Am I too old for this?

[AngelaChanel34]

I am 33 I will be 34 next April. I have always dreamed of being a DO since I finished Sports Massage School in 2002. I have 2 kids 11 and 2years of age. I hit some rough times last year and I took a job as a Tech at a mojor hospital this past spring and being in the environment of all these amazing Doctors D.O. and M.D. I realized that I didnt fufill my goal of becoming a Doctor! life just happen I guess and 8 years have gone by and I feel really disappointed that I did not become a D.O. To fufill my dream I would have to start from scratch. None of my massage school credits transfer so I am looking at attending school as a Pre-Med student! I really want to do this. For years it has come to mind but working with D.O's talking with them I find myself thinking I should not waste anymore time I need to focus on becoming a Doctor. Am I crazy. In my heart I don't think so but I keep feeling like wow I'll be almost 50 before I can practice and I don't know I have this bad habit taking myself out of things some times. Please give me some advice, has anyone been in my shoes? I have been doing research and have found that Osteopathic Schools are bit more accepting of non traditional applicants, this has given me some hope, but I also LOVE Osteopathic medicine and I really want to do this but as I said I am a bit timid because I will have to start from scratch. Is there a way to speed up the process a little? I have no problems taking classes in the summer whatever, I simply neeed advice on what steps to take.

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[AGLAIA]

As has been said a schwack of times on here before: Nope. You aren't. If it's what you want, then you should go for it like we are all trying to do with our variable back stories. Remind yourself that people in their 30s, 40s, 50s...etc have been accepted in DO and MD programs and have lived to tell about it.

GL

 

[Law2Doc]

As has been said a schwack of times on here before: Nope. You aren't. If it's what you want, then you should go for it like we are all trying to do with our variable back stories. Remind yourself that people in their 30s, 40s, 50s...etc have been accepted in DO and MD programs and have lived to tell about it.

GL

Age isn't an issue here. However having a two year old might be. Depends on your support system and how willing you are to miss a lot of major milestones in your kid's life. It can be done but there is a cost.

 

[EdLongshanks]

Age isn't an issue here. However having a two year old might be. Depends on your support system and how willing you are to miss a lot of major milestones in your kid's life. It can be done but there is a cost.

My youngest is almost 18, so the milestones comment doesn't apply closely to me, but I have a related question. I read a lot here about how much dedication med-school and residency takes, but I don't see this add up in the hours that I see quoted. I'm missing something.

Everyone at my work is required to work 45 hours/week. Most of them work more than this. On top of these hours, most of us have extra-curricular activities. I go to school, church, and work with the homeless. Others play in music bands or run marathons. So, if my co-worker's lives are like mine (I think that they are) then their vocations and avocations add up to 80 to 90 hours/week. On top of this we have on-call weeks. Throughout my software career, it has been common for me to put in 24 or 48 hours straight at work. My children never felt like they had an absent father.

The medical school schedules that I have heard don't over-top this. They start school at 8, go home at 5, start studying at 7 and study till midnight. They put in 15 to 20 hours on the weekend studying. That's a 95 hour week. The clinical rotations sound like 13 hour days with a little homework and some time off.

Am I missing something, or are the horror stories of medical school the result of comparing medical school to the carefree life of the non-working undergrad?

 

[BennieBlanco]

My youngest is almost 18, so the milestones comment doesn't apply closely to me, but I have a related question. I read a lot here about how much dedication med-school and residency takes, but I don't see this add up in the hours that I see quoted. I'm missing something.

Everyone at my work is required to work 45 hours/week. Most of them work more than this. On top of these hours, most of us have extra-curricular activities. I go to school, church, and work with the homeless. Others play in music bands or run marathons. So, if my co-worker's lives are like mine (I think that they are) then their vocations and avocations add up to 80 to 90 hours/week. On top of this we have on-call weeks. Throughout my software career, it has been common for me to put in 24 or 48 hours straight at work. My children never felt like they had an absent father.

The medical school schedules that I have heard don't over-top this. They start school at 8, go home at 5, start studying at 7 and study till midnight. They put in 15 to 20 hours on the weekend studying. That's a 95 hour week. The clinical rotations sound like 13 hour days with a little homework and some time off.

Am I missing something, or are the horror stories of medical school the result of comparing medical school to the carefree life of the non-working undergrad?

Remember that one person putting in 1 hour of work is completely different than another person's. In sales I would see people work 10 hour days and get 4 or 5 hours of serious productivity in. It is extremely difficult to put in a 12 or 13 hour day of good solid work.

You see this in study groups, where people are at the library for 6 or 7 hours, while only truly completing about 3 hours of work.

church/serving homeless is not working time. I did a feeding the homeless program for a month this last summer, far from "work".

There is a huge difference between time that is busy (activity filled) and time spent working.

As you just said, 35-45 hours of your week are not spent working. Also, as I've been in corporate America I'd bet that 30% or more of time at work is not spent working! It is baffling but true.

It also depends on what you are working on. Some people work 50 hours per week and spend 30 of them on the least important tasks, yet they are "working".

A person who spends 80 hours a week working at the right things should either be very rich or wildly successful at whatever pursuit they have chosen (in the top 1%). Unless they are fickle and jump from thing to thing.

Everyone talks a good game but when the rubber meets the road only about 10-20% are actually doing it, doing it and doing it well.

 

[EdLongshanks]

church/serving homeless is not working time. I did a feeding the homeless program for a month this last summer, far from "work".
.

It is true that all work is not equal. Your example is a good one. My work with the homeless is leading the program and counseling with individuals, not filling plates. Nor is what one accomplishes in studying for 3 hours equal to another's study time.

But that's all we have to compare to, since no one has an ATP-usage meter on the brains of working people and med students. And it is the example of time that is used to discourage young parents from going to med-school. "You'll miss out on the milestones of your child's life." "You'll not see your family for weeks at a time." etc.

But the numbers don't add up this way. While a med student may only be able to spend 2 hours a day with his kids, those two hours can be either significant or insignificant - according to the person spending them. As you say, all time is not equal.

There have been many posts on this forum and others about what the life of a med student is like. From what I read, none of them indicate a level of stress or time-consumption that goes beyond what many hard-working people have done their entire life.

I could be missing something here and maybe a medical student can enlighten me. Failing that, I doubt that you or I, Benny, can be sure.

 

[AngelaChanel34]

Thank you thats what I have been thinking as well. I have a two year old and a 11 year old my son has many sports he is involved in and I work. His father owns a business so he can pretty much does as he pleases he can even take the kids along with him and he enjoys taking the kids along. The schedule for medical schjool does not seem that much more hectic than the life Im living now. I can say if I were 21 again I think this would sound super overwhelming but I think Ill be ok

 

[AngelaChanel34]

Thank You. I work full time at a medical facility and I leave at 5 and return at 7 at night My kids are in bed by 9 so we have about two hours together anyway. The days I have off are spent running errands and doing sports I will not be working full time in school so I don't see much of a time different either and the stress of aying bills and working my tail off in this position at the hospital is a dead end so if Im spending time studying which I love to do anyway! it's more relaxing to me and I know it will ay off big time in the end. I have never had a care free life anyway! so at least if Im missing out on some family activities which I do now for only $10 an hour I know when Im in school missing out I will either by studying or in class. I can even tae my son along and we could study together so I think thats a plus! and again I know Im not wasting my time especially when I can provide well for my family in the future. I see it like now I struggle daily to make ends meet and that if anything is more stress than I can handle. I would take the stress of making a better life for my family than being tired and grumpy and hating my job wishing I was in medical school this is what drives me I am pretty sick of being poor! 8 years will pass anyway. I can let it pass woking as a Nurse Aid or It can pass working my but off to secure a great future for my family.

 

[efex101]

"the schedule for medical schjool does not seem that much more hectic than the life Im living now"

I guarantee that a medical schedule will be much MORE hectic than what your experiencing now trust me, probably exponentially so. Make sure that you have a CLEAR understanding of this path. Once you begin it is very difficult to go back.

 

[ShyRem]

It's possible. I am now a fourth year and my children are 11 and 14. When I went back to undergrad my children were 4 and 7. You make certain sacrifices and figure out how to maximize your time. You also learn to live with less sleep. Life becomes more of a balance, which is good and bad. Good in that you have something other than school, bad in that you may have to settle for not being in the top of your class (depending on how your school defines "top"). While I've never failed a class (or exam) and at least 85% of my classmates have, I'm not in the top 15% of my class. But I've balanced wife, mother, and med student as best I could.

 

[billw]

I started at 33 with no prior degree. Four years undergrad + four years med school + at least three years residence = 44 years old.

Three years in and I don't regret it yet, but I'm not obsessed about the finish line. After all, the real finish line is death.