<p>sefago, life experience is important in <em>any</em> career, including medicine. Work experience in other areas <em>can</em> be valuable for medicine if it is related, but my understanding of what everyone has been saying is that the slightly older age of application (e.g., 21-23+) indicates such things as normal social and psychological development and enjoyment and involvement while an undergrad (likely predicts academic and social success in med school and professional success as an MD, especially when it comes to the business side of things). As I’m obviously not a doctor yet, I can’t give my own experiences here but what I can say is that growing up with a physician for a father, I’ve learned that his life experience are often essential for getting him through sticky situations – especially ones that, if handled without the utmost of care interpersonally, could easily cost the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees (he directs one of the busier ICUs in the state). So I wouldn’t really say that non-medical experience doesn’t help an MD!</p>