I got (again) few questions about this and thought that, instead of linking the old post, I could offer a more in depth calculation.
since time passes differently in grey’s and since things (like med school, pregnancy, dinner) follow their own very specific and quantum mechanic similar timeline, you’ll get to pick whichever one you prefer.
option 1 – doctor age
as you might know it takes quite a while to become a doctor and despite one being maybe super brilliant and skipping a few years here and there, it’s still a freaking long time. after graduating high school to become a doctor you go through pre med – med school – internship + residency – fellowship and then you’re a doctor – a surgeon in this case. let’s do this quick:
18 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 1 = 33
that would be Amelia’s age during season 4/5 of pp,making her about 36 in season 11 of ga, way younger than anyone running a neurosurgery department anywhere (also considering she’s a woman which makes that unrealistic on its own), and that’s not all that’s wrong with this.
Maggie, who is born in 1983, making her 31 in season 11 of ga, had already been head of her own department for years at that time, so let’s disregard this one.
option 2 – shepherds
Amelia is the baby of all five siblings and so far, that’s the only info we have on the five of them. so, I’ll go based on the actor ages (keep in mind Derek’s was actually confirmed)
Nancy – 1965 – 49 as of season 11 = 18 years older than Amelia Derek – 1966 – 48 as of season 11 = 17 years older than Amelia Kate – ? – she’s probably a vampire / ghost / mermaid Lizzie – 1973 – 41 as of season 11 = 7 years older than Amelia Amelia – 1981 – 33
those are big gaps, but let’s add one more.
Carolyn – 1946 – 68
as of season 11, and this is how old she was when her kids were born: 19 – Nancy, 20 – Derek, 27 – Lizzie, 35 – Amelia.
not all that unreasonable, uh?
option 3 – actor ages
this is where it gets HILARIOUS. let’s start with character ages (confirmed) vs. the actor’s age calculated up to season 11 (yeah, I know Lexie was dead then, but let’s pretend).
Meredith (started college like 5 years late) – 36 vs. 45 Lexie (skipped years here and there) – 30 vs. 32 Richard – 61 / 62 vs. 62 Addison – 47 vs. 47 April – 32 vs. 34 Maggie – 31 vs. 33
according to previous calculations, Amelia – 36 / 33 vs. 33
a few considerations:
Lexiepedia would only be one year younger than Maggie who, by then, was already head of her department (what the freaking hell).
NOW considering Meredith started late and Amelia was quite the overachiever (first of her class at Harvard, residency at John’s Hopkins, fellowship at Harvard) it’s EXTREMELY unrealistic that she was the same age as Meredith (who hopped around Europe for a while before going to college).
ALSO, every actor whose character age is different from theirs, in only a couple years older at best. playing older might be awesome, because your character looks always much, much better than all the other ones, but if you have characters playing A LOT younger as well, things might start to feel weird. Ellen Pompeo looks amazing for her age, but if you have decent eyesight and 720p files you can see it’s a stretch for her to play a 36 year old now (not when the show started), making her the same age as Amelia played by an actress 12 years younger would be a little mortifying.
Personally, I like to go with option #2, which also becomes option #1 if you like to believe Amelia managed to skip 3 years through her studies.
Have Courage And Be Kind 