Commitment is more important than age

Editor -As someone in their 40s who has applied for entry to medical school in 2004, I question Pavi Kundhal's argument that younger graduates will repay the tax spent on their education via years of service to medicine. Any student who gets a vocational degree, regardless of their age on graduation, may later decide that the day to day reality is not for them. Mature students, however, usually enter university having made personal and financial sacrifices that indicate a firm commitment to their future profession. Mature students often bring a broad range of life experiences to their study of medicine which hopefully encourages them to treat patients as they might wish to be treated themselves. Presuming that younger students will remain in the profession for a longer period of time may well turn out to be a false economy. Medical students ought to be selected not merely because they are young, but because a university selection panel strongly feels that an individual has the makings of a caring and committed doctor.