Accepted to 1 year postbac at 31 - cold feet?

[nontrad_lad]

Hi there,

I've been extremely lucky enough to be accepted to a top 1-year post-bac program with linkage opportunities.

For a variety of reasons, I followed a different track in life, and am currently seeing success in the business world. I'm comfortable financially and happy in my role. Though I'm certainly not passionate about it. But it allows me to have a nice life with my spouse, travel, and spend quality time with friends.

I know there are countless threads with similar questions, but my question is this:

Are there any physicians out there who went to a post-bac after the age of 30 who would be willing to private message me and chat about his or her experience?

I understand that following dormant passions requires trade-offs, but now that reality is sinking in, I'm very scared of the thought of moving away from my spouse (also on the medical track), incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, and feeling isolated as I pursue this journey.

Many thanks.

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[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Hi there,

I've been extremely lucky enough to be accepted to a top 1-year post-bac program with linkage opportunities.

For a variety of reasons, I followed a different track in life, and am currently seeing success in the business world. I'm comfortable financially and happy in my role. Though I'm certainly not passionate about it. But it allows me to have a nice life with my spouse, travel, and spend quality time with friends.

I know there are countless threads with similar questions, but my question is this:

Are there any physicians out there who went to a post-bac after the age of 30 who would be willing to private message me and chat about his or her experience?

I understand that following dormant passions requires trade-offs, but now that reality is sinking in, I'm very scared of the thought of moving away from my spouse (also on the medical track), incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, and feeling isolated as I pursue this journey.

Many thanks.

I am in a linked post-bacc right now. I'm about to turn 34. I had a good military career going (still will, since I'm going on the military's dime, but now it'll be better). I also am doing it with a spouse and kids. I am so happy I made the decision to apply and accept the selection. It has been one of the best decisions of my life. My spouse is very supportive and moved with me though, so that is a little different than you situation. You didn't mention kids, so I'm guessing you don't have any. This would be the perfect time to do it if it involves moving away from your spouse, since kids throw a huge wrench into the mix.

You can ask me any questions you want. I don't mind answering here unless it's something that will destroy any remaining anonymity that I have, in which case I'll just PM you the answer.

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

Check this guy's youtube channel out. I believe he was in the military for 6-8 years, became a nurse and practiced for more than a decade and now is a m4 in med school. He's around 40 I think.

 

[The Dragon Slayer]

I am not a medical student. But just going off what I have seen on this forum during my time here, it appears that people who are older than 30 do not fare well in pre-med/med school. Despite the cliche', it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. This mentality is also very prevalent in residency programs to my understanding. The fact that you are having doubts about going down this route at your age demonstrates that you are thinking quite rationally. Especially since you already have a successful career and are already married, it really does not make sense to risk all this time and money over another job. Especially since that job will likely no longer be there for you when you (statistically) do not get into medical school, you should see why this is an unwise decision. Forget about not being "passionate" about your current job, that will wear off quickly if you try to go into medicine too. If I were you, I would be grateful that I have a steady career, a supportive wife, and money to do things as I please. That is more than most people can say, and I believe you would be quite foolish to risk throwing your well-structured life into complete discord by doing what you are suggesting.

And on another note, I do not know your actual age but since you are soliciting advice from people over 30, I will assume you are 35. So if you were to complete a post-bacc and go to medical school immediately after you, would be 41-42 by graduation. Even if you then completed the shortest possible residency, you would then be in your mid-40s by the time you get licensure. At some point, you need to assess how many working years you would have left considering that it is going to take you 10 from this point to get to where you would like to be. And then factoring in the opportunity cost in what you would be sacrificing in terms of giving up your other career, time with your wife, etc,.........the expense of this plan is absolutely unfathomable.

 

[Geo16]

Your worries shouldn't stem from your age.
I know someone who served in the US Army for more than two decades (he is 46 I heard he served for 26 years since age 20) and still doing A's in pre-reqs.
Got to know many people who are 28-35.

 

[DBC03]

I’m over 35 and did a DIY postbac after over 10 years as an engineer. I’m matriculating to a med school next year. Don’t believe a word about older students - I got the highest grade in every class I took over the past two years and scored over a 520 on the MCAT, despite not being a particularly strong student when I was younger. One word of caution: I was in a job that paid poorly, especially for engineering, so it’s not a huge financial loss to go into medicine - I’ll make more as a resident than I was making in my job. I also had to work many jobs to make ends meet throughout the recession, so I am used to working all the time and having limited free time. If you are financially stable and enjoy the time you have with family, you will want to think very hard about whether you are willing to give all of that up for this. Send me a PM with any questions you have!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I am not a medical student. But just going off what I have seen on this forum during my time here, it appears that people who are older than 30 do not fare well in pre-med/med school. Despite the cliche', it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. This mentality is also very prevalent in residency programs to my understanding. The fact that you are having doubts about going down this route at your age demonstrates that you are thinking quite rationally. Especially since you already have a successful career and are already married, it really does not make sense to risk all this time and money over another job. Especially since that job will likely no longer be there for you when you (statistically) do not get into medical school, you should see why this is an unwise decision. Forget about not being "passionate" about your current job, that will wear off quickly if you try to go into medicine too. If I were you, I would be grateful that I have a steady career, a supportive wife, and money to do things as I please. That is more than most people can say, and I believe you would be quite foolish to risk throwing your well-structured life into complete discord by doing what you are suggesting.

And on another note, I do not know your actual age but since you are soliciting advice from people over 30, I will assume you are 35. So if you were to complete a post-bacc and go to medical school immediately after you, would be 41-42 by graduation. Even if you then completed the shortest possible residency, you would then be in your mid-40s by the time you get licensure. At some point, you need to assess how many working years you would have left considering that it is going to take you 10 from this point to get to where you would like to be. And then factoring in the opportunity cost in what you would be sacrificing in terms of giving up your other career, time with your wife, etc,.........the expense of this plan is absolutely unfathomable.

Dude. We get it. You have had a rough time. But every time you come into a thread and talk about how med school admissions are not good for non-trads or that they don’t care about your ECs if your stats aren’t stellar, you forget to mention your four mediocre MCATs. Taking the MCAT four times and only scoring marginally better each time did way more harm to your app than any non-trad status you might have.

 

[deleted480308]

age is irrelevant here, the only part that would make me reconsider is leaving my spouse......why can't she and you stay together? you can do a DIY postbach almost anywhere

 

[3toedsloth]

OK, don't listen to this the dragon slayer person. They sound really bitter. Most older medical students are among the best in their class, at least according to what I've been told at my interviews.

It's true it will take you about 10 (or more if you want to be a specialist) years between post bac, med school, and residency. So either commit fully or not at all.

Like @DBC03 , I also did a DIY post bac and will be starting medical school this fall. Im older, too. I found I was frequently the top student in my class, because I have a better work ethic than most young kids. Being a student is WAY easier than working.

I applied to a large number of schools, and I suggest you do the same. The one caveat about applying as an older student is that you can't really waste yet another year by reapplying.

If you have any questions at all, I'm here to help

 

[The Dragon Slayer]

Dude. We get it. You have had a rough time. But every time you come into a thread and talk about how med school admissions are not good for non-trads or that they don’t care about your ECs if your stats aren’t stellar, you forget to mention your four mediocre MCATs. Taking the MCAT four times and only scoring marginally better each time did way more harm to your app than any non-trad status you might have.

In this thread, I neither said anything about myself in this cycle, nor anything about the effect of ECs or stats in applying. I am simply trying to dissuade OP and other similar individuals from gambling with their futures when they already have a good life and career. Any yes, it is true that non-trads do not do as well in application cycles. Whether that is due to their judgment being called into question or the fact that they are weaker students as a whole is unclear, but I do think it is something people should be aware for blindly deciding to take this route.

 

[3toedsloth]

Dude. We get it. You have had a rough time. But every time you come into a thread and talk about how med school admissions are not good for non-trads or that they don’t care about your ECs if your stats aren’t stellar, you forget to mention your four mediocre MCATs. Taking the MCAT four times and only scoring marginally better each time did way more harm to your app than any non-trad status you might have.

I'm actually inclined to believe that medical school Admissions FAVOR older people. If you're over 30, sometimes you'll get invited to diversity interview days. I think there's a sort of "affirmative action" for us old folks.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

In this thread, I neither said anything about myself in this cycle, nor anything about the effect of ECs or stats in applying. I am simply trying to dissuade OP and other similar individuals from gambling with their futures when they already have a good life and career. Any yes, it is true that non-trads do not do as well in application cycles. Whether that is due to their judgment being called into question or the fact that they are weaker students as a whole is unclear, but I do think it is something people should be aware for blindly deciding to take this route.

You need to take a look at some actual data. You are presenting things inaccurately because of your own experiences.

 

[deleted480308]

For what it is worth OP, I was your age when I started a diy reboot of undergrad. Nights and weekends, a lot of community college classes while still working full time. Good grades once I restarted and a good mcat got me a ton of DO interviews, nothing from MD but my cgpa wasn’t in range.

I’ve not at all led the class academically. Whether I’m just not as smart or have other responsibilities, it just hasn’t happened....but I’ve done great clinically with my preceptors, ton of residency interviews

I’ll say it’s been a lot more work than I thought and I’ve spent the last few years scared at all times that if I didn’t graduate or match that I would have ruined my family finances forever. It’s doable but you have to be frank woth yourself about what you are risking

 

[Kr#36]

In this thread, I neither said anything about myself in this cycle, nor anything about the effect of ECs or stats in applying. I am simply trying to dissuade OP and other similar individuals from gambling with their futures when they already have a good life and career. Any yes, it is true that non-trads do not do as well in application cycles. Whether that is due to their judgment being called into question or the fact that they are weaker students as a whole is unclear, but I do think it is something people should be aware for blindly deciding to take this route.

As a non-trade applying this cycle, I haven't once felt that being older has had any impact one way or the other on my admissions. I've gotten interviews at places I expected, a couple at better places than I expected, and rejections at places I thought I was a shoe-in for. I'd say that sounds like a pretty "traditional" cycle.

As for OP: no poster on SDN can tell you whether this career path is right for you. However, there are a couple things you can learn and figure out for yourself.

1) Your age is not a factor. You are going to be 36 either way, you can either be in med school or not.

2) Try to think about whether you truly want to be a DOCTOR, and less about whether you want to go to medical school.

 

[MarineMDHopeful]

The thought that your age is a hindrance to interviews or acceptances is bull. I got into Pitt with a 509 MCAT and they specifically loved my nontrad background. I am also currently waiting to hear back from Mayo. So to say that many medschools view it as a detriment is a fallacy.

 

[doc05]

Hi there,

it allows me to have a nice life with my spouse, travel, and spend quality time with friends.

Well that's what's really important ...Why would you want anything else? Pursuit of a medical career will ruin this... PM me if you have specific questions.

 

[edgerock24]

I am not a medical student. But just going off what I have seen on this forum during my time here, it appears that people who are older than 30 do not fare well in pre-med/med school. Despite the cliche', it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. This mentality is also very prevalent in residency programs to my understanding. The fact that you are having doubts about going down this route at your age demonstrates that you are thinking quite rationally. Especially since you already have a successful career and are already married, it really does not make sense to risk all this time and money over another job. Especially since that job will likely no longer be there for you when you (statistically) do not get into medical school, you should see why this is an unwise decision. Forget about not being "passionate" about your current job, that will wear off quickly if you try to go into medicine too. If I were you, I would be grateful that I have a steady career, a supportive wife, and money to do things as I please. That is more than most people can say, and I believe you would be quite foolish to risk throwing your well-structured life into complete discord by doing what you are suggesting.

And on another note, I do not know your actual age but since you are soliciting advice from people over 30, I will assume you are 35. So if you were to complete a post-bacc and go to medical school immediately after you, would be 41-42 by graduation. Even if you then completed the shortest possible residency, you would then be in your mid-40s by the time you get licensure. At some point, you need to assess how many working years you would have left considering that it is going to take you 10 from this point to get to where you would like to be. And then factoring in the opportunity cost in what you would be sacrificing in terms of giving up your other career, time with your wife, etc,.........the expense of this plan is absolutely unfathomable.

Lol, you're clueless.

 

[Laterthansooner]

Hi there,

I've been extremely lucky enough to be accepted to a top 1-year post-bac program with linkage opportunities.

For a variety of reasons, I followed a different track in life, and am currently seeing success in the business world. I'm comfortable financially and happy in my role. Though I'm certainly not passionate about it. But it allows me to have a nice life with my spouse, travel, and spend quality time with friends.

I know there are countless threads with similar questions, but my question is this:

Are there any physicians out there who went to a post-bac after the age of 30 who would be willing to private message me and chat about his or her experience?

I understand that following dormant passions requires trade-offs, but now that reality is sinking in, I'm very scared of the thought of moving away from my spouse (also on the medical track), incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, and feeling isolated as I pursue this journey.

Many thanks.

I started a post bacc at age 40, and I, too enjoyed a very successful career outside medicine before making the switch. I had a life changing experience that compelled me to want to be a physician. Even though I felt deeply driven to study medicine, it took a year to finally convince myself that the time, effort and financial impact were worth it. In the end, I realized that my life trajectory didn’t have to occur in the linear fashion that I had previously envisioned —or that most others seemed to be on. Having multiple good careers was okay and working after normal retirement age was acceptable to me because I really like medicine and could see myself practicing in some capacity past 65.

The financial cost is not negligible and the road will be tough, but is it what you truly want? Only you, @nontrad_lad , can answer that. There will always be noise from the sidelines. Family, friends and anonymous people on SDN will shower you with plenty of opinions, but in the end, only you know what you can live with. It can be done; just take a look at the nontrad applicants on the threads from this app cycle. There are plenty of success stories. Most of us are happy with our choices to study medicine at a later age and have made the sacrifices necessary to get there.

Some schools love nontrads and some schools do not. Some schools don’t care as long as your numbers are as competitive as someone just out of school, and other schools value your life experience and compelling stories as much as your numbers or your age. But...don’t let age determine whether you end up a doctor. You can do it if you want to. Best of luck to you.

 

[The Dragon Slayer]

I started a post bacc at age 40, and I, too enjoyed a very successful career outside medicine before making the switch. I had a life changing experience that compelled me to want to be a physician. Even though I felt deeply driven to study medicine, it took a year to finally convince myself that the time, effort and financial impact were worth it. In the end, I realized that my life trajectory didn’t have to occur in the linear fashion that I had previously envisioned —or that most others seemed to be on. Having multiple good careers was okay and working after normal retirement age was acceptable to me because I really like medicine and could see myself practicing in some capacity past 65.

The financial cost is not negligible and the road will be tough, but is it what you truly want? Only you, @nontrad_lad , can answer that. There will always be noise from the sidelines. Family, friends and anonymous people on SDN will shower you with plenty of opinions, but in the end, only you know what you can live with. It can be done; just take a look at the nontrad applicants on the threads from this app cycle. There are plenty of success stories. Most of us are happy with our choices to study medicine at a later age and have made the sacrifices necessary to get there.

Some schools love nontrads and some schools do not. Some schools don’t care as long as your numbers are as competitive as someone just out of school, and other schools value your life experience and compelling stories as much as your numbers or your age. But...don’t let age determine whether you end up a doctor. You can do it if you want to. Best of luck to you.

This is simply not true. Age definitely needs to be a deciding factor. Ok, maybe if you are in your late 20s in may not be too late, but I have seen people here encouraging others who are in their late 50s to give medicine a try. Does it really make sense to advise someone to take up all that debt and effort when they will likely be dead within 10 years of completing their training (that's if their plan is successful)? Seems like pretty poor advice unless your goal is to ensure that your children and other beneficiaries inherit nothing from you in the end.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

This is simply not true. Age definitely needs to be a deciding factor. Ok, maybe if you are in your late 20s in may not be too late, but I have seen people here encouraging others who are in their late 50s to give medicine a try. Does it really make sense to advise someone to take up all that debt and effort when they will likely be dead within 10 years of completing their training (that's if their plan is successful)? Seems like pretty poor advice unless your goal is to ensure that your children and other beneficiaries inherit nothing from you in the end.

I actually agree that it is probably not the best idea to take on a lot of debt when you’re pushing 60. But if you’re over 50, totally with it and healthy, and you can mostly finance your education yourself, who cares?

 

[hydroplain]

Check this guy's youtube channel out. I believe he was in the military for 6-8 years, became a nurse and practiced for more than a decade and now is a m4 in med school. He's around 40 I think.

This was a great video. Definitely what I needed as consider applying to medical school at 26.

 

[libertyyne]

This is ultimately your decision. And yours alone. Adcoms do not discriminate against 30 year old applicants. It is a long and tortuous road at any age, and you really have to sacrifice a large amount. The worst will probably be looking at your peers that your age who are financially secure, working 40 hours a week and enjoying weekends and time with their kids. But you are the only one who can decide. Is there risk, sure there is risk of failure in any enterprise and nothing in this life that is worth having comes easy .

 

[willow84]

I am not a medical student. But just going off what I have seen on this forum during my time here, it appears that people who are older than 30 do not fare well in pre-med/med school. Despite the cliche', it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. This mentality is also very prevalent in residency programs to my understanding. The fact that you are having doubts about going down this route at your age demonstrates that you are thinking quite rationally. Especially since you already have a successful career and are already married, it really does not make sense to risk all this time and money over another job. Especially since that job will likely no longer be there for you when you (statistically) do not get into medical school, you should see why this is an unwise decision. Forget about not being "passionate" about your current job, that will wear off quickly if you try to go into medicine too. If I were you, I would be grateful that I have a steady career, a supportive wife, and money to do things as I please. That is more than most people can say, and I believe you would be quite foolish to risk throwing your well-structured life into complete discord by doing what you are suggesting.

And on another note, I do not know your actual age but since you are soliciting advice from people over 30, I will assume you are 35. So if you were to complete a post-bacc and go to medical school immediately after you, would be 41-42 by graduation. Even if you then completed the shortest possible residency, you would then be in your mid-40s by the time you get licensure. At some point, you need to assess how many working years you would have left considering that it is going to take you 10 from this point to get to where you would like to be. And then factoring in the opportunity cost in what you would be sacrificing in terms of giving up your other career, time with your wife, etc,.........the expense of this plan is absolutely unfathomable.

... what? "By just going off what I see in this forum"? So you have no data to support what you're saying outside of reading SDN? OP, I started my post-bacc at 30. I had a successful career, traveled, enjoyed life, etc before doing this. I excelled in my post-bacc and had the highest grade in just about every class. My background is 100% non-science too. "Old dogs" can 100% learn new tricks. Sorry your path was unsuccessful but that doesn't mean everyone else will have the same experience.

OP I had a long distance marriage during my post-bacc. Feel free to PM me if you want to chat more!

 

[el_duderino]

I started med school at over 30, after finishing my bachelor's by the time I was 31 and doing a year of graduate school. It's not exactly a post-bacc but you can message me and ask me questions. For what it's worth, I got into all this knowing what my goal was and I never doubted my motivation or desires. The only thing I doubted was whether I could hack it or not.

 

[el_duderino]

I am not a medical student. But just going off what I have seen on this forum during my time here, it appears that people who are older than 30 do not fare well in pre-med/med school. Despite the cliche', it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. This mentality is also very prevalent in residency programs to my understanding. The fact that you are having doubts about going down this route at your age demonstrates that you are thinking quite rationally. Especially since you already have a successful career and are already married, it really does not make sense to risk all this time and money over another job. Especially since that job will likely no longer be there for you when you (statistically) do not get into medical school, you should see why this is an unwise decision. Forget about not being "passionate" about your current job, that will wear off quickly if you try to go into medicine too. If I were you, I would be grateful that I have a steady career, a supportive wife, and money to do things as I please. That is more than most people can say, and I believe you would be quite foolish to risk throwing your well-structured life into complete discord by doing what you are suggesting.

And on another note, I do not know your actual age but since you are soliciting advice from people over 30, I will assume you are 35. So if you were to complete a post-bacc and go to medical school immediately after you, would be 41-42 by graduation. Even if you then completed the shortest possible residency, you would then be in your mid-40s by the time you get licensure. At some point, you need to assess how many working years you would have left considering that it is going to take you 10 from this point to get to where you would like to be. And then factoring in the opportunity cost in what you would be sacrificing in terms of giving up your other career, time with your wife, etc,.........the expense of this plan is absolutely unfathomable.

From what I've seen in real life, on the forum, and in my own personal experience, people who start medical school over 30 do very well. We have a handful in my class, and they've all been very successful. I know a number of residents in their late 30s and early 40s, and they're all fantastic.

All of the people I know who dropped or failed out have been 25 or younger.