How old is too old for dental school?

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ballislife

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My mom really wants to go dental school, however she is on the older side.... She is 57 has done well in some pre reqs and it will probably be at least 2 years till she applies. How much will age effect if she gets in?

EDIT: she was accepted to nyu dental school 25+years ago but chose to stay at her computer programming job.

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so she will be 59 when she enters, 63 when she graduates, and she will retired after two years of working? I mean, it is up to her.
 
seems kind of like a waste of money unless she plans on working til she's 85
 
my mom went through a little midlife crisis type thing like that...wanted to quit being a teacher and become a nurse.

i think your mom would regret this decision, i cant imagine doing clinic and stuff at 60. so I think she could direct this feeling towards a new hobby or something else that doesn't require a 200K dollar investment. (my mom started a large garden).
 
If she's going to go into debt paying for school, I think it makes no sense at all.

If for whatever reason she's piled up a ton of cash and can manage her finances and it's her dream, then I guess there's no reason she couldn't.

The big fear is earning potential. At that age, she can't reasonably expect to work much longer than a few years, and then the 4 year dental school investment seems a bit odd both time wise and financially.
 
She should do it! I think that is awesome. Good for her :)
 
DO IT!!!

Have no regrets in life, if it happens awesome if not it wasn't meant to be. But at least she put it out there instead spending the rest of her life with "shoulda, coulda, woulda" syndrome.

There are always other things in dentistry she can do. Teaching is one of them.

Don't let anyone on here tell you she is too old, we are only as old as we allows our to feel.
 
She might have a hard time finding a job after dental school, even in the academic settings. Teaching requires experience and more knowledge than just from the 4 years of dental school.
If she had enough money to open a practice, I don't know how she is going to attract patients when they find out she just graduated and is over 60 years old.
I think it will be a waste of time, money, and effort. Have she ever shadowed a dentist?
 
People,

You've got it all wrong. We NEED this lady to be in dental school. Think of all the chocolate chip cookies, the brownies, and the cupcakes we'll be having everyday in class.

Shame on any of y'all trying to shun this lady out of her dreams:nono:
 
She might have a hard time finding a job after dental school, even in the academic settings. Teaching requires experience and more knowledge than just from the 4 years of dental school.
If she had enough money to open a practice, I don't know how she is going to attract patients when they find out she just graduated and is over 60 years old.
I think it will be a waste of time, money, and effort. Have she ever shadowed a dentist?


There are many "right out of school" graduates that are hired for teaching positions. I've seen it, I've experienced it.
 
People,

You've got it all wrong. We NEED this lady to be in dental school. Think of all the chocolate chip cookies, the brownies, and the cupcakes we'll be having everyday in class.

Shame on any of y'all trying to shun this lady out of her dreams:nono:

hahaha. NO, shame on YOU! You are about to be a dentist. How dare talk about chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and cupcakes???
 
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So she will be 63 when she graduates d-school and starts working.. What age does she want to retire?

Not worth it. Tell her to use all that money she saved for dental school to go on vacation every few months.
 
hahaha. NO, shame on YOU! You are about to be a dentist. How dare talk about chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and cupcakes???

Uh...., so we can use each other as patients when it's time for clinicals, no need for finding patients, it'll be a clinical class orgy DUH;)
 
Loans/Time actually being able to practice dentistry aside, remember, the heavy academic load and studying needed to get through dental school should be considered too.
 
If she could handle prerequisite + dental school physically and mentally, why not?
She has to remember that she will be competing with people on their 20s mostly, meaning most likely have easier time studying, have more physical strength,endurance, possibly better manual dexterity and eye sight.
 
I wish she could go to school with me so she can make me feel younger ( :
Best of luck to her! Please keep us posted!
 
My mom really wants to go dental school, however she is on the older side.... She is 57 has done well in some pre reqs and it will probably be at least 2 years till she applies. How much will age effect if she gets in?

EDIT: she was accepted to nyu dental school 25+years ago but chose to stay at her computer programming job.

it's very difficult to practice dentistry @ that age of 63 64 considering the eyesight and manual dexterity are rolling downhill... I'd be veryyy surprised if she can handle the loads in dental school as well...
best advice: save the money and just take vacations and enjoy life... it's not worth it to put that kind of pressures on your body @ this age...
 
it's very difficult to practice dentistry @ that age of 63 64 considering the eyesight and manual dexterity are rolling downhill... I'd be veryyy surprised if she can handle the loads in dental school as well...
best advice: save the money and just take vacations and enjoy life... it's not worth it to put that kind of pressures on your body @ this age...

This :thumbup:

It sounds to me that she's going through a serious mid-life crises and she's probably wondering 'what would have happened if i left my computer programming job 25 years ago and attended dental school? well, let's find out!' Unfortunately she's going to be pretty old by the time she graduates, not to mention it's gonna be very tough for her to re-learn all the materials for DAT to just get into a dental school (unless NYU is willing to honor their invitation from 25 years ago... which I HIGHLY doubt). And getting a decent sized patient base after you graduate dental school can take up to ten years... by that time, she will be 80+ years old :eek:

I agree with Tragic, the best thing would be save the money and time to go on a nice vacation or two.
 
I think Dental Hygiene would be a more appropriate alternative in a cost/benefit type ratio.
 
I think the latest you can make a career change to something like medicine, dentistry, etc is probably late 30s, maybe 40. After that, by the time you're established you're too old to have enough time to get your debts paid off. However, just look at the stats of incoming classes at schools and you'll see the age range go up to the 50s sometimes. To each their own, but it's not a move I'd make at that age.
 
Look at the perspective of dental schools when they're choosing applicants. You need to remember that dental schools are also investing in you. If you're going to take up space in their limited class size, they expect you to spend several decades to practicing dentistry and serving the public. A woman in her late 50's is not going to be spending the majority of her life in dentistry. The return on investment for your mother's situation is bleak.
 
+1 ^^^ mid 30's is the cutoff IMO. I think anything ~36+ would throw up flags for admissions commitees. But then again, they aren't supposed to discriminate against any age group.
 
This is a very personal decision based on health, financial security, desire and aptitude. None of us are qualified to answer the question without knowing the applicant very well.
 
Madonna Buder is a nun who competes in triathlons. You might say, wow! good, a nun. But she completed her first Ironman distance (2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike, 26.2 mi run) at the age of 55. Overall, she's completed in 325 triathlons and 45 Ironman distances. She finished the famous Hawaii Ironman at age 76 and another ironman at 79 and still competes to this day.

What I'm trying to say is that it's never too old to do something. We all have our own motivations to pursue something whether it be education, sports, etc. If somebody wants to do something and it will bring happiness to them or to others, then I'm in support of it. This mom might be that dentist that works in the clinics, who bring smiles to the low income population. She might just make someone smile for the first time. She might relieve the pain from a child. Then it might make everything worth it. You never know, she might even inspire you to become a better dentist.
 
Well....if she wants to do dentistry because she thinks she'll LOVE doing the job then go for it!
 
WAY too old. Talking about her being able to APPLY when she is 60....
 
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Apply to dental school when you're older.. graduate.. make the bare minimum payments.. Keep all the money you make and spend it frivolously. When you die..(not shortly after) government student loans are forgiven. Bazinga!
 
Apply to dental school when you're older.. graduate.. make the bare minimum payments.. Keep all the money you make and spend it frivolously. When you die..(not shortly after) government student loans are forgiven. Bazinga!

Hahahahaah! Grandma's a hustler!
 
Madonna Buder is a nun who competes in triathlons. You might say, wow! good, a nun. But she completed her first Ironman distance (2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike, 26.2 mi run) at the age of 55. Overall, she's completed in 325 triathlons and 45 Ironman distances. She finished the famous Hawaii Ironman at age 76 and another ironman at 79 and still competes to this day.

What I'm trying to say is that it's never too old to do something. We all have our own motivations to pursue something whether it be education, sports, etc. If somebody wants to do something and it will bring happiness to them or to others, then I'm in support of it. This mom might be that dentist that works in the clinics, who bring smiles to the low income population. She might just make someone smile for the first time. She might relieve the pain from a child. Then it might make everything worth it. You never know, she might even inspire you to become a better dentist.

:thumbup::thumbup::love::love:
 
I toured a d-school on the east coast last application cycle, they had a 52 yr old D2 student, she should do what makes her happy
 
It's never too late! Also, this may sound a bit vain, but it helps if your mom looks a bit younger and prettier than her age. Looks do matter!

My friends mom is 59 and just completed her Phd from Berkeley. She now works at NIH some think tank in DC. She's doing well and for her, the Phd was part of a major career change. As I mentioned, looks matter, and this woman looks much younger than her age.
 
If $$$ available for tuition then she should go for it!! There was a student in my dental hygiene class that was 60 and graduated with us and to be honest she was #1 student scoring 100 on every exam. There are foreign dentist that are in their 50's that attend school with regular dental student to get their license in USA. YOU should definitely encourage her even if she doesn't get in at least she tried :).. The book of KNOWLEDGE is for everyone
 
it's very difficult to practice dentistry @ that age of 63 64 considering the eyesight and manual dexterity are rolling downhill... I'd be veryyy surprised if she can handle the loads in dental school as well...
best advice: save the money and just take vacations and enjoy life... it's not worth it to put that kind of pressures on your body @ this age...

Agreed.

Also, according to DocToothaches chart, through 2006-2008 the oldest were 46 and 49... But your mom will be another 10-12 years older than that.

I think if she could pay for school cash, then it could be a fine decision. But being her age and over 250K in debt... i wonder what quality of life that would be.
 
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