Just turned 32 and thinking about post-bac -- too late?

[necmergitur1981]

Hi all,

I am sitting in my hotel room banging my head against the wall about my career choices. I just got the big promotion at my job, and should be making over 200K a year as a result. But I am absolutely miserable and feel like my life has no meaning

I am engaged to a wonderful woman who, after a year-long post-bac, matriculated at Penn Med. Long story short, I have decided medicine is the path for me. But on the paper, I just don't look good - no volunteer experience in clinical settings, no science courses, and just turned 32. However, I graduated with a 3.75 GPA from an Ivy League (double degree) and graduated in the top 10% of my class at Harvard Business School. My test scores are in the 99th percentile.

Since I am in the Philly area, I am looking at post-bac programs at Temple, Penn, Bryn Mawr, Goucher and Drexel. However, it appears like I just missed the deadline for Fall entry. What do you suggest I do? Attend Penn (which has a Fall start) or get relevant experience and make myself competitive for Goucher/Bryn Mawr for next year? But then isn't age going to be an issue? I'd be starting post-bac at 33 and enrolling in med-school at 34-35.

Your suggestions are most welcome. I am so scared and lost, but ready to make a change.

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[necmergitur1981]

Anybody here in that age range / with similar profile? Help!

 

[common man]

it's not too late. you should be happy with your past success - it's not like you passed your years doing nothing. what i would give to have a dilemma like yours! i think you owe it to yourself to get accepted into a top post bacc program like hopkins, penn, columbia, etc. maybe look into harvard extension post bacc? if you have to wait a year to get into those, wait. that's just a personal opinion. also, you're obviously really good at what you do. business is very broad. why not find something different in your field that is more interesting? clearly other people think your life has a lot of meaning! the only thing that sucks about entering medicine in your 30s is...as a med student / intern / resident you are treated like a student rather than a successful working professional and at some point you get tired of being a student. also, your body is going to take harassment / abuse when you are on call as a resident etc.

 

[blub1212]

I'm a 26 year old M1, but there are several people that are older than me in my class. One of the guys in my class is 33. The only issue that I have had is the maturity differences between me and the younger students. At the end of the day, enjoying what you do for a living is huge. It's why all the nontrads in my class switched to medicine. If medicine is what you want to do, go for it. But, if there is anything else that would make you happy, I would do that instead 🙂 medicine is a long, hard road and I think that anyone, of any age, should try hard to find something else before they commit to medicine.

 

[Rippy087]

I say go for it, it's never too late. I'm an M1 at a school on the east coast and there are two M1s that are 32. I think there's also an M2 that is 44 or something around that. If you're miserable doing what you're doing now, it's time for change.

 

[Goucher2013]

You're absolutely not too late, and you'll in fact be a better doctor for your experiences. Even if you finish med school at 39, you still have 40 years of practicing ahead of you. Your age makes you look better (to my postbac at least), not worse. Ditto with no science background - that's the point of a career-change postabc.

Contact the Goucher postbac office and ask them what they suggest in terms of gaining volunteering experiences. It's late in this admissions cycle, but you never know.

 

[deleted248403]

You're absolutely not too late, and you'll in fact be a better doctor for your experiences.

Debatable

Even if you finish med school at 39, you still have 40 years of practicing ahead of you.

And not if you do surgery - most hospitals have mandatory "retirement" of surgical duties at like 65. Just worth clearing up for those older students considering surgery.

But to the OP - you are def not too old. We have one 37 y/o in my class and a handful north of 30 as well.

 

[Goucher2013]

Debatable

And not if you do surgery - most hospitals have mandatory "retirement" of surgical duties at like 65. Just worth clearing up for those older students considering surgery.

But to the OP - you are def not too old. We have one 37 y/o in my class and a handful north of 30 as well.

Yeah, but by 2040 we'll all have bionic bodies!

 

[bakagal]

First, just to repeat what everyone else has said, it's not too late. Think about how many years in total we can expect to work over the course of our lives (about 45)...you've only spent about 10. Would you be happy working another 35 in the career you're in now or will you be miserable? No one else can make that decision for you. For me personally, I'm also leaving a relatively lucrative field where I actually wasnt so miserable but the thought of spending 40 more years in corporate America was making me feel like the real me was shriveling up and dying piece by piece.

In terms of whether it's too late to apply this cycle, temple's due date per their website is tomorrow so you can actually still apply there. Hopkins' website doesn't have a due date on their site so I'd suggest calling them up directly and asking. Bryn Mawr isn't accepting any more applications so you did miss the boat on that one. I'm not too sure about the others.

 

[necmergitur1981]

Thank you everyone. My interest would be in Psychiatry and/or Global Health, so not sure the surgery is an issue. I see that the top programs (Goucher, Bryn Mawr) don't have people older than 32. Would I be at a significant disadvantage there if I wait a year and gain clinical experience (and start at 33)?

 

[EmergencyMonkey]

Agreed as above. It is never too late and the life experience you bring will benefit you way more then any numbers on paper. I realized when I got into medical school the traditional way (highscool> undergrad> medschool), how little true life experience I had. But it didnt occur to me how naive I was until I met my 50 year old 1st year student classmate. I remember being so surprised to see someome "that old" starting a career in medicine, and surgery at that! It's never too late and those experiences are ones that will help you to sympathize and empathize that much better with patients then the rest of us.
______________
visit the monkey at EmergencyMonkey.com

 

[DrMidlife]

I started my career change into medicine at 38. There are a million reasons not to do this, along with a few reasons to do it. You have to decide which reasons you're going care about. PM me if you like.

 

[Goucher2013]

Thank you everyone. My interest would be in Psychiatry and/or Global Health, so not sure the surgery is an issue. I see that the top programs (Goucher, Bryn Mawr) don't have people older than 32. Would I be at a significant disadvantage there if I wait a year and gain clinical experience (and start at 33)?

Just for the record, Goucher has about half a dozen people over thirty, with the oldest being approx. 36. We've had plenty of older people and the average age is going up. In fact, I believe the main thing keeping the number of older people down is the lack of older people applying. It's hard enough to find people who have the right academic credentials, motivations and desire to switch to medicine after college. It becomes harder and harder to find these people as go up in age bracket. On top of that, I believe most of such people never hear about postbacs such as Goucher or Bryn Mawr. Or they can't move, etc. The bottom line is that the number of older students at any selective postbac has less to do with the internal preferences of a program, and more to do with the tiny applicant pool.

 

[necmergitur1981]

Your overwhelmingly supportive responses bring me hope. I think this is worth a shot.

I will most likely spend my summer on an LOA to do clinical work, then return to work in the Fall (and save as much as I can) and apply to Goucher/Bryn Mawr/Hopkins for entry in June 2014. This way, I can 1) have a strong application for those programs, 2) be a 100% positive this is what I want to do, 3) attempt to link for entry by September 2015, at the tender age of 34.

My dad almost had a heart attack when I told him. I guess it's going to be an uphill battle to explain myself to my classmates at my 10th year reunion in May...But I am excited. I can't wait in fact.

 

[Snakes]

My dad almost had a heart attack when I told him. I guess it's going to be an uphill battle to explain myself to my classmates at my 10th year reunion in May...But I am excited. I can't wait in fact.

Number 1: You're not too old. Not even close. I'm 38 and will be applying this year.

Number 2: I am a lawyer and most people think I am crazy for doing this. Be prepared because that is the reaction you are going to face from 90% of the people you tell about your plans, especially if you are leaving a financially-rewarding job. I have gotten to the point where I don't tell anyone about what I'm doing anymore because between the endless questions about what the hell I'm thinking and the crazy stares, it's just not worth it. My family has been very supportive, but I think my mom thinks I'm a little bit crazy underneath it all. It's ok. The only one who has to be good with your decision is you.

Number 3: I wouldn't wait a year to start a post-bacc unless you WANT to wait a year, or have a particular preference for Penn's post bacc program. If Penn doesn't have a linkage to its own med school or some other med school, there isn't really any advantage to doing a post bacc at Penn anyway, unless you think taking the classes there will give you an advantage when you apply in general.

Number 4: Are you quitting your job and doing this full-time, or will you be working and doing your post-bacc part-time? If you can afford to work and take classes, that's one less debt you'll have to add to your med school debt pile at the end of the day. I chose my local state school and did a do-it-yourself post bacc instead of matriculating at the private prestigious university because the cost difference was absolutely ridiculous. We are talking about thousands and thousands of dollars. To me it didn't make sense to pay so much for what I was getting in return.

 

[Snakes]

By the way, I think Hopkins does have linkages with other good schools through their post bacc program. Others can correct me if I am wrong about that. No idea when their program app deadline is, though.

 

[betterlate]

Hi all,

I am sitting in my hotel room banging my head against the wall about my career choices. I just got the big promotion at my job, and should be making over 200K a year as a result. But I am absolutely miserable and feel like my life has no meaning

I am engaged to a wonderful woman who, after a year-long post-bac, matriculated at Penn Med. Long story short, I have decided medicine is the path for me. But on the paper, I just don't look good - no volunteer experience in clinical settings, no science courses, and just turned 32. However, I graduated with a 3.75 GPA from an Ivy League (double degree) and graduated in the top 10% of my class at Harvard Business School. My test scores are in the 99th percentile.

Since I am in the Philly area, I am looking at post-bac programs at Temple, Penn, Bryn Mawr, Goucher and Drexel. However, it appears like I just missed the deadline for Fall entry. What do you suggest I do? Attend Penn (which has a Fall start) or get relevant experience and make myself competitive for Goucher/Bryn Mawr for next year? But then isn't age going to be an issue? I'd be starting post-bac at 33 and enrolling in med-school at 34-35.

Your suggestions are most welcome. I am so scared and lost, but ready to make a change.

So you'll be 34-35 when you enroll in med school. How old will you be if you DON'T enroll in med school? You're gonna get older either way. The real question you need to ask is, do you want to be 40 and be a doctor or be 40 and be something else?

I turned 34 during my Goucher year. I'm graduating next year, the year I turn 39. Although I'm the oldest student in my class (and, as far as I've been able to figure out, the oldest in the school at the moment), I'm more than 20 years too young to break my school's record for oldest student to ever matriculate. I'm also not alone - off the top of my head I can think of a dozen classmates who are over the age of 30.

Good luck!