age??

[lilmacstew]

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Okay here is the situation. My husband just got accepted into the Physician Assistant school through the Army. However his main goal is to go to medical school because he wants to be an Ortho surgeon (sp?) Anyhow, he is down in the dumps because of his age. He is 28 right now, and when he is done with pa school he will be 30, then he owes the army 4 years. so he will be 34. At the earliest he could get out of the army is then. or he could deny pa school and finish his 4 more years that he has on his contract right now. He has almost all of the classes required by med schools, however he does not have the organic chem, or inorganic. It is very hard to take in class classes while you are active duty. Right now we are in Alaska, and there is one univeristy and their science classes are only during the day, so that is out. So he probalby has 1 year of classes to take to get set. If he has a PA Degree would he most likely meet the requirements for med school admission? How would we find out? Also what about his age? Is that going to keep him down? I am more then wiling to support us, (we have 2 kids, a 2 year old and a 10 month old). I am graduating in december. And I have followed him to god awful places already and let me tell you military don't pay a lot lol so money is not an issue. and I work right now. I will follow him anywhere. However, I want to go to medical school also, however I am younger and I can wait. I am only 22. He is starting to go through this stage where hsi class reunion is next year and he feels like he has done nothing with his life. I tell him, listen you have served yoru country. You have gone to war, you have gotten shot, you have been a medic for 5 years, you have done so much, you have no need. However he has always wanted to go to med school. Anyone out there been in his shoes with his age?

 

[finnpipette]

i don't know how much help this will be, but I have taken intro bio classes with 40+ year old students, who have realized late in life that they want to be doctors. if your husband has wanted this his whole entire life...by all means, go for it and live out your dreams!

 

[Adapt]

Yes there are plenty of people who enter into medical school in their 40s. He may want to also look into DO schools since they are especially receptive to non-traditional students.

As for myself, I take comfort in the fact that I will enter into medical school at the age of 21. I can't wait to be a 25 year old doctor. It's going to be cool. OH YEA!!!!😎

 

[skypilot]

Originally posted by lilmacstew
He has almost all of the classes required by med schools, however he does not have the organic chem, or inorganic.

So its either 32 years old with several years experience as a PA or 34 without a PA?

He will have to take all the Chemistry in order to get admitted and to do well on the MCAT even if he completes the PA. I don't think 32 or 34 makes a difference. Age doesn't become a factor till 36 years old. Most schools will snap him up if he does well academically.

Several years as a PA would look awfully good, but if he's already a medic that won't make much difference on admission. If he's confident in his academic ability and really wants to be a doc, I would say finish out the four years and go at 32.

On the other hand I know a few PAs who are glad they didn't go the med school route. They make a good living and get to participate in surgery even though they are not the number one guy.

 

[musiclink213]

but if you're a PA first, then leave to go to med school, don't they frown upon that? i think i heard that somewhere, that it's not as easy to leave one medical profession to go to another (a la Abby on ER)

if this is wrong, i'm sorry

 

[TexasRose]

To the OP-
Tell your husband not to worry about the age thing. Search some other threads on here for "nontrad" stories!

I don't think leaving the PA thing will be bad if he does it as part of his training and work experience while in the military. I think it's frowned on when people use it as a stepping stone to med school, or appear wishy-washy. Not his situation.

He will still need all the Prereq's, even with a PA degree. The PA education won't count towards the MD, except in a very few cases. (where the PA and MD are done at the same school and the students share classes anyway, very rare)

While there are obvious benefits to going to med school at 21, there are benefits to being a more mature/experienced individual as well. However, he still has to make the grades and the good MCAT scores like everyone else.

Good luck!
Theresa

PS- Hope you get your chance as well!

 

[sgilani]

what i don't understand is why he's going the PA route first. why not apply straight to medical school, assuming he has all his prereqs.

 

[sgilani]

sorry about my above reply. i skimmed thru the OPs comments. altho i still say... just try to get the prereqs done and apply to med school. don't take the pa detour.

 

[Amy B]

Well, let's see.... first about his age. I am 37 years old and will start med school next fall at 38. It can be done.

Some schools give extra privledges when applying if you are a PA. The school I was accepted to states in their admissions info that PA's are welcome.

This is a DO school. DO schools seem to be more acceptant of older applicants.

From VCOM's web site""""""5. VCOM offers special consideration for practicing Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Pharmacists, and graduates from foreign medical colleges who hold a masters, doctorial, or professional degree. For candidates with this professional and academic background, we are willing to review graduate transcripts to ensure our undergraduate course requirements are met. We will require these applicants take the MCAT. We will be unable to offer advanced standing."""""

So having a PA would be a good thing and could help him alot when taking the classes in med school. And keep in mind what if he didn't do the PA route and applied to med school and for some reason did not get in..... He wouldn't have a career to fall back on. PA's get paid a decent salary. Just something to keep in mind.

These choices are hard ones and I wish you all the best!!!!!!!!

 

[DSM]

Don't let anyone talk him out of his dream. If he wants to be a doc then he CAN be one. As far as changing medical professions from one to another one. It is actually a plus from what all I have read in this forum and been told. I know personally several people that went from being a nurse, paramedic, lab technician to physician.....so carry on. By the way, I am 40 years old and am finishing up on my prereqs. I will take the MCAT in April 04. Look up a thread about non traditional (that is what we old folks are called when we get the wild hair to go back to school) med students. I say go for it. Go for the M. D.

 

[Adapt]

Originally posted by deepsouthmedic
Go for the M. D.

No. Go for the D.O.

 

[woolie]

This is just my 0.02, but I would just finish up the service and then go straight for the MD.

While every situaiton is different, I have heard how schools sometimes frown on first this career and now that one. What I mean is, if you just went straight to MD, no one could doubt your intentions and sincerity. But making detours to another, equally serious committment (PA) might be make people ask: why?

I recently was asked: how do we know you won't come to this school and then change your mind since you've already had another career or two. I was stunned, because I thought I had made it clear in my essay that I had done the high paying one ONLY to make money to prepare for going back for prerequs and medschool. I've spent quite a few years preparing the way for where I am today. I thought it was a clear path, but this interviewer expressed doubts.

I had to drop the 'make nice' polite talk and let my passion really come through, but for a minute I was really taken aback.

 

[Spacekat]

Yep, I'm in his shoes just about exactly.

My hitch ends in August, and I've spent the last three years agonizing over the time left in my contract. The military luckily yanked me to a location where I could finish school in the evening, but I'm putting in 16-18 hour days to make that happen. The bottom line, though, is that all of us have plenty of time.

Think about this - we tend to assume we'll retire, like our grandparents did, around age 60 or 65. With the longer lifespans, the state of social security, and the general way the economy works right now, that just isn't going to happen.

So basically, by the time your husband gets out, goes through school, and finishes residency, even if he does PA school first, he'll be, what, 43 years old? Which means he'll have over 30 more years of work before he can retire. I think that's plenty. All his reunion buddies will be on their 3rd or 4th careers by then, and will be far less happy than your husband who is living his life's dream.

If it were me I think I'd do the PA school. That way he has an instant career he can jump into, temporarily, in the civilian world if your family hits a budget crunch or whatever. He will have many medical schoolmates who are his age or older, so he just needs to stop worrying about that right now. The woman who just graduated at the top of the medical school near my home was 42 and matched as a surgeon in what's probably the top program in the country, so it's really not an issue. They didn't even flinch at the fact that she'll be 47 when she becomes an attending.

So both of you hang in there, keep plugging, and know that things are going to come out fine. You've got plenty of living left to do - no need to rush.

 

[HawkeyeBFP]

The age factor is overrated. There is no school on earth with an arbitrary cutoff age, and certainly no one is going to make a huge differentiation between 32 and 34. If you're a desirable candidate, they'll consider your application regardless. The days of "we won't train someone for half a career" are long gone.

I think your decision should be based on what will make you both happiest during the remaing years he still has to go in the service. If he doesn't do PA, will he be miserable for the rest of his hitch?

On the bright side, the military ought to be providing you with a good outlook on a med school marriage. 🙂 Good luck to you both.

 

[mamitch4]

I wouldn't worry about the age thing at all. As has been mentioned before, most DO school are especially receptive to non-traditional students as they can bring more maturity and life experience to their profession than folks fresh out of college.
With regards to the PA vs. MD/DO, if he knows that he ultimately wants to do ortho surgery, I would get right on it and not spend unnecessary time training to be a PA when he really wants to be a doc.
As for the pre-reqs, taking them online is a definite option. I needed to pick up 2 semesters of biochem before I applied to school, and I was able to take them online/distance learning from Iowa State. In my search to find the classes I needed, I came across lots of reputable institutions that offerred a wide variety of classes.