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Perpetual students

Thanks, yeah I know I'm doing things the hard way but I know things will pan out eventually. It's funny in Canada they look for worldly people with life experience and who are free thinkers. Up here if someone dedicates there entire undergrad period to science and nothing else they're setting themselves up for disaster when it comes to the interview. The average age of admission to my provincial school was 25. Some of the smartest med students I've known have been rejected once or twice for lacking life experience (4.0 GPA 36 MCAT).

but different country, different system. I'm thinking that once I rewrite my MCAT I should be in good standing, anything within the low to mid thirties would have me in. A friend of a friend got in to my provincial school with a 3.7 and a 28 MCAT though he was wait listed. A 3.7 is certainly doable (we have the 4.5 system here, an A=4.0 (80% ) A+=4.5 (90-95% ).

There are some out of province schools that only look at your last 2 years when calculating GPA. But my provincial school is my best bet since out of province spots are just as competitive as out of country spots.
 
Sorry to be a downer, but I've learned the hard way that US MD schools seem to be looking for people young and fresh out of a BS program where they got no lower than 3.6~3.7, and have done pretty much nothing else with their lives other than science. They are not looking for worldly people, since they don't mold to the military-like discipline as well.
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CANADA has higher MCAT and GPA requirements. The US, especially with DO schools is very open to alternative/non-trad applicants to med school. Sure there is a lower cutoff for GPA, you may be rejected pre-secondary if you have below a 3.3-3.4 at some schools. However thousands of applicants get into med school in the US every year with under a 3.5. Also, applicants are not discriminated against based on major. You do NOT have to be a "science freak" to get into med school. Also at OHSU where I hope to get in, the average age of their entering class is 26, not "fresh out of undergrad."

We American applicants look with envy at Canadian medical schools, which are less stringent in their entry requirements, and make it very clear that they DON'T WANT US. They set aside such a small quota of seats for American applicants that any advantage gained by by lower score requirements is more than canceled out,
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Less stringent? No, they're more stringent look at the requirements. Around 30% of Canadian applicants get accepted vs more like 40% for US. Many canada med schools require a Q writing sample and 10's in each category of the MCAT. They also have weird requirements about the number of credits you took each term and which classes they will count. In the US it's straightforward--your GPA is all the classes you've taken, no matter when you took them or over what time period (provided it was within last 5 years or so). Americans do just fine at US schools, where it is entirely possible to get into an MD school with a 3.3/30 and a good app, or a DO school with 3.0/26. You gotta admit, a 3.1 is pretty low for an MD school and if you just applied to MD schools you can't be surprised that you didn't get in. Once you get above the automatic cutoff, your gpa matters far less than your MCAT, medical experience, personal statement, interview, etc...

But hey, you are a doc now so it doesn't matter! Hopefully I get in for 2009....

Back on topic - I took 6 years to get my undergrad degree and finish med school-prereqs, but I've also worked a variety of interesting jobs so I don't see myself as delayed at all. The funny thing is one of my friends once accused me of "taking my 20's easy." Well first of all I had just turned 20. But now he is the one taking his 20's easy and I'm busting my fricken ass all the time so..it's funny how things change. Who is the slacker today could discover their path tomorrow.
 
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well lets see

i know this guy who is currently in his....... 8th or 9th semester at school. bt he gets arrested. a lot. hes classified as a sophomore or something near there. really has no eta to graduate, as he will probably go back to prison this year.
 
Wow Protovack -- I sure was misinformed about the Canadian med schools! Obviously the pre-med advisor at the place where I took my prerequisites didn't know jack about them, or his info was way out of date.

I'm not a doc nearly yet -- I'm starting school this coming fall. Good luck to you on your applications!

I also 'took my 20s off'. I got my bachelor's done in the traditional four years of 18~22, and from then on I pretty much have done what I wanted. I don't look with jealousy at people my age who've already 'succeeded', and are deep into their careers. I didn't live it up much as a teenager, and I'd be damned if I was about to waste the last real decade of my youth slaving away. You could say I made up for lost time.
 
< -- Working on second bachelors.

My problem is that I did graduate this past May, but then I couldn't find a "real" job... so back I go.
 
I may become one, one of these days. I'm finishing my first masters right now at age 24 and I might be starting another one. If I start another one, it will be in conjunction with a full-time job in order to get a certain professional designation. I dream of eventually going to law school, but I don't see how that's going to be possible before I'm 30 if I want to get some meaningful work experience. Oh well, the bright side is that by then I will absolutely destroy the LSAT after studying for it for about 6 years :D. But yeah, that's going to be an assload of school - the first masters was a mistake, only there to kill time because of fear of the real world. It's easy to see how people could get trapped in a loop. I want to study physics, biology, and math, but there's only one life and mom says she's through supporting me - time to pay some bills!

I can't player-hate anyone that stays in school forever. It would be awesome, but for me it has to be a careful balance between work and school. A person can learn a lot from work, though.
 
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I'm 24 and a perpetual student. The student loans don't need to be repayed untill 6 months after you stop being a full time student.
 
Hey doors, what osteopathic school are you at? Have your eye on any specific specialty?
 
Call me paranoid, but I'd rather not say in an open forum which school I'm going to. If somebody was really out to take me down, even in the distant future, things I've posted on this website would be more than enough to ruin my career. Saying the name of the school pins me down to one locale and one of a very small number of possible people. PM me and I'll tell you, though.

My dream specialty is travel medicine -- the guy who gives you the shots and packs you a first-aid kit to take to Timbuktu, and takes calls from faraway places at all hours when people have medical emergencies abroad, advising them what to do and where to go. I have a feeling the country doesn't have/need many of these, meaning I'll need to get pretty good grades and USMLE scores to get into a residency for this. I'm a traveler and lifelong geography nerd, so I think I'd enjoy this a lot.

Other than that, family practice and geriatrics interest me too, and both of these are hurting for new people. I'm definitely all about the direct patient interaction.

How about you, dude?
 
should i describe myself? i plan on being in school for another 7+ years too.
 
I know this girl whose been in college for 6 or so years...she takes out mad student loans (like $30,000 every year cosigned by her boyfriend) to pay for her car, apartment, etc. I have no idea what she plans on doing when she gets out of school.
 
I have a friend who's in his eight year of school. He's graduating this May at last. He switched schools twice and majors god knows how many times. He drinks a lot and hardly ever goes to class.

I think people like him are just avoiding entering the real world and getting a job.
 
TheSanityAssassin said:
i think people who become perpetual students are afraid to face the real world.
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an even better indicator of that fear is if they still live with their parents and have no intentions or aspirations of ever leaving.
 
I hope the other students in my department don't think I'm the creepy person who's never graduating. I'm beginning to feel that way. :\
 
What do you think of career students?

What's the consensus on people who take post-secondary education into their 30's and 40's?
 
I have a 'mentor', I guess you could call him, who works in the IT field.. and has for many years. Right now he's doing night classes so he can get his teaching degree, which is what he really wants to do at this point in his life (late 30s/early 40s). He has a goal and is going back to school to achieve it.

Going back for the sake of finishing school when you already have a career and are 35+ years old is just retarded unless your still working in the grocery checkout lane.
 
I like it! =D 33 and hopefully moving on to grad and maybe PhD or Med school soon enough. It's harder though. Too much fucking responsibility to juggle. ugh.
 
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