What if I'm too old and dumb for med school

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

I knew at 18 that I wanted to become a physician, and prior to college, I had always done very well in school. I did NOT attend one of those super competitive “Bay Area” high schools or any elite private schools, but it was a solid B-tier high school.

However, in college, I earned a bunch of B’s in premed classes and felt (no, actually WAS) struggling academically in STEM, so I quit. My science GPA at the end of my freshman year was a 3.44 for MD schools. I had NEVER performed so poorly academically before.

It felt like no matter what I did, I’d hit a wall at the B/B+/A- range and there was NOTHING I could to do improve my ranking (my college used curved distributions).

Then, around 23 (I’m months away from 27 now), I became frustrated and upset that I did not pursue a career in medicine and decided to try again, with many false starts.

With that being said, I’m extremely upset and jaded about how this path has gone for me.

I see so many (countless, honestly) losses and very few wins in this path for me, and I’m almost 30.

There are countless people who are YOUNGER and already in medical school, while I’m out here flailing like a failed to launch bum. Like, some people just waltzed through, whereas people like me hit turbulence after turbulence.

My stats are now 3.67 sGPA for MD, 3.81 sGPA for DO, and 3.83 overall but I’m still so frustrated lmao. I’ve never taken the MCAT, have nearly zero clinical hours, and have never applied.

I feel so old as someone who’s almost 27 years old. No one told me that as you get older the losses just stack up.

I should probably accept that I’m academically unqualified for this path and quit. And the SAD THING IS, that in my postbacc, I’ve gotten NO LESS than an A+ in every damn class I’ve taken, which pisses me off even more.

I highly regret attending the stupid grade-deflated college I went to, where I felt stupid for 4+ years and like I was fighting for scraps. I wasn’t even lazy or unfocused or anything, but yet, my transcript looks like a disaster. I literally sobbed to family and friends and said there was no way I could win at that school.

There’s no other career I’d want more than becoming a physician, but I guess this field doesn’t love me back. And please kindly do NOT suggest any other healthcare fields. If I step away from medicine, I am stepping away from patient care ENTIRELY.

2

I am sorry you feel that way b/c there are so many things you can do in patient care that (a) will be very rewarding/less demanding time and money-wise and (b) can be completed in a shorter period of time so you can move on with your career and life. What have you been doing since college? At 26, you have lots of time and opportunities in front of you.

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3

I only want to be a doctor because I’ve worked too hard for anything else. And the road is NOT closed for me. I’m gonna keep fighting until I’m 40. I’m not stupid or anything. Heck, I’ve never even gotten below a B- in ANY class.

4

I had a neighbor who went back to med school in his 30s after a career in teaching. You can do it if you want to do it.

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5

What field of medicine do you want to pursue? Why? Why haven’t you taken the MCAT?

6

Psychiatry, and I want to do it as I’d be good at it and have experienced how hard life is (see my post). I haven’t taken the MCAT as I have not finished my prerequisite classes.

7

Moreover, if I give up on pursuing medicine, I let my cousins and other relatives who got into med school win. I’m not letting them win. I’m not stupid or incompetent or anything, so why should they get to make $200K+/year and help people when I struggle for peanuts in other fields?

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8

First of all, that is not particularly old for someone applying to medical schools. If you were to apply for example this coming fall, to start in fall of 2027, then you would pretty definitely not be the oldest applicant. Not even close. Older students will be getting accepted to medical school.

This is actually quite good for someone who has completed the various premed classes, or at least most of them.

And this is somewhere on the borderline between entirely normal and very good. Premed classes are tough. Both daughters had majors that overlapped a lot with premed classes, so I have heard lots of stories about how tough these classes are.

Attending one of those famous highly ranked universities can also be very challenging and in some cases discouraging. It is a big change to arrive on campus at a university where pretty much every student was near the top of their high school class. Not everyone can be at the top of their class at Stanford, UC Berkeley, or any other university.

By the way, I have a daughter who is a DVM (veterinarian). She had an undergraduate GPA lower than 3.83 overall. She nonetheless did very well in admissions to DVM programs, which are similar to MD or DO programs in terms of how difficult it is to get accepted. She did fine in veterinary school (but there were B’s; and some C’s might have been avoided only with great difficulty and a lot of work). Today they call her “Doctor ” (and the patients who she stitches up or she helps with a difficult birth do not know or care what her undergraduate GPA once was).

A 3.83 overall GPA is definitely not a “disaster”. This is very good for a premed student. These classes are tough. Having quite a few B’s in premed classes is not a disaster.

Getting an MD, or a DO, or a DVM, is a very long and very demanding and very tough path. A lot of determination is needed to get there. Of course for an MD or DO you then have a residency to get through after getting your MD or DO which makes this an even longer and more difficult path.

This is something that you are going to need to fix if you want to be an MD or a DO, or a psychiatrist.

9

This is not a competition.

Life is an exercise in each of us trying to find the path that is right for us personally. You find the path that is right for you. Do not worry about what path is right for your cousin or for me or for my daughters (who have taken relatively different paths even if each is somewhat biomedical-related).

If you find the path that is right for you, then you win. This does not stop the rest of us from winning, potentially in different ways.

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10

There’s no way I’m going to be an underpaid therapist or an AI-replaced CPA when my cousin who earned a FREAKING C IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY still got admitted to medical school.

11

I would hope at 27, you’re not going to compare yourself to relatives. You are not 19.

so you haven’t taken the MCAT. Why not ?

What’s stopping you from taking the steps to apply?

Age is but a #.

You can take your shot and see or give up and complain. Up to you.

And if you don’t get in here, there are other opportunities - DO schools, the Caribbean etc. They all produce physicians in the U.S.

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12

Anyone who is 25 or older should realize how old 26 is (I am not 27 yet). 26-27 is not old as in the “age 40 type old” but it’s not YOUNG. People are starting to settle down. It’s not like being a carefree 21 year old.

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13

1- Not all therapists are underpaid. You can work in academic medicine as a PhD in clinical psychology and hit your numbers- a third of your time in research, a third seeing patients, a third training, teaching and mentoring. Are these jobs easy to get? No. But your basic premise is incorrect. I have a friend with a PhD in clinical psychology whose research area (and clinical experience) is in sleep disorders. Guess how much money you make working in big pharma on blockbuster sleep meds? It’s a big number. She pivoted away from more generic practice areas and got lucky. But she also did the math. Her team includes MD’s, psychologists like her, chemists, sales people, finance people, operations/production experts. Everyone contributes their own expertise- and the work is high paying and seems very satisfying.

2- You aren’t too old. But if you are tired of the grind, then pivot. The only thing tying you down is your own ego right now.

3-Competing with friends, cousins, siblings is likely the only way to guarantee that you will NEVER be happy with your life’s choices. Someone always makes more money, has a more attractive and fun spouse, lives in a cooler neighborhood.

4- Get some patient exposure quickly. Don’t grind away completing your pre-req’s only to discover that you like the IDEA of medicine but you hate PRACTICING medicine. And this is not uncommon. Working with disadvantaged, ill, vulnerable populations isn’t just to impress an admissions committee- it approximates the life you will have. People vomiting on your shoes. Asking– 50 times a day– “when was your last bowel movement?” Holding someone’s hand as they are dying- and holding up the phone so their kids can say good-bye, even though you would rather be doing ANYTHING else.

Good luck sorting this out.

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14

I know a woman who began medical school at the age of 40. I have a family member who began at the age of 29.

I would take this one step at a time. Right now I would begin shadowing, volunteering, and prepping for the mcats.

Are you comfortable sharing what you have been doing over the past few years?

15

Working and paying bills in non-medical settings. Living at home and paying rent to my relatives like a bum. Taking classes part-time. Wondering if I should do this path because my relatives and family are very scarcity minded and think CPA/PA/RN is a way better career (less school, pays sooner).

16

Exactly.

Why haven’t you already finished the required courses for medical school applicants. You finished undergrad a few years ago, right?

The average first year medical student is mid 20’s. You aren’t far off the mark.

You need to finish the required courses for medical school applicants.

You need to do significant volunteer work with underprivileged groups.

You need to do patient facing work…so maybe get a CNA, EMS, MA or other certification so you can do this.

You need to prep for and take the MCAT.

New medical school students are all ages…your age isn’t your obstacle. What you are doing or not doing might be.

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17

As a mid-career physician, I have found that the grind does not stop. In retrospect, getting into medical school was the easy part.

I had people in my medical school class much older than you and I had “baby docs” in my class who started med school after two years of college. Everyone is on a different path. Get over what has happened (or not happened) in the past. If you have a goal of becoming a physician, finish the steps that it takes to get there.

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18

I did not finish the prerequisites as I was getting my butt handed to me in college and switched to a different major (social science, but very math-heavy).

I was studying my butt off and getting B’s. Thus, I changed my career path.

I have enrolled in school part-time to explore STEM again.

19

What specialty are you in and do you enjoy your career/work?

20

Assuming all of this is legit, (sometimes students on winter break have fun on the website) you might want to try to work on your own perspective. Rather than being negative, try putting a positive spin on what opportunities may be out there for you and how you might go after them. As someone who spent a career working in the mental health field, this jumped out at me. And your career should be about what you enjoy not just how much money you make. Best of luck to you.

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