How to Talk About Your Life and Experiences as a Nontrad

Session 118

How should you talk about your life and experiences as a nontrad? Be honest. Today, I talk about how to “stand out” as a nontrad by simply being true to yourself.

Listen to this podcast episode with the player above, or keep reading for the highlights and takeaway points.

By the way, the episodes in this podcast are recordings of our Facebook Live that we do at 3 pm Eastern on most weekdays. Check out our Facebook page and like the page to be notified. Also, listen to our other podcasts on MedEd Media. If you have any questions, call me at 617-410-6747.

[0:18] Question of the Day

Q: “I’m a nontraditional premedical candidate. As I’m traversing this journey and working towards filling in those gaps from when I wasn’t a premed and undergrad and then toward the end of undergrad, I got involved in research.

I realized that I’ve been working alongside these doctors and I really like what they’re doing. I think that might be something I should do. I haven’t prepped for it and my grades show that, so I need to switch gears a bit. I was already on another trajectory so I went on with that. I know that admissions committees drown every year with applications. I think a lot of them might start looking the same and whatnot.”

A: Everyone’s going through the same process, whether you’re nontraditional or not, you’re still going through the same steps leading up to medical school.

Ignore that thought process. Because that thought process leads to the comparison, the competition. All you need to do is be unique because you’re the only person out there who has lived your life and done everything that you’ve done. So just tell that story and that automatically makes you stand out.

“That's always a big fear that students have- they don't want to look the same. And guess what? Everyone looks the same.”Click To Tweet

[2:04] Highlighting Expectations vs Highlighting Differences

Q: “I was wondering about that balance between highlighting that I might be older but I went through and did all of those things. I’m not just checking off boxes. These prerequisites I see are things needed for me to become a successful med student and eventual physician.

When I’m going through this process, how do I balance highlighting the things I did that are expected of premeds and highlighting my differences to differentiate me between everyone else? Is there a balance?”

A: There is no balance. Tell your story. There’s zero balance because it’s all about why you want to be a physician.

There may be a little bit of deviation about the path that you went down because you’re so far down a different path as a nontrad. But the far majority of your personal statement is why you want to be a physician.

There might be a question about why now because you are a nontraditional student. It’s definitely going to be a question that a lot of schools will ask you as a nontrad.

In your activity list, that’s where you put your resume. On AMCAS, you have 15 spots to put all of the activities that you’ve done. As a nontrad, you probably have way more than that. You’re going to have to pick and choose which things you want to write about.

For AACOMAS and TMDSAS, that’s not an issue because they don’t have a limit in the number of activities that you can put in there.

You will need to make sure that you have the clinical experience and the shadowing to highlight and prove that you want to be a physician.

“Schools want to see if you know what you're getting yourself into. It's not some romantic idea that you want to be a physician.” Click To Tweet

Above and beyond that, tell your story. If you’ve done some interesting things from the current path you’re on, highlight those things, definitely talk about those things.

[4:48] Comparing Yourself with Others

Q: “I’m seeing now that I fell into that trap of comparing himself. It’s been 3-4 weeks since I’ve found your channel. Even though I’ve been listening, I haven’t directly applied it and internalized it. I messed up.”

A: No, you didn’t. You figured it out before you applied and before you tried to sell yourself and highlight all these things.

Nontraditional students and even students who have potentially done interesting things on their premed journey are trying to highlight things that come off super cliche and salesy. That distracts from the overall goal of the application, which is to highlight who you are and why you want to be a physician.

“Too many students take the application and tell a little bit of who they are and a lot about why they think they’re better than everyone else. You'll lose that game every time.”Click To Tweet

[6:01] Student Loans

Q: “I have a wife and a few kids. I’m curious how the subject was broached and how it was going for people trying to have living quarters that are big enough for a family on a medical school’s student’s salary.

Do we just get the $29,000 or $20,000 a year for student loans and put it in our pocket afterward? We don’t have an income, the banks won’t even look at us.”

A: It varies with how each school deals with students in your situation. With federal student loans, the school sets the budget and that annual budget is based on housing expenses, travel, food, school tuition fees, etc. All of that goes into a spreadsheet and they allocate a budget for each school.

For nontraditional students who have a family, those costs are going to be higher. Some schools may not adjust their budget and some do, so you can take out more student loans to help offset that cost. It depends on the school and how flexible they are.

[8:11] Hiding the Fact that You Have Kids

Q: “Do I hide the fact that I have kids?”

A: Don’t hide the fact that you have kids, but don’t throw it in their face that you have kids either. If it comes up naturally for a question, tell your story. A lot of people try to be different and just throw it out there. You don’t need to do that.

If there’s something from an activity standpoint that’s going to give it away that you’re a parent, so be it.

“You don't want to end up at a school that’s not going to be flexible with you being a nontraditional student or a parent.”Click To Tweet

The schools that won’t like it aren’t going to give you the time of day and that’s okay. While the schools that are going to look at your application and see that you are a parent will give you the time of day. They will invite you for an interview and accept you. Those are hopefully going to be the ones that understand that you are a parent. Hopefully, they’re going to be flexible when things come up because life happens.

[10:04] Uncertainties with the Med School Process

Q: “I’m just getting into my own head. I shouldn’t let my age or my circumstances limit me because it’s my story.”

A: It’s very common for students to get in your own head because there’s a lot of uncertainty around the medical school process. You think that everything is either going to help you or crush you. There’s no happy medium to add logic to this.

Some schools may hurt you and some may help you. Do some research. Reach out to some schools, go to Student Doctor Network, ask around to see if there are medical student parents at institutions. They can give you a lowdown on the support from the institutional level.

That’s a project that I’ve been wanting to work on for a while. We started it a while ago and it’s called Med School Reviews. It provides feedback on a school-to-school basis on that sort of support.

[12:12] Applying to Only One Medical School

Q: “I have a family and I don’t know what is best when it comes to living arrangements. My state school only has one medical school. I think there’s another one opening up in the next year so that might change things.

Right now, I have a mortgage that I could still pay through medical school because of different circumstances. It’s a big enough house for all of us. Is it shooting myself in the foot by not diversifying my med school application portfolio by only applying to one medical school? Is that highly discouraged?”

A: It’s really common for students to shoot themselves in the foot by limiting where you apply to medical school because of things like that. If it’s just a mortgage, sell the house, keep it and rent it and apply to a broad number of schools.

Getting into medical school is hard. The institution that may be the closest to where you are may not be a good fit for you. You may not be a good fit for the school either. It’s not worth the stress of limiting yourself to one school if it’s just a mortgage. Unless you have other factors that play into needing that location, then sure.

You have to play your life, your story, what works, and the conversations that you have with your spouse and your children especially as a nontraditional student, but if you can, apply to more than one school.