QofQuimica
Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....
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First, some ground rules: those of us who are nontrads like to take pride in the fact that we are mature adults. If you are going to participate in this controversial thread, please keep the fact that you are a mature adult in mind, and do not attack other users or otherwise violate the SDN TOS while posting here.
Second, some rationales: I'm making this poll because the subject of maximum age for medical school comes up over and over. I think it would be interesting and maybe even helpful to some folks who are contemplating a switch to have a semi-organized discussion of the topic. Also, although I generally try to make our polls applicable to people in all health fields, this month is going to be specifically discussing age-related issues concerning medical school and physicians. The reason is that the required length of training is so much longer for physicians compared with other health fields, and this adds additional age-related angst for older nontrads who are considering whether to make this career change.
Finally, my thoughts on the subject: I would say that early 50s is the oldest age that an incoming medical student should be. In the best case scenario, it takes approximately ten years to train a new physician if you start counting from the time they begin their pre-reqs until the time when they can practice independently. Considering that the retirement age in this country is in the mid to late 60s, it doesn't make sense to me to be graduating people who start practicing when they are already in that age range. While it is true that some people continue working into their 70s or even their 80s, I don't feel that the return on educating them is enough to make it worth our while as a society to do this. Therefore, I am voting for 51-55 as the point at which people become "too old" for medical school.
That being said, I do think there is some value to having more senior people in the class, and some people who are retired or semi-retired might want to learn medicine out of sheer interest. One compromise that we might consider is to allow people who are older than their early 50s to take medical school classes without going through the entire training process or ever actually practicing.
Second, some rationales: I'm making this poll because the subject of maximum age for medical school comes up over and over. I think it would be interesting and maybe even helpful to some folks who are contemplating a switch to have a semi-organized discussion of the topic. Also, although I generally try to make our polls applicable to people in all health fields, this month is going to be specifically discussing age-related issues concerning medical school and physicians. The reason is that the required length of training is so much longer for physicians compared with other health fields, and this adds additional age-related angst for older nontrads who are considering whether to make this career change.
Finally, my thoughts on the subject: I would say that early 50s is the oldest age that an incoming medical student should be. In the best case scenario, it takes approximately ten years to train a new physician if you start counting from the time they begin their pre-reqs until the time when they can practice independently. Considering that the retirement age in this country is in the mid to late 60s, it doesn't make sense to me to be graduating people who start practicing when they are already in that age range. While it is true that some people continue working into their 70s or even their 80s, I don't feel that the return on educating them is enough to make it worth our while as a society to do this. Therefore, I am voting for 51-55 as the point at which people become "too old" for medical school.
That being said, I do think there is some value to having more senior people in the class, and some people who are retired or semi-retired might want to learn medicine out of sheer interest. One compromise that we might consider is to allow people who are older than their early 50s to take medical school classes without going through the entire training process or ever actually practicing.