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Just curious...but how old do you think is too old to apply to/get accepted to med school?
My brother started his anesthesia residnecy at 38 (one month from 39)Wahoowa said:I have always wanted to go to medical school. However, I lived in Argentina for two years and when I returned, I was offered a job to be one of Senator Murkowski's aides on Capitol Hill. This was too good to pass up. I did this for several years, then I was accepted to medical school. When I entered med school, I was35 years old. Now I am beginning my residency in anesthesia at 39 years of age.
Amicus said:i would be very upset to se someone in their 60's get accepted to a school.
A person will practice for 10 years maybe. That is a waste of taxpayer money.
DSM said:uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... what taxpayer money? AS far as I know....IT is my damn money I am using......So even though I am 41 ..it is none of ANYONE'S business when I get into med school and how long I practice.
flighterdoc said:The only "taxpayer" money involved is in funding residencies. Of course, the government gets indentured servants for that period, where the residents work 80+ hours a week for well under minimum wage. The replacement cost of just the work done by residents would cost 10x as much as the residencies cost, and there would still have to be some sort of training method.
DSM said:uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... what taxpayer money? AS far as I know....IT is my damn money I am using......So even though I am 41 ..it is none of ANYONE'S business when I get into med school and how long I practice.
Celiac Plexus said:Just wondering what the draw is for med school for older folks. Say you're 35 when you start med school. That's a minimum of seven years before you can start to practice. 42 years old... minimum. 44 or 45 if you choose a surgical specialty. Then you are just starting out. And if you're 45 when you start, then you're 52 before you actually start practicing.
It can't be the money, because you probably already had a decent job with a house and all that stuff. You are probably going from making good money to making nothing and spending 25K-50K per year of medical school.
What is it that makes you change your whole life around? Is there any one specialty that you are interested in, or do you just "want to be a doctor"?
I think it's cool that older folks are going to medical school. I just wonder what in the heck could make them give up a nice, stable life, for 4 years of med school, and then a rigorous residency, and then starting so late in life to build a practice. I admire the ambition for sure... I just don't really get the rationale.
Anyone?
denali said:For me it's not so much anymore about what it's like at the end of the journey (or how old I'll be when I get there) but what it's like along the way. I'll be just as old, but at least this way I'll be doing something I like. I like medicine, plain and simple.
Celiac Plexus said:Just wondering what the draw is for med school for older folks. Say you're 35 when you start med school. That's a minimum of seven years before you can start to practice. 42 years old... minimum. 44 or 45 if you choose a surgical specialty. Then you are just starting out. And if you're 45 when you start, then you're 52 before you actually start practicing.
It can't be the money, because you probably already had a decent job with a house and all that stuff. You are probably going from making good money to making nothing and spending 25K-50K per year of medical school.
What is it that makes you change your whole life around? Is there any one specialty that you are interested in, or do you just "want to be a doctor"?
I think it's cool that older folks are going to medical school. I just wonder what in the heck could make them give up a nice, stable life, for 4 years of med school, and then a rigorous residency, and then starting so late in life to build a practice. I admire the ambition for sure... I just don't really get the rationale.
Anyone?
Celiac Plexus said:Just wondering what the draw is for med school for older folks. Say you're 35 when you start med school. That's a minimum of seven years before you can start to practice. 42 years old... minimum. 44 or 45 if you choose a surgical specialty. Then you are just starting out. And if you're 45 when you start, then you're 52 before you actually start practicing.
Amicus said:i would be very upset to se someone in their 60's get accepted to a school.
A person will practice for 10 years maybe. That is a waste of taxpayer money.
UNTlabrat said:Fruit fly. You have tugged at my heart strings with your post.
fruit fly said:Taxpayers don't dictate how long a doctor would be in practice for. A doctor, young or old, could leave his or her practice for whatever the reason. First of all, like discrimination against those with disabilities, I think that age discrimination is wrong too.
Where's your logic? If anything, I would rather see a 60 yr old doctor who had recently graduated from medical school than one who had graduated from medical school years and years ago. I would expect our non-trad to be a lot more up to date in his or her knowledge of medicine, because it's easier when you're supposed to be learning versus how it is left to doctors these days to be self-motivated towards learning. I think that there should be mandatory testing for doctors every now and then to keep them on their toes, where changes could be recommended that could only benefit the patient in the long run. I think the patient has the potential to benefit from his or her time with a non-trad just as much as with any other type of doctor. Life experience is important as well in medicine, and many doctors who are the traditionals, have led sheltered lives and don't know what life is like for anyone else. I believe that Non-trads have the potential of capturing the art of medicine, which involves a relationship with the patient, much more than a traditional.
Furthermore, if you care so much about the medical field, amicus, then who are you to insinuate that that 60 yr old would give any less to the field of medicine than anyone else? You are already limiting the years of someone's life with your blind statement, which doesn't go towards the ethic of medicine and optimism either. You measure success in years. But you should really be measuring it in terms of knowledge, motivation, ethics and character.
Say you're 35 when you start med school. That's a minimum of seven years before you can start to practice. 42 years old... minimum. 44 or 45 if you choose a surgical specialty. Then you are just starting out. And if you're 45 when you start, then you're 52 before you actually start practicing.
commymommy said:Just curious...but how old do you think is too old to apply to/get accepted to med school?
You ever read "Dilbert" on the funny pages?Celiac Plexus said:I think it's cool that older folks are going to medical school. I just wonder what in the heck could make them give up a nice, stable life, for 4 years of med school, and then a rigorous residency, and then starting so late in life to build a practice. I admire the ambition for sure... I just don't really get the rationale.
Gunner1068 said:I'm interested in learning where you came to your conclusions:
Didn't you start to "practice" medicine the first time they let you have actual patient contact? I'm sure you didn't have to wait seven years in a four year med sch program to start caring for patients.
Could have been an oversight on my behalf
Smiles,
Robert
njbmd said:Hi there,
It is not a matter of being too "old" in chronological years but being too "old" in physiological and psychological years. I had people in my medical school class that were 24 but too tired and burned out from the pre-med years to make it through. They washed out after the third week of classes. On the other hand, I had a 53-year-old who graduated at age 57 and is now happily finishing a Family Practice residency.
People age at different rates and in different ways. I have seen 26-year-olds who looked 50 and acted even older. I have also taken care of 40-year-old CABG patients who have stressed themselves into CAD and who didn't do as well as many of the 70-year-old CABG patients. Aging is a highly subjective matter and many influences come into consideration.
The 90-year-old marathon runner is probably just as much of a prodigy as the 19-year-old medical school freshman but each in different ways. As one of the older students in my class, I was no more tired or had less energy than my 25-year-old counterparts. If there was any difference, I would cite just being comfortable "in my skin". I tended to let most things roll off and I tended to be more adaptable in adverse situations. I have always been a natural born problem-solver. I attributed these things not so much to my age as my innate personality type. I guess this is why I ended up in General Surgery.
njbmd
denali said:For me it's not so much anymore about what it's like at the end of the journey (or how old I'll be when I get there) but what it's like along the way. I'll be just as old, but at least this way I'll be doing something I like. I like medicine, plain and simple.
Amicus said:i would be very upset to se someone in their 60's get accepted to a school.
A person will practice for 10 years maybe. That is a waste of taxpayer money.
fruit fly said:I think that there should be mandatory testing for doctors every now and then to keep them on their toes, where changes could be recommended that could only benefit the patient in the long run.
Celiac Plexus said:Physicians use the word "practice" to describe post-residency work life.
I am in the 2nd year of residency, and I am not "practicing" medicine. I am "in training".
To clarify the timeframe put forth in my original post... 4 years of medical school + minimum 3 years of residency = 7 years. So, if you went to med school and trained in family medicine, then it would be a minimum of 7 years before you started to practice. Likewise, if you trained in a surgical field it would be a minimum total of 9 years before you could start to practice surgery.
Good luck.
flighterdoc said:The only "taxpayer" money involved is in funding residencies. Of course, the government gets indentured servants for that period, where the residents work 80+ hours a week for well under minimum wage. The replacement cost of just the work done by residents would cost 10x as much as the residencies cost, and there would still have to be some sort of training method.
DSM said:uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... what taxpayer money? AS far as I know....IT is my damn money I am using......So even though I am 41 ..it is none of ANYONE'S business when I get into med school and how long I practice.