Med school experience as an older student

[heatherg]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I've just been accepted and will be by far the oldest person in my class. I would love to hear from some older students about their med school experiences. And by older, I mean late 30s and up. I'm curious to know how others coped with clerkship, etc. Did you find you had enough energy? How did you balance your other commitments in life, like family, etc? What was your social experience like in school? Any advice or tips from people who have been in a similar situation would be great!

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

I've just been accepted and will be by far the oldest person in my class. I would love to hear from some older students about their med school experiences. And by older, I mean late 30s and up. I'm curious to know how others coped with clerkship, etc. Did you find you had enough energy? How did you balance your other commitments in life, like family, etc? What was your social experience like in school? Any advice or tips from people who have been in a similar situation would be great!

Just as an FYI @Goro has had students in their 50s I believe.

Tagging

@gonnif

 

[PatientsFirst]

Hi!

Congrats on your acceptance to Medical School! Being accepted is quite the accomplishment, and the excitement you feel now will definitely carry you through should you find yourself with low energy. I am 37 years old right now, and I am 1.5 weeks away from finishing my 2nd year in a medical school in the Midwestern United States. I have a husband and two children: one age 4, and the second 2 weeks shy of 2. As a parent, I never have energy to do anything anyway, and medical school is a vacation away from my real "job." Studying for 10-12 hours each weekend doesn't even come close to exhausting me the way running after kids, constantly cleaning up their destruction, cooking, breaking up scuffles, doing load after load of laundry, planning meals, shopping, remembering bills, pediatrician appointments, etc. As any parent of small children, will tell you, my husband and I are both on-call 24/7 unless I am physically away in class, clinic, etc. Just this morning, for example, I was writing a paper until 12:30AM, and was abruptly woken up at 4:30AM by my screaming 2 year old who had peed through his diaper, was cranky because he was tired, wanted to watch cartoons, and decided he was ready to wake up for the day!

You WILL have the energy to during your clerkships. If you have already had a career before, you may even have an edge. I am used to working 6 or 7 days a week for 8-12 hours a day as a research scientist, and I have held all types of laborious jobs in my youth (dishwasher, housekeeping in a hotel,...). I am also used to getting 10 minutes of sleep every hour for 2 weeks straight while caring for newborns. I know how to focus and be on point when I am so exhausted that I feel like I am dying. My point being, you will likely have been there done that when it comes to working long hours according to someone else's schedule. Another positive is that you will be doing what you love: learning medicine and helping people get well! Turning a passion into a career is a luxury not many have, so every day that I wake up and am still a medical student, I am satisfied no matter how tired I am. It could always be worse...I could wake up at 37 years old, with 2 kids, a husband, bills, aging parents, more gray hairs, etc. and NOT be in med school. (Yikes!)

Finally, your classmates and patients will energize you! My classmates are amazing, and even more focused, intelligent, passionate that I was in my early 20s (I was busy being irresponsible and checking off bucket list items). I am still a big kid myself. I game, watch horror films, enjoy crude humor, so I get along well with my younger classmates (not that all of them love these hobbies). Age is never a factor. When they find out I am 37, they vehemently deny that I am that old! 🙂

Ok back to studying, this has been a nice break! I wish you luck and much success!

TL;DR...You got in. You got this!

 

[PatientsFirst]

^
I forgot to mention, my husband left his career during my first semester as an MS1 because daycare was a nightmare in terms of $$$. Now he is a stay at home father and we live 100% on med student loans!

 

[Goro]

Graduated one at 50 last year;
Our record was 53

Just as an FYI @Goro has had students in their 50s I believe.

Tagging

@gonnif

 

[Darth Doc]

I've just been accepted and will be by far the oldest person in my class. I would love to hear from some older students about their med school experiences. And by older, I mean late 30s and up. I'm curious to know how others coped with clerkship, etc. Did you find you had enough energy? How did you balance your other commitments in life, like family, etc? What was your social experience like in school? Any advice or tips from people who have been in a similar situation would be great!

Congrats on getting in! I'm finishing my 2nd year of medical school and my age is somewhere past the late 30's. I'm the oldest in my class, and I have a husband and 5 kids at home. I will never have as much energy as the 23 year olds in my class and that's okay. I have improved my energy with good diet (low fat, low sugar, high caffeine) and exercise. That has helped. I tried the low sleep method of studying, but that doesn't work for me.

Balance? Ha!! There's no such thing. There's only coping and trying not to drop too many balls (and none of those balls can be school related). I have teenagers as well as younger kids, so they do the babysitting. Everyone gets chores. If they don't do their chores or do something bad (like miss the bus), they do more chores. (It's the only way my husband gets much help with the house.) They participate in after school activities limited by whether or not they can get a ride. (I don't know if you have kids or not, but I'll run with percentages and assume you do.)

My husband works in the hospital next to my school, so I will take lunch breaks with him, knowing that I'll be spending most of my evenings after dinner studying. I make sure we have 30 minutes together (at least) every day. It's important to me that we have a relationship once med school and residency are over. I'm home with the kids for dinner and bedtime and weekends after exams. I watch as many of my kids sports games as possible, and I've never missed a concert or performance. Other than that I do what I can.

I don't get as much studying in as my classmates. I won't be AOA, but I'm doing just fine and I'll get the residency I want.

Being older, I know what I want and how to get it. In the last two years I've published 2 articles in peer reviewed journals (not big deal research, just case studies), been chosen to be an editor for a month for an AMA journal, and will be doing original research this year in the field I want to go into. I know I can't get the AOA, so I've opted for a unique residency application. I've approached several mentors who have helped me and guided me. One said to me, "Do what I tell you, and you won't have any trouble getting into residency." That's my piece of advice. Find a mentor early, especially if you know what you want for residency, and make yourself stand out. As older students we have an advantage in professional interactions that makes this easier for us.

Social. That's a hard one. I get along with my classmates. They're my exercise partners, study buddies, and the people I complain to when I get too stressed, but I also have friends closer to my age that I met through my husband's work or through church. Really, though, there's no time for much of a social life between family and school.

Tip #2: Since you take your computer with you everywhere to study anyway, uses the calendar feature to track everything you do. I have all of my classes, all of my non-class mandatory events, special interest group lunches, kid appointments, husband's work schedule, sports schedules for the kids, regular things I need to do every work, deadlines, etc. EVERYTHING. It's linked to my google calendar so my phone gives me alarms with early warnings when I need to leave to pick up kids.

 

[heatherg]

Thanks, all for your thoughtful replies. The school I was accepted to means I will be moving to a new town, away from friends and family, which concerns me. I'll be leaving an aging parent behind on her own. It wasn't my favorite option, but it is what it is. Acceptances are hard to come by, and I'm thankful I got one. And of course, starting over on my own will be challenging too.

 

[nowanmd]

i started med school at 39 graduated at 43 finished residency at 46 celebrating 20th anniversary this year. This was the best thing I ever did in my life. I take great pride in my accomplishment and have never looked back. Good luck,

 

[futuremdforme]

Social. That's a hard one. I get along with my classmates. They're my exercise partners, study buddies, and the people I complain to when I get too stressed, but I also have friends closer to my age that I met through my husband's work or through church. Really, though, there's no time for much of a social life between family and school.

I relate a lot to the social aspect with classmates. It's hard not to feel envious of the close friendships my classmates are making but that's not ultimately why I went to med school and it's fine.

 

[MetalloBetalactamase]

I"m in MS2 and have turned 50 this year. It has been a struggle, I feel my age was a barrier at first - I admit I felt a bit isolated from my younger classmates. I had to tough it out and now feel more connected to some of the people in my class. I go out of my way to say hi to all of the non-trads at my school; there are a member of health sciences programs here. I have been 'discouraged' by other people about going to med school at my age, but not by those who were younger. The young folks just withdrew from me at first, it was women my own age who were, and are, the most critical of my decision. I finally hit a plane of communication and bonding with the younglings. I had one critic who kept after me a bit - she is my age or so. A month or so ago she spoke to me and she nattered, in a polite but patronizing way about how someone my age should be concerned with blah blah blah. I had had loaded burrito for lunch, and it kicked in at the most perfect time. and I made deep, direct eye contact with her and passed vigorous flatus....and then just kept looking at her- dead in the eye, didn't break eye contact, didn't blink for what felt like 2-3 minutes.....of post flatus silence. I don't know what came over me - my punkitude, maybe? She's been nice to me ever since. Your results may very. Don't try this at home. Tru-story-brah.

Congrats on your acceptance OP, you got this. Just keep your head up and keep your tough on.

 

[YF786]

Thanks, all for your thoughtful replies. The school I was accepted to means I will be moving to a new town, away from friends and family, which concerns me. I'll be leaving an aging parent behind on her own. It wasn't my favorite option, but it is what it is. Acceptances are hard to come by, and I'm thankful I got one. And of course, starting over on my own will be challenging too.

That is very hard. I wish u loads of luck and lots of good health to your parent. There are times, we have to make some hard decisions but that is life. I wish I sibling could step in to take care of your parent or if you could move him/her with you.

 

[Nasrudin]

..... Of these, about 200 are 35 or older or 1% of the total. That probably skews down a year or two in actuality.

F yeah. 1 percenters represent. F y'all 99%'ers.

Tips:

Exercise
Exercise
Be fun. Don't be the old person with an opinion on everything.
Take it easy. You don't have to match plastics or publish research or be top of the class to prove anything.
Don't have 5 kids. If you do, auction them to nearest roving band of gypsies. Or. Have the sense to have a house husband.
Be single. And party with the young people.
Exercise
Eat healthy food
Sleep
Exercise
have plenty of sex
have 1 fun thing you do for yourself

Come to think of it. This is my current self-Rx. And it holds for everyone in my opinion. With maybe only increased need for an older med student. I don't believe in Rx's that I don't self-Rx to.

 

[Nasrudin]

Also, don't exercise like a young idiot. putting on your gym suit and pounding out reps to classic rock while looking at your flexes in the mirror. ramping up your sympathetic nervous system like a ******ed baboon.

Be more sophisticated than that. Part of getting used to corporal instrument should mean you know how to make it work better. Or you're not doing it right.

 

[Tenk]

Man you people are crazy. I'm in my 30s and all I think about is retirement. If you can do med school in your 50s, you're a beast.