<p>If the average age accepted to med school is 24-25, aren't those students who are in college applying to med school..well..a bit screwed? We'd be 22 once we graduate from college, and then we'd start at 23. So where does the extra year come from? Should we all take a break or something?</p>
<p>The average age is probably in the 22-23 range, only at a few select med schools will the average age be 24 (UCSF comes to mind). The point is that a sizable chunk of your med school class will have gone straight from college to med school and a sizable chunk will have taken a year or more off. Do whatever is the best for you and your goals.</p>
<p>Thank you :)!!</p>
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<p>Assuming your birthdays are all in the summer. Otherwise you’ve got two years to figure out.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table6-facts2009age-web.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table6-facts2009age-web.pdf</a></p>
<p>Mean is 24, median is 23.</p>
<p>There’s no need to obsess over this little statistic, college students applying to medical school are by no means “screwed”. Most medical students matriculated straight from college, but since there are usually a few nontrads in each class that brings the average age up.</p>
<p>At some schools , there are a majority of non-trads. At others, hardly any. I’d suggest adding that in to your app decision process.</p>
<p>from another thread
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<p>Of course, that really begs the follow-on question: how many of those were marginal candidates and held back for a year to buttress their resume/gpa/test scores/ECs, and/or were rejected as a trad and are re-applying after strengthening their app?</p>
<p>Is it preferred to buttress your resume? I’m considering it!</p>
<p>What exactly does “non-traditional” mean? Because according to their website, about 60% of UNC’s entering class is age 20-22, which I assume would be “traditional” admits.</p>
<p>In a lot of med school classes there’s at least a couple of people in their thirties or even forties. Most of these people had other careers before deciding that they want to come back to medical school. So these people can skew the average age.</p>
<p>The majority of my class either went straight from undergrad (and I think that this is definitely at least the plurality) or took one year out to do something else.</p>
<p>I don’t know. I just presented the US News data. I was able to go to the UNC site and see a powerpoint for the Class of 2013 that suggests a high count of 21 and 22 year olds in that entering class but as to the US News #'s , I believe they are self-reported by the school. I admitted earlier (maybe on this thread) that I didn’t know what definition of non-trad was being used but that for every definition I could “conjure” non-traditionals would be older. It could be that non-traditional means something different to each school. If so, we have another instance of “garbage in, garbage out”.</p>
<p>Here’s some data on age at matriculation. Look to the bottom of the page. <a href=“http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table6-facts2009age-web.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table6-facts2009age-web.pdf</a></p>
<p>25th/75th percentile is 22/24 for both men and women. I do find it interesting that 21 is the 5th percentile.</p>
<p>Now, I just need to find this by school. ;)</p>
<p>duh. Just noticed that bdm posted the same link earlier. When I looked at it the first time, I was concentrating on the first grid, not the bottom one which has the data I wanted to see. I knew it looked familiar 
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<p>The dozen or so non-trads that I know purposely took the time post undergrad to pursue some sort of real interest. The majority of my D’s pre-med friends at Columbia took at least a year off to do research, go to graduate school or work for a non-profit. One or two did personal growth “stuff”. Buttressing the app was not necessarily the point of the year or two off for the students I know. Focussing on one thing that they wanted to know more about was the main reason for the break. </p>
<p>After watching my daughter’s med school application cycle and the results among her friends I have come to believe that, like undergrad, admissions people can smell a checklist approach to the secondary aspects of the application process. They want you to be smart and they want you to be interested in something…not just in being a doctor but how your interest will make you a better doctor. If you take a year or two to do something and can write/speak clearly about your enjoyment/passion/growth how could it not be one more thing for medical schools to take into account? Just my humble opinion. If you choose to go straight through I don’t believe that you are going to be hurt. If you are an appropriate applicant for a school you are an appropriate applicant for a school - I just believe that many medical schools appreciate non-trads and view them as equally good candidates.</p>
<p>My daughter’s pre-med advisor encouraged her students to take a year or two before hunkering down for med school. If other undergraduates are being advised the same I am not surprised some of them follow that path and that the average age of medical school students has gone up.</p>
<p>Since I am a bit of a data hound, I’ve been chasing individual school data a bit. I am finding that some schools really have a preference for students who have put a year or two between UG and named school and the most obvious appears to be UCSF. They are the “oldest” allopathic school I have found at 25. Osteopathic school students are routinely “older” than allopathic students. </p>
<p>My D did not consider any age preference in making her application list. It appears she might have added that in as she seems to have done better at schools with lower percentages of non-trads.</p>
<p>You ARE a data hound…in a good way. More power to you my friend. After the fact I enjoy reading the numbers that you all post - if I had looked at them at the time they would have just caused me stress.</p>