Peace Corps before medical school

[queequegq]

this might belong in pre med forums but my questions are more directed towards medical students.

Basically, I've had a deep desire for a long time to live and work for some time in another country to gain a greater perspective on the world, knowledge of diverse cultures, greater proficiency in another language, and as a personal trial. Specifically I would love to teach in another country.

My biggest hesitation is because I'm wondering what the 3 years I take off for peace corps would affect me when I apply to medical school. Would I be severely disadvantaged taking medical school classes after being away from related subjects for 3 years? Would I be starting "late" as in being 3-4 years older than other students coming straight from undergrad? How would that affect relationships, friendships, etc?

Also if you've done peace corps or know a former volunteer, I would be interested to hear on what was gained most on it and how it affected your growth as a person.

Thanks

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[sinombre]

My biggest hesitation is because I'm wondering what the 3 years I take off for peace corps would affect me when I apply to medical school. Would I be severely disadvantaged taking medical school classes after being away from related subjects for 3 years? Would I be starting "late" as in being 3-4 years older than other students coming straight from undergrad? How would that affect relationships, friendships, etc?

FYI this forum is for current medical students, but a mod will probably move this thread for you.

The average age of 1st year medical students upon matriculation is around 25 IIRC (it is around 25 at my school), so there are plenty of students who are older than 25 when starting. Taking time away from school prior to starting might make the adjustment a little rougher than it would be otherwise, but it definitely doesn't qualify as a "severe" disadvantage. You'll also find that after the first few months, just about everyone is on the same page knowledge-wise (the people without backgrounds in biochem/physio/etc catch up to the students with backgrounds in those fields pretty quickly).

I wasn't in the peace corps, but I took several years off of school before applying. I know several people who were in the peace corps though, so it is definitely fairly common. I would imagine the logistics of applying while in the peace corps (expiring MCAT score, interviews, etc) would be much more challenging than the transition to medical school after taking time off (which again isn't amplified much by being out of school).