How late in your life can you apply for med school?
Discussion about medicine applications and medicine.
-
- Reputation:
- Thread Starter
- New Member
- Posts: 23
How late in your life can you apply for med school?Always had the passion to be a doctor, always did well at science up to GCSE, then it didn't go so well in A level so I accepted the failure and I dropped chem after AS and went for the Math route
I now have a 1st class degree and a masters degree in Math
I've now looked again (leisurely) at studying medicine, and I see I can apply if I take the GAMSAT/UKCAT, is this true? Do I still need the A levels in chem/bio?
I've also racked up a fair bit of debt over the past 5 years, £30k in total from the degrees, is it a bad idea to want to add to that? With tuition prices going up I can see that I may be adding about £70k to that..
It's fine if I can't, I can just say I wasn't cut out for it, but it would be nice to know my options. (eg. Get a 5+bonus ball lottery win, pay off the 30k debt and I'd be in the same boat as school leavers!)
Otherwise, if I worked for 2-3 more years to clear the debt, is it possible after that? I'll be 26 at that point though.. -
- Reputation:
- PS Helper
- Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?Many people enter medicine at university older than 26! In my year alone there are at least three students in their late 30s or older.(Original post by Firepanda)
Always had the passion to be a doctor, always did well at science up to GCSE, then it didn't go so well in A level so I accepted the failure and I dropped chem after AS and went for the Math route
I now have a 1st class degree and a masters degree in Math
I've now looked again (leisurely) at studying medicine, and I see I can apply if I take the GAMSAT/UKCAT, is this true? Do I still need the A levels in chem/bio?
I've also racked up a fair bit of debt over the past 5 years, £30k in total from the degrees, is it a bad idea to want to add to that? With tuition prices going up I can see that I may be adding about £70k to that..
It's fine if I can't, I can just say I wasn't cut out for it, but it would be nice to know my options. (eg. Get a 5+bonus ball lottery win, pay off the 30k debt and I'd be in the same boat as school leavers!)
Otherwise, if I worked for 2-3 more years to clear the debt, is it possible after that? I'll be 26 at that point though.. -
- Reputation:
- PS Helper
- TSR Deity
- Location: London
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?The age bit is not a problem - as has already been said, there are people on both normal and grad med programmes of all sorts of ages up to 40s (rarely older than this though).
Thinking about A-levels/GAMSAT/UKCAT, each med school has slightly different requirements for its graduate entry programme, so it's worth looking into them in detail - there's not loads so it wouldn't take too long. I'm pretty sure some of them don't necessarily require science A-levels. Some (Leicester springs to mind) will want a certain amount of work experience, and it will be beneficial for any application, so you should start thinking about that.
Regarding finance, it will add significantly to your debt, and if you're not entitled to a student loan this time round you may end up taking out commercial loans which are a lot more expensive and less forgiving, so you'd need to find out more about exactly how much you'd need etc. But if you do your research there's no reason why you shouldn't apply if it's what you want. -
- Reputation:
- Junior Member
- Posts: 55
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?26 would be younger than the average age on my course (grad entry) so don't fret about that. I was told the average age on our course this year is 28, that's off the rumour mill, but it seems about right!
You don't need science A levels for quite a few of them. SGUL/Notts won't ask you to have them and they won't make a difference to your competitiveness, for Swansea they may help. There are a few others that won't ask for them either.
Debt - I don't like talking about that. -
- Reputation:
- Exalted Member
- Location: Dark side of the moon
- Posts: 342
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?Just think of the debt as being a mortgage for your education! I don't think of it as 'real' debt, you don't even notice the repayments coming out of your salary. So please don't let the thought of debt put you off studying medicine.
As for age.....well I'm 40 and a single mum of 5. I start in September. -
- Reputation:
- Adored and Respected Member
- Location: London, England, UK
- Posts: 577
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?The eldest person on my course turned 40 last week. Also some students in their early 30's and a few who are 27-29. I think early 40's is the latest you can apply though, as you would need to work for a substantial amount of time in order for all the money invested in you by the NHS to be worth it. So by no means is 26 too old to apply!
I wish you the best of luck for the future.
Last edited by asif007; 12-05-2012 at 20:18. -
- Reputation:
- Exalted Member
- Location: Dark side of the moon
- Posts: 342
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?Although early 40's is probably the latest you can apply if you want a decent length of service in the NHS, there are people 50 and older who are at medical school at the moment. There is an F2 in her 60's in the South West and students in their 50's on GEP in Nottingham.(Original post by asif007)
The eldest person on my course turned 40 last week. Also some students in their early 30's and a few who are 27-29. I think early 40's is the latest you can apply though, as you would need to work for a substantial amount of time in order for all the money invested in you by the NHS to be worth it. So by no means is 26 too old to apply!
I wish you the best of luck for the future.
-
- Reputation:
- Overlord in Training
- Location: The attic at 109 Kingsbridge Avenue, Leeds, England
- Posts: 2,143
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?We have a 25, 32, 34, 40 year old medical students in 2nd year at my uni!! So OP dont let age put you off, if you really wanna go for it!
-
- Reputation:
- Full Member
- Posts: 121
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?Theres loads of info out there about grad entry medicine ive seen it as ive been looking at the prospectuses (sp?), and also you can apply for some 5 year courses too. Best to check with the uni in questions but def dont think theres any reason not to give it a shot! Good luck(Original post by Firepanda)
Always had the passion to be a doctor, always did well at science up to GCSE, then it didn't go so well in A level so I accepted the failure and I dropped chem after AS and went for the Math route
I now have a 1st class degree and a masters degree in Math
I've now looked again (leisurely) at studying medicine, and I see I can apply if I take the GAMSAT/UKCAT, is this true? Do I still need the A levels in chem/bio?
I've also racked up a fair bit of debt over the past 5 years, £30k in total from the degrees, is it a bad idea to want to add to that? With tuition prices going up I can see that I may be adding about £70k to that..
It's fine if I can't, I can just say I wasn't cut out for it, but it would be nice to know my options. (eg. Get a 5+bonus ball lottery win, pay off the 30k debt and I'd be in the same boat as school leavers!)
Otherwise, if I worked for 2-3 more years to clear the debt, is it possible after that? I'll be 26 at that point though..
-
- Reputation:
- Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
- Location: Canada | Posts: ∞
Re: How late in your life can you apply for med school?Wow kudos. Mad dedication right here(Original post by FluffyTutu)
I'm 31 and applying for 2013 entry.
