42 and want to go to medical school

[Police2Doc]

Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

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[JSU]

Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

I really cant answer your question, however, I find your drive towards medicine a career quite admirable. Too many doctors do it because it seems like the best thing to do to make some $. Hopefully someone will chime in. However, there is always a way, though it may require alternate routes (DO?).

 

[MiCasaMD]

Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

As a detective you have a great deal of experience dealing with people. As a result, you will be bringing more to the table than an average 20yo. I think 42 is the new 32. So, age is not that big of a factor in my opinion. I think you should go for it and don't dwell too much about the age thing. Don't let that become a load that will slow you down. Use your age as a positive. You have life experience. Here are a couple of links that may motivate you. http://www.med.wisc.edu/news-events...ure-physician-is-a-true-renaissance-man/26862 http://www.mommd.com/40medschool.shtml Go kick some behind man! Good Luck!

 

[MexicanDr]

As it has been previously said, age should not been a limiting factor towards your goal, as there are older students starting their path; if you really want it, go for it.

You say you are a senior in college, what is your major? Have you taken any sciences? What is your GPA? Someone mention DO, not sure why he said that without knowing more of your academic background or desires of allopathic vs osteopathic.

If your wife is supportive of your decision [many changes, including financial, family time limitations, etc will occur] you should go for it.

Don't wait until you are 52 and then wish you would have done it sooner, if you feel it, go for it!

Do some shadowing, volunteering to see if its really what you want.

Welcome aboard and good luck!

Eddie

 

[MexicanDr]

Here are a couple of links that may motivate you. http://www.med.wisc.edu/news-events...ure-physician-is-a-true-renaissance-man/26862 http://www.mommd.com/40medschool.shtml Go kick some behind man! Good Luck!

Amazing story of that guy! Thats what I needed!! =)

 

[allover]

As a detective you have a great deal of experience dealing with people. As a result, you will be bringing more to the table than an average 20yo. I think 42 is the new 32. So, age is not that big of a factor in my opinion. I think you should go for it and don't dwell too much about the age thing. Don't let that become a load that will slow you down. Use your age as a positive. You have life experience. Here are a couple of links that may motivate you. http://www.med.wisc.edu/news-events...ure-physician-is-a-true-renaissance-man/26862 http://www.mommd.com/40medschool.shtml Go kick some behind man! Good Luck!

that guy in the first link does NOT look a day over 39. More ammo for my theory that aging, at least the skin deep kind, is partly related to the people around you.

 

[Evergrey]

Wow that guy from UWisconsin seemed really nice! Did not fit the stereotype of surgeons at all.

Police2Doc, you are not at all too old for medical school. You have a lot of incredible life experiences that probably make you much more qualified than someone my age (23). If you can meet the requirements to enter medical school (experience in clinical settings by volunteering and shadowing, good GPA/MCAT score), then I think you will be a strong candidate

 

[CookDeRosa]

Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

>>

I sure hope not, I'm turning 40 in a few weeks

 

[njbmd]

Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

People your age (and older) get into medical school (I was one of them). The questions that you need to answer for yourself are:

• Can your family get by without your salary (you will be out of the work force for 4 years)?
• Do you have a strong academic background and grades (look at the averages for medical school matriculants)? In short, are you a competitive candidate?
• Do you have the support of your family (they will be going through this with you)? Medical school and residency are time-intensive and will take you from family interactions more often than not.
• Have you registered (and taken) the Medical College Admissions Test (need this for application)? You need to prepare for and take this exam before you apply for medical school.

After you have answered the above questions in addition you need to have:

• The stamina to work and study long hours with little sleep. Professors and chief residents don't care if you are tired. They are more tired than you.
• Ability to adapt to changes and thrive on them. You have to "roll with the punches" or you get punched out. Humility goes a long way with these issues and many times, older students just can't get this.
• Good stress relief that doesn't involve substance abuse (caffeine, tobacco, alcohol).
• Ability to be a team player (your fellow students are your future colleagues and your residents (likely to be much younger than yourself) are your bosses. You have to be able to work with them and learn from them. You also need to realize that they are, for the most part, going to learn faster and outperform you but that doesn't mean that you can't get the job done.

Many 42-year-old people are not able to make the adjustments to "school on steroids" but most are able to do well. If you can wrap your head around the things mentioned above, your age isn't going to be much of a problem.

 

[allover]

sorry to change topic sorta, but speaking of stamina and being tired, do residents use other things to help them stay awake (provigil, among others). at my undergrand they were very popular during finals week.

 

[Jasil]

Do ALOT of soul searching!! My wife is on this same train as you being in healthcare and WANTS to be a doctor very badly.

She is treading down the path now, but being in our mid 30's now clearly on track to be able to retire at 55 in the all but the worst of markets. Going into debt 150K and losing income from her 80k/yr job for 7yrs is not going to bode well with that.

We figure our retirement age would be 58-59 with much $$$ sacrifice in the middle. So, while we say go for it now that may change over the next 1-2yrs as applications go out and we really think about the pros and cons of living a dream in your late 30's early 40's.

As far as age I would worry about that as long as you plan on working until 65.

 

[Police2Doc]

I want to thank you guys for your feedback. My undergradute degree will be in Business Administration with a concentration in Management. My thought process on this is to use a business education along with a medical degree to either manage my own practice or to work in administration in a Hospital further down the road in my medical career.

I did have quite an experience working in Washington, D.C. as a police detective. I have been on countless homicide scenes, subjects who have committed suicide, shooting scenes, stabbing scenes, and others. I took training to become a Homicide Detective. Which included a week in the medical examiners office. I found that experience priceless.

What I most remembered was a gentlemen who collapsed at work and was pronounced dead on the scene. He was transported to the medical examiners office. I was standing next to the table where this guy was laying. I watched as the doctor performed the autopsy. Once she got to his heart she discovered a huge blood clot blocking his aorta and discovered that's what killed him. I called my wife and told her what happened while the doctor continued removing his internal organs. I was thinking I love this stuff.

 

[EdLongshanks]

• The stamina to work and study long hours with little sleep. Professors and chief residents don't care if you are tired. They are more tired than you.
• Ability to adapt to changes and thrive on them. You have to "roll with the punches" or you get punched out. Humility goes a long way with these issues and many times, older students just can't get this.
• Good stress relief that doesn't involve substance abuse (caffeine, tobacco, alcohol).
• Ability to be a team player (your fellow students are your future colleagues and your residents (likely to be much younger than yourself) are your bosses. You have to be able to work with them and learn from them. You also need to realize that they are, for the most part, going to learn faster and outperform you but that doesn't mean that you can't get the job done.

Doc, would you mind expanding further on these points. I could benefit from all of them (although I suspect even Jesus has given up on the humility issue).

I'm interested in what you said about caffeine. Do I need to be concerned about my habit of drinking gallons of tea each day, or are you talking about pill-popping?

 

[jasin]

I heard about a guy who started at the University of Washington Medical school at age 49 and did end up graduating. It was on their website. So its never to late.

 

[Neurocentric]

I'm interested in what you said about caffeine. Do I need to be concerned about my habit of drinking gallons of tea each day, or are you talking about pill-popping?

Pretty sure he's talking about pill-popping. I doubt having a cup or two of tea or coffee will not hurt you, but there are a lot of people who can't seem to handle the stress and do things they shouldn't do. That's when it becomes troublesome.

OP, you're not too old. There are just some things you need to do, like take the pre-req courses, take the MCAT, get some shadowing/volunteering/possible research experience, etc. to get everything together for your application.

You also need to make sure your family will understand and be able to deal with what will be happening in the coming years. You won't be working during medical school, so will the bills be paid without your salary? There's other questions like that, and if your family is supportive and things seem good from a logical standpoint, you should be fine.

I haven't read all the posts, so if I repeated some things, I'm sorry. But OP, good luck

 

[jasin]

Pretty sure he's talking about pill-popping. I doubt having a cup or two of tea or coffee will not hurt you, but there are a lot of people who can't seem to handle the stress and do things they shouldn't do. That's when it becomes troublesome.

OP, you're not too old. There are just some things you need to do, like take the pre-req courses, take the MCAT, get some shadowing/volunteering/possible research experience, etc. to get everything together for your application.

You also need to make sure your family will understand and be able to deal with what will be happening in the coming years. You won't be working during medical school, so will the bills be paid without your salary? There's other questions like that, and if your family is supportive and things seem good from a logical standpoint, you should be fine.

I haven't read all the posts, so if I repeated some things, I'm sorry. But OP, good luck

At his age I don't think he's going to have time to shadow and volunteer unless he already has an undergraduate degree and has completed all the reqs.

 

[ceng2doc]

I heard about a guy who started at the University of Washington Medical school at age 49 and did end up graduating. It was on their website. So its never to late.

The very same guy is now doing his residency on plastic surgery at UC Irvine nowadays.

 

[Neurocentric]

At his age I don't think he's going to have time to shadow and volunteer unless he already has an undergraduate degree and has completed all the pre-reqs.

Well, regardless, he's probably going to need it, as clinical experience and all of that good stuff is pretty much required. I don't think the rules change for non-trads as far as I know, but then again, I'm not technically a non-trad (although I'm not the traditional age of normal undergrad freshman).

 

[EdLongshanks]

The very same guy is now doing his residency on plastic surgery at UC Irvine nowadays.

Yes, and look at this guy http://www.theywonthelottery.com/2009/06/11/cowboy-lottery-winner-gets-232m-powerball-jackpot/ he's a cowboy who won the lottery. You can win too!

Let me make myself clearer. Case histories are bad predictors of the future. I'm 47, so I'll be just as old as the 49-year old when he started.

But talking up these cases understates the effort involved. Don't undersestimate the damage that is done to your life. My whole family is invested in this. We might have to move out of our dream home (potential buyers are on their way now), I'm possibly tossing out my young adult children before they are ready. I am part of massive layoff in December that I probably could have avoided had I worked at it. I'm often up at 2 or 3 in the morning talking to my children about the conflicts in their lives. I can't talk to them during the day - I'm at work. I can't talk to them at 6 or 7 at night - I'm in school.

And this is before I actually start. I'm starting a heavy training program - I've biked 42 miles this week, so that I can get this flabby body into the place where it can handle the rigors of residency.

This is besides the academic homework. I took this weekend off and so I bombed an organic chem test last night. (Now I have to make at least 170 of the last 210 points in order to maintain my A).

I'm not complaining, I'm just making it clear that before you start out on this journey with stars in your eyes, count the cost.

 

[jasin]

The very same guy is now doing his residency on plastic surgery at UC Irvine nowadays.

Awesome I am very happy for him.

 

[jasin]

Well, regardless, he's probably going to need it, as clinical experience

Most medical students get clinical experience in medical school in their 3rd and/or 4th year and in their residency after they graduate.

 

[Neurocentric]

Most medical students get clinical experience in medical school in their 3rd and/or 4th year and in their residency after they graduate.

He's talking about getting into medical school.. and as a pre-med, you need to have clinical experience, ie. volunteering, shadowing, etc. to help prove to the medical school you're applying to that you're interested in the medical field.

 

[jasin]

Bala Ambat graduated from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine at the age of 17.

Where did he get all that so called required clinical experience prior to attending medical school?

 

[Neurocentric]

Bala Ambat graduated from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine at the age of 17.

Where did he get all that so call needed clinical experience? You can't even get an internship unless you are 21 and no doctor would let a 14 year old shadow them as its just not ethical or safe.

Are you even pre-med?

I have no clue about the person that you're talking about, but go ahead and look at the pre-allo/pre-osteo forums and search for the things that all of us are doing to make our applications look perfect. We need shadowing/volunteering/etc in order to have our applications looked at. I know what I'm talking about, thanks.

 

[jasin]

He's talking about getting into medical school.. and as a pre-med, you need to have clinical experience, ie. volunteering, shadowing, etc. to help prove to the medical school you're applying to that you're interested in the medical field.

Shadowing is for determining if you want to even go to medical school but its definitely not required.

 

[jasin]

Are you even pre-med?

I have no clue about the person that you're talking about, but go ahead and look at the pre-allo/pre-osteo forums and search for the things that all of us are doing to make our applications look perfect. We need shadowing/volunteering/etc in order to have our applications looked at. I know what I'm talking about, thanks.

Stop being a poser. You are not the dean of admissions.

 

[Neurocentric]

Shadowing is for experience but its not required.

Not required, but greatly suggested. Again, go look and do a search if you don't believe me.

 

[Neurocentric]

Stop being a poser. You are not the dean of admissions.

Is that your comeback for everything, since you said that to someone else as well? I'm not the dean of admissions, but I know exactly what I need to be accepted. Stop acting like YOU know everything. You've been here, what, a month?

 

[jasin]

neurocentric,

"Physician shadowing - optional" http://www.studentdoc.com/medical-school-requirements.html

 

[Neurocentric]

neurocentric,

Physician shadowing - optional

"I'm personally not a big fan of shadowing a physician. It doesn't show much committment, and suggests you're just interested in getting into medical school. If you're truly not sure you want to get into medicine, then shadow a physician and find out what it's like. Don't expect a "shadowing experience" do carry a lot of weight on your application."

http://www.studentdoc.com/medical-school-requirements.html

Glad to see you're still good at linking **** that doesn't matter.

Where did I say that shadowing was the end all be all of getting into medical school? I didn't.

Putting you on ignore, since you make no sense. When you actually know what you're talking about from experience, and not links that anyone can find, maybe I'll feel like discussing things with you.

 

[jasin]

Is that your comeback for everything, since you said that to someone else as well? I'm not the dean of admissions, but I know exactly what I need to be accepted. Stop acting like YOU know everything. You've been here, what, a month?

What I stated about shadowing is a fact. Please see post #29.

 

[jasin]

Glad to see you're still good at linking **** that doesn't matter.

Where did I say that shadowing was the end all be all of getting into medical school? I didn't.

Putting you on ignore, since you make no sense. When you actually know what you're talking about from experience, and not links that anyone can find, maybe I'll feel like discussing things with you.

Just so you know, you are in violation of the terms of service. see #2, 4, 15

http://www.studentdoctor.net/sdn-forums-terms-of-service/

 

[EdLongshanks]

Glad to see you're still good at linking **** that doesn't matter.

Where did I say that shadowing was the end all be all of getting into medical school? I didn't.

Putting you on ignore, since you make no sense. When you actually know what you're talking about from experience, and not links that anyone can find, maybe I'll feel like discussing things with you.

I put Jasin on ignore a long time ago. You are wasting your time with him. If you look at his old posts, you'll find out he was disallowed from even applying to med school. He's just trying to stir things up.

 

[Neurocentric]

I put Jasin on ignore a long time ago. You are wasting your time with him. If you look at his old posts, you'll find out he was disallowed from even applying to med school. He's just trying to stir things up.

Not surprising. Oh well, there's always people like that popping up around here.

 

[UnlikelyDoc]

"Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't have anything to regret for the rest of their life."

Lance Armstrong from Dodgeball

 

[ceng2doc]

Yes, and look at this guy http://www.theywonthelottery.com/2009/06/11/cowboy-lottery-winner-gets-232m-powerball-jackpot/ he's a cowboy who won the lottery. You can win too!

Let me make myself clearer. Case histories are bad predictors of the future. I'm 47, so I'll be just as old as the 49-year old when he started.

But talking up these cases understates the effort involved. Don't undersestimate the damage that is done to your life. My whole family is invested in this. We might have to move out of our dream home (potential buyers are on their way now), I'm possibly tossing out my young adult children before they are ready. I am part of massive layoff in December that I probably could have avoided had I worked at it. I'm often up at 2 or 3 in the morning talking to my children about the conflicts in their lives. I can't talk to them during the day - I'm at work. I can't talk to them at 6 or 7 at night - I'm in school.

And this is before I actually start. I'm starting a heavy training program - I've biked 42 miles this week, so that I can get this flabby body into the place where it can handle the rigors of residency.

This is besides the academic homework. I took this weekend off and so I bombed an organic chem test last night. (Now I have to make at least 170 of the last 210 points in order to maintain my A).

I'm not complaining, I'm just making it clear that before you start out on this journey with stars in your eyes, count the cost.

Two irrelevant samples you're comparing. One is winning a lottery, which has nothing to do with the age and/or intelligence. The other one --what we're talking about here-- is getting admitted to a medical school through a series of consistent intellectual and altruistic efforts. So, your point was meaningless.

I've always been admiring to people with great stories. This guy had it, thus we shared to encourage the OP.

Besides, I remember your old posts seeking for the same type of help when some people used to tell you that medical school applications would be nowhere around your church experiences.

 

[EdLongshanks]

Two irrelevant samples you're comparing. One is winning a lottery, which has nothing to do with the age and/or intelligence. The other one --what we're talking about here-- is getting admitted to a medical school through a series of consistent intellectual and altruistic efforts. So, your point was meaningless.

I've always been admiring to people with great stories. This guy had it, thus we shared to encourage the OP.

Besides, I remember your old posts seeking for the same type of help when some people used to tell you that medical school applications would be nowhere around your church experiences.

You are right, getting into medical school is not like winning the lottery, because you have to work at it. It is an inspirational story and good one. My point was too obscure. I just wanted to provide some context, so that the OP doesn't get so inspired that he forgets to count the cost.

Yes, a lot of people jumped me in my original post about being 46 and determined to do this. Fortunately, we have fewer people on this board who say things like "Dude, you are too old. No one will accept you. Maybe you can slide into DO school - but you should be a PA, because MD school is too competitive for geezers like you."

I was in a pretty good position for a middle aged person starting this process. I work from home, my family is very stable, and I'm good at academics. But even someone from these advantages ends up working very hard at it and losing some precious things. I've had to drop mid-week services at church (this may sound small to you, but my poor dead mother is crying in heaven and my very live sister's children are expressing their opinions to my children). After I found out about the pending layoff/outsourcing, my immediate family realized that I was right and needed to change careers, but before that, they did not quite understand. Your friends and acquaintances will NOT understand and mock you behind your back and sometimes to your face. Stories about you will float around. Your "mid-life crisis" gets exaggerated and the gossip changes it into something not flattering to you. Last week at church a man took it upon himself to do a public prayer over me rebuking me for getting out of the Lord's will.

I was not surprised by all of this, and I'm glad I made the leap. But others have gotten discouraged and dropped out after spending a lot of money and costing themselves a good bit of their reputation.

 

[ceng2doc]

You are right, getting into medical school is not like winning the lottery, because you have to work at it. It is an inspirational story and good one. My point was too obscure. I just wanted to provide some context, so that the OP doesn't get so inspired that he forgets to count the cost.

Yes, a lot of people jumped me in my original post about being 46 and determined to do this. Fortunately, we have fewer people on this board who say things like "Dude, you are too old. No one will accept you. Maybe you can slide into DO school - but you should be a PA, because MD school is too competitive for geezers like you."

I was in a pretty good position for a middle aged person starting this process. I work from home, my family is very stable, and I'm good at academics. But even someone from these advantages ends up working very hard at it and losing some precious things. I've had to drop mid-week services at church (this may sound small to you, but my poor dead mother is crying in heaven and my very live sister's children are expressing their opinions to my children). After I found out about the pending layoff/outsourcing, my immediate family realized that I was right and needed to change careers, but before that, they did not quite understand. Your friends and acquaintances will NOT understand and mock you behind your back and sometimes to your face. Stories about you will float around. Your "mid-life crisis" gets exaggerated and the gossip changes it into something not flattering to you. Last week at church a man took it upon himself to do a public prayer over me rebuking me for getting out of the Lord's will.

I was not surprised by all of this, and I'm glad I made the leap. But others have gotten discouraged and dropped out after spending a lot of money and costing themselves a good bit of their reputation.

See, you have summarized the theme in this thread by giving samples from your own experiences. This insight view of things help everyone, but that hideous "lottery winning guy" sample doesn't. Thank you for sharing your actual experiences in this second post of your, though.

Besides, I totally agree with you in that people interestingly tend to gossip around from your behind when you're doing this at that age, especially if you're changing the career from something one of the most desirable --like IT-- into medicine. I totally understand your feelings for I've been in the same boat for a year now (14 years of strong IT career, even with a masters on top.) Good thing, I met with a few fellow computer engineers at SDN who made it to medical school. I wish I'm gonna be hearing some good news from you soon, too. So, good luck in this cycle.

Anyways, OP has the motivation, and needed to hear some real samples. Honestly, there exist really inspirational ones. One of my favorites is that of njbmd. She always explains her story, good and bad, whenever asked appropriately. I expected a similar tone of voice from you, like she has, when giving advice to others.

 

[EdLongshanks]

See, you have summarized the theme in this thread by giving samples from your own experiences. This insight view of things help everyone, but that hideous "lottery winning guy" sample doesn't.

Yeah, you're right. It was a bad example and point poorly made.

 

[Don Draper]

Anyways, OP has the motivation, and needed to hear some real samples. Honestly, there exist really inspirational ones. One of my favorites is that of njbmd. She always explains her story, good and bad, whenever asked appropriately. I expected a similar tone of voice from you, like she has, when giving advice to others.

agreed. njbmd. She is wise and knows her stuff, some of the best advice I see on these forums consistently.

 

[Dartmouth2005]

Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

I know someone applying this cycle who is 50. She is about to take her MCAT and is doing just fine. While you may have some challenges coping with the work, I see no reason why you can't do this.

 

[student1799]

I'm 47 and going into my second year of med school--and during the school year I have to live apart from my husband and 2 kids. But we survived the first year just fine. I won't lie to you--the work is hard, and it gets a little lonely sometimes when you're surrounded by people 20 years younger and don't really have anyone to hang out with. But I really love what I'm learning, so I have no regrets.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I'm 47 and going into my second year of med school--and during the school year I have to live apart from my husband and 2 kids. But we survived the first year just fine. I won't lie to you--the work is hard, and it gets a little lonely sometimes when you're surrounded by people 20 years younger and don't really have anyone to hang out with. But I really love what I'm learning, so I have no regrets.

How old are your children?

 

[student1799]

How old are your children?

11 and 14.

 

[take the shot]

I'm 47 and going into my second year of med school--and during the school year I have to live apart from my husband and 2 kids. But we survived the first year just fine. I won't lie to you--the work is hard, and it gets a little lonely sometimes when you're surrounded by people 20 years younger and don't really have anyone to hang out with. But I really love what I'm learning, so I have no regrets.

have the younger students been pretty accepting of you?

 

[XUYunChao]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Police2Doc
Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

People your age (and older) get into medical school (I was one of them). The questions that you need to answer for yourself are:

• Can your family get by without your salary (you will be out of the work force for 4 years)?
• Do you have a strong academic background and grades (look at the averages for medical school matriculants)? In short, are you a competitive candidate?
• Do you have the support of your family (they will be going through this with you)? Medical school and residency are time-intensive and will take you from family interactions more often than not.
• Have you registered (and taken) the Medical College Admissions Test (need this for application)? You need to prepare for and take this exam before you apply for medical school.

After you have answered the above questions in addition you need to have:

• The stamina to work and study long hours with little sleep. Professors and chief residents don't care if you are tired. They are more tired than you.
• Ability to adapt to changes and thrive on them. You have to "roll with the punches" or you get punched out. Humility goes a long way with these issues and many times, older students just can't get this.
• Good stress relief that doesn't involve substance abuse (caffeine, tobacco, alcohol).
• Ability to be a team player (your fellow students are your future colleagues and your residents (likely to be much younger than yourself) are your bosses. You have to be able to work with them and learn from them. You also need to realize that they are, for the most part, going to learn faster and outperform you but that doesn't mean that you can't get the job done.

Many 42-year-old people are not able to make the adjustments to "school on steroids" but most are able to do well. If you can wrap your head around the things mentioned above, your age isn't going to be much of a problem.

^Very well written. I second that.

I think your experience will make you a strong candidate for the top school. Also you don't have to worry too much about finances. Which is a very big advantage while you are pursuing your education.

I don't think I got you right, but I'm reading that you are an international student. If so, you need to really consider if your family can do without you by their side.

GL HF

 

[take the shot]

Hello I am 42 years old and live with my wife and daughter. I am starting my senoir year of college. For the last 13 years I have been employed as a police detective in our nations capitol. My current salary is $69,000.00 per year. I have always had a interest in science. I have always wanted to be a doctor. My question is am I too old to shoot for medical school?

42 is nothing! There is a woman in my class who was an attorney who always wanted to go to med school. She was 51 when we started last year. Just kick butt in all your science classes, do decently on the MCAT. All your life experiences should translate into an awesome, really interesting personal statement. If your grades and scores are good you will have a standout application! Good luck

 

[glamqueen]

^Very well written. I second that.

I think your experience will make you a strong candidate for the top school. Also you don't have to worry too much about finances. Which is a very big advantage while you are pursuing your education.

I don't think I got you right, but I'm reading that you are an international student. If so, you need to really consider if your family can do without you by their side.

GL HF

He is clearly a cop in Washington DC i.e. our nation's capitol - not sure where you got the international thing from.

Moving on...OP - there is someone your age in my class right now. Not to mention, in another school in my state, a girl from my undergrad got in the year after her dad did. How cool is that? Dad and daughter a year apart in medical school. Clearly, he was a little bit older than you up to somewhere in his fifties (estimate). This is not an easy path, but if you have family support of your decision - I see no reason why you shouldn't pursue if you are sure it is something you want to do. Age should not be allowed to fill you with regrets. Best of luck to you!

 

[student1799]

have the younger students been pretty accepting of you?

They've been extremely accepting, and they're wonderful people. But realistically, it's pretty hard to form. social connections with people who are a generation younger. I knew that going in, and it doesn't bother me all the time--just every once in a while.

 

[EdLongshanks]

They've been extremely accepting, and they're wonderful people. But realistically, it's pretty hard to form. social connections with people who are a generation younger. I knew that going in, and it doesn't bother me all the time--just every once in a while.

I've heard this mentioned and I'm a little confused by it. Why would an older student want to make social connections? Frankly, I have a hard time finding free time to keep up my social duties to my current friend network, why would I want to add to it? In their 40's don't most people already have a network?