[ThatPoshGirl]

he was too old for medical school! A man in my precalculus class heard this from someone on the admissions committee at a nearby medical school. He was told they would never admit someone his age. Mind you, he is only two years away from his BS, which means he would be out of medical school before he was even 50. I don't even know if this is legal.

[Michigan RN]

Seems like age discrimination. But we can't give out legal advice.

[ThatPoshGirl]

I'm not looking for legal advice...

[Michigan RN]

Good.

[Praiser]

You are NEVER too old.....for anything. Go for it !

[Michigan RN]

Since when is 41 old. Its like the new 30.

[llg]

Physicians have always more actively controlled the people they have allowed into their profession -- with a set, national standardized admission exam (MCAT), discouraging women, insisting on the highest of GPA's in specified courses, etc. They openly restrict admission to people they feel will not graduate or who will "waste the slot in the program" who they feel will not have a long-term career in medicine.

It doesn't surprise me at all that a prospective student was told this.

[RhodyGirl-SN]

I don't remember where I heard this, but I know I've heard of some sort of "age limit" when applying to med schools. I'll have to look it up.

[PiPhi2004]

I dont really see anything wrong with it either way. It may be age discrimination but really, I understand. That may not be OLD old but you dont have as much energy and vigor as you do in your 20s. MD is a greuling profession that requires a lot of training and he will be 50ish when he becomes an attending!!! How many viable years does he really have in the profession then? Also I just dont see why a 41yo man wants to be an MD. If he can do it though, heck, more power to him. But I can see why people would think hes not a good fit for the medicine profession.

[Ausculapius]

The problem for your friend is not that he is necessarily unfit for med school. It's that there is no shortage of candidates with near perfect gpa's and high mcat scores. So all things being equal they will naturally take the younger person.

If however he is absolutely intent on trying for med school, you can recommend he reasearch D.O. schools and Caribbean schools as an alternative to allopathic schools in the US.

He can also research SMP programs, although they do usually run two to three years.

He can also look into gaining experience in research(if he does not already have it).

I hope this information helps.