wanted to help sick people get better.  I worked at the hospital in the 70's and did everything a LVN did but for less pay.  I went six month to the local LVN program.  If I am not too old I need to know what steps to take.  My children are teachers, doctors, speech pathologist and nurses.

Answer 1

There is no published  cut-off. However, adcoms' whole purpose is to find the best investment for the school's money and time. You deserve to do this for yourself, too. Is going to medical school worth the time and money? If you are 56, have a good MCAT score, and have all the required courses, you'll graduate at 60 and be practicing at 63 at the earliest. So, at about the time many are retiring, you will be beginning to pay off thousands of dollars in debt, unless you have a way to cover the expenses. At the same time, I have read about applicants in their forties and fifties (just read about a fifty-seven heals old while researching for this answer, and even someone who said he was eighty and just finishing rotations!) the bottom line: I cannot say what you should do, not being in possesion of all the details and not being the person whise dream is under discussion, but I pray that you'll make the decision that gives you peace.

Answer 2

I think you should pursue your dream.  There will be obstacles and questions that you have to overcome and answer, the most basic one being why you waited so long to make such a major decision to pursue medicine.  Let me share with you my experience. I am 44 years old.  For a long time I wanted to become a doctor but because of my US residency I could not get in any school so I opted to become an engineer.  Although I became very successful at it and eventually became a VP at a reputable company, I quit my job to pursue my dream.  By contacting many schools, I learned that they will not put much weight on the college grades if they are more than 15 years old or so.  They will, however, heavily look at your MCAT score, published paper (if you have any), and any medically related activities, and of course strong recommendation letters.  In CA, shadow program is no longer available to non-medical students, so it makes it that much more difficult to gain experience before applying to med school.  Most (volunteer) jobs don’t provide much of interaction with the doctor or the patient.  Having said that, if you know any physician who is willing to sponsor you to shadow him/her for a period of time, may satisfy some of the admission requirements. Volunteering in a hospice program is a good alternative though.    Good luck pursuing medicine and I sincerely hope you reach your dream.