# Know any Older / Mature Students?



## sharifl (Oct 7, 2009)

Does anyone currently studying at a Pakistani med college know or know of 
older students - say in their 30's or 40's? I'd like to hear from them on how
they are accomodated in the system since 2007 when the upper age limit
for entry into MBBS was dropped in comparison to Western universities that 
have special programs encouraging mature entrants into their institutions?#happy


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## UToronto (Jun 16, 2008)

I doubt Pakistan's ready for that.
I'm 21, am finishing my undergrad at UfT and my parents are adamant I apply to Pakistan for med instead of in North America because of the low tuition, and heck I think I'd be such a misfit "mature" student. By the time the term starts I'd be 22, and have a former degree, where as the average freshman would be 19. Can't imagine how horrible things would be like being an MBBS student at 30ish +, in a place like Pakistan where everything ends up being such a gossip.


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## twinklystar (Jan 3, 2011)

@UToronto: hey; i'm from UofT too, just graduated with BSc, and have applied to AKU; i applied mostly though cuz of aku's well renowned name all over, and as i feel it'd be fun to study again in my home culture, rather than caribbean; however, i'm also kinda in a dilemma abt the fact u just mentioned, that majority of students around me may be fresh out of high schooll, thus it may be very well that i may be a misfit .. :S but i dunno AKU is one of the best uni's of pak, and i realised my dream of becoming a doc bit late...so wasn't able to prep up such a strong app for cdn schools..so i dunno if the age diff much matters to me right now, since all i want is just to get in a good med school and be a doc...and wht i feel is, even though everything is a gossip in pak, but every1 in med school wud be going so crazy over studying that one'd hardly care abt who's a couple of years younger or older... i hope that is the case atleast...*-)

nywayz i was looking at this pak option as well and this is the first time since i've been here that i came upon another grad's post, specially UT! so thought to reply..


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## sharifl (Oct 7, 2009)

Yeah! I can dig that. Although I am not from Pakistan, I did a few months of Pre-Med at a government college in Karachi before getting ill with Hepatitis and ended up coming home and so I can relate to the attitude of one's peers - appears it's quite common even in India and Philippines etc etc - but I think after the initial bru ha about an older student is over they would treat you like anyone else.Anyway 21 or even 25 is NOT that much older than your Pakistani mates would be or Look.My problem is worse - I'm waaaay older than the average student....and fitting in COULD be a problem , UNLESS there was a "culture" of acceptance as in the West.


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## UToronto (Jun 16, 2008)

I knew a friend in MIT whose roommate randomly decided one day that he no longer wanted to be an electrical engineer. The chap was in his 3rd year, drowned in loans alrady, yay Ivy education and decided he'd much rather go to Pak and pay for all his education for less than what he paid per semester at MIT. Got accepted into AKU, and now I think he's in his 4th year or something. 
Know another person whose-hold your breath- studying at Faisalabad Medical College *gasp, imagine the cultural shock* after completing a degree from UfT in philosophy. Since according to our North American culture, age is hardly ever part of any conversation, and the average age of med school acceptance is 26, more people are prone to do an MBSS after their undergrad if they don't get accepted in their choice of an MD program. If I had $40,000 to spare every year on just education, cost of living excluded, I'd hands down much rather go to the Carib or America.


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## twinklystar (Jan 3, 2011)

sharifl: i personally believe that the only way to change our culture back home is if v ourselves take a step.. i guess it was just last or so year ago that pmdc removed the age limit of who cud get into mbbs, which is a good step i guess..and next step now is making sure the cultural perspectives follow this .. i feel if u really wanna become a doc, then u shud definitely make use of this regulation change...v gotta be the change ourselves if v wanna see a change.. and besides, like UToronto said, the avg age of first year med students here in NA is 25 or 26 years... and MBBS and MD are pretty equivalent, nobody can argue with that... and anywayz, one shud go to med school when one's ready for it.. i wasn't ready 4 years back.. now i am.. and so if i get the opportunity to even do it in pak, i won't let it go  as for the later on matching back, tab ka tab dekha jayega..and like u said, in case of older students vs younger, after the initial oooh aaah everything wud just get normal once every1 starts getting stressed out abt the crazy hard courses 

@UToronto: r u still in touch with ur friend whose now in aku?? if yeah, cud u get some input abt whether did he/she apply on basis of their grad degree and mcat? or just SATs and high school?? and how's aku's hostel env..?


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## Sadia Shimmer (Jan 30, 2013)

u UTORONTO, I WANT TO KNOW THAT HOW CAN AN NGINEERING STUDENT GET INTO AKU? WHT ABOUT HIS BIO PORTION?
AND CAN YOU TLL ME IN WHICH YEAR HE GOY ADMITTED? THNKS


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## Jenny (May 12, 2006)




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## heartbreak (Jan 31, 2012)

There are plenty of students who are older than us. I'm in Shifa, and people here are upto 27, no one really cares. If anything, they give you more respect. And seniors don't rag you either.


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## Anderson (Dec 18, 2010)

sharifl said:


> Does anyone currently studying at a Pakistani med college know or know of
> older students - say in their 30's or 40's? I'd like to hear from them on how
> they are accomodated in the system since 2007 when the upper age limit
> for entry into MBBS was dropped in comparison to Western universities that
> have special programs encouraging mature entrants into their institutions?#happy


Haven't met one.


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## aceegreene (Apr 28, 2020)

Anyone here at medstudentz seen any such senior/older/more mature students as part of their MBBS cohorts? 

I am someone considering the same path and would like to get guidance from people with similar experiences. 

Thank you!


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