Hello

[sindadel]

I am a 31 year old mother of three with a Master's in biomedical engineering. I took organic chemistry as the last of my prereqs last year (managed to squeeze the others into my graduate degree mostly) and took the MCAT in August.

I'm most of the way done with my applications and now I need to play the waiting game, I guess.

One thing I'm struggling with is how to "spin" the presence of my family on my application. I've been self-employed since graduate school so my external awards and achievements are all back in the misty past and it seems a bit odd, frankly to bring up my proficiency in piano at this point, kwim?

Anyway, looking forward to meeing everyone. Which is the most active part of this site?

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[Mobius1985]

I Which is the most active part of this site?

Welcome to SDN. The most active area is the Pre-allo forum. Here in Non-trad, you'll find previously-posted threads about whether to mention your family or not on the Primary application, in Secondaries, or during interviews. This may help you formalate an opinion about what you want to do in these respects.

For example: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=530554

 

[Ebola Virus]

Welcome! Good luck to you with the application. If you bring up family in your application, there'll be lots of questions pertaining to how you can support your family while in med school, why now, where is your priority, etc. You can use this to your advantage over the other applicants who are newly college grads with no other responsibilities except for themselves.

While waiting, I hope you've already have letters of recommendation secure from your professors and have started on working with a couple of secondaries prompt. The prompts are located on the pre-allo forum though.

 

[Luxian]

Good luck! I too was 31 when I sent in my primaries and now I'm a first year in med school. I didn't bother to mention a lot of things from college since they were so far away, but I did go into detail about recent work and I got a couple of good recommendations.

People DO make it into med school with kids. I think there are three in my class who have kids and about 20 who are married. Good luck with all your apps and enjoy SDN!

 

[sindadel]

Thanks -

Yes, my recs are all lined up - they are working on them.

I'm Canadian, and as far as I know, there are no secondary applications for the schools I am applying to. That slot seems to be filled by a multiple mini interview scenarios in which they give you 8 10 minute one-on-one ethical dilemmas to discuss with an adcom member.

Good point about the family support. I have a wonderful spouse, and money saved up, so it's not much of an issue. And why now is because my kids are old enough. Good to be prepared to talk about it though.

 

[Ishiguro]

Welcome! I have nothing to add here, but I wanted to put in my best wishes. My SO is starting med school this year, and there are a handful of mothers in his class, I believe. Such a tremendous accomplishment.