Medical School at 45

[TechDoc19]

hi guys,

I appreciate you reading my post and I am looking for realistic answers please.

I am a software engineer, and it is a great career, you do make good money and have tones of free time to enjoy life for sure. coding and math is a piece of cake for me no joking. but the trouble I don't like it at all. that makes me miserable and less motivated and I feel like I am wasting my time doing something that I don't like at all. I always wanted to go to medical school early on but things happened and prevented it and I had to change course and adjust but that dream isn't dying.

I have already taken all the prerequiste classes and done with them. my GPA 3.9 and I have a master degree as well. I have shadowed more than 20 physcians. I am also done stuyding for the MCAT and planning on taking it in January. I am aslo a mom and my kids are in college already so I have plenty of time on my hand. I am 44 by the way. trust me I tried to fight the urge to go back to school but I failed. I just can't seem to be able to let go of that dream.

my question: if I get accepted I will start medical school at 46 and finish when I am 50. do you think I have a chance in matching up after graduation? I want to be a cardioligist if I can, not a surgeon no. but that the part that I love the most.

from your experience do you think this is feasible? am I gonna be too old when I graduate? if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

I thank you all for taking the time to read and I value your feedback. all the best

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[Goro]

Some of my all time best students have been in thier 30s and 40. I graduated a stellar one at age 50. She's now an attending in SoCal.

 

[M&L]

hi guys,

I appreciate you reading my post and I am looking for realistic answers please.

I am a software engineer, and it is a great career, you do make good money and have tones of free time to enjoy life for sure. coding and math is a piece of cake for me no joking. but the trouble I don't like it at all. that makes me miserable and less motivated and I feel like I am wasting my time doing something that I don't like at all. I always wanted to go to medical school early on but things happened and prevented it and I had to change course and adjust but that dream isn't dying.

I have already taken all the prerequiste classes and done with them. my GPA 3.9 and I have a master degree as well. I have shadowed over than 20 physcians. I am also done stuyding for the MCAT and planning on taking it in January. I am aslo a mom and my kids are in college already so I have plenty of time on my hand. I am 44 by the way. trust me I tried to fight the urge to go back to school but I failed. I just can't seem to be able to let go of that dream.

my question: if I get accepted I will start medical school at 46 and finish when I am 50. do you think I have a chance in matching up after graduation? I want to be a cardioligist if I can, not a surgeon no. but that the part that I love the most.

from your experience do you think this is feasible? am I gonna be too old when I graduate? if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

I thank you all for taking the time to read and I value your feedback. all the best

Look, this is the thing. there will always be people who will tell you that you are "too old". The question is whether you should listen to them or not. THink about it this way: you will be 50 one day anyway. Would you rather be a 50 year old doctor, or 50 year old something else? That is the real question.

As far as residency, - can be rough for ANYONE, but totally depends on the program and on the specialty. I say if you feel strongly about it, - go for it and never look back!! My mom changed careers (went back to school for a completely different major) at 47, and i am so proud of her.

another note - i am a non traditional, will be 37 year old female when i finish, and i used the fact that i am a bit more "seasoned" than my classmates as a motivation to get in shape: i was very overweight and unhealthy, and now i am much stronger, younger looking and more attractive. So, fitness can be an important factor depending on the specialty (but not all of course), from what i heard on an all female surgery panel (be fit so that you can endure long hours of standing, and long shifts), but age per se - not a real important factor.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I had two friends back in med school who were in their 40s and one in their 30s when they started MS1. All three were some of the best students in our class. One became our valedictorian and they seemed quite happy overall. Honestly, I think having the maturity and perspective that comes with being a non-traditional student can be quite beneficial.

Personally for me, being at the end of a 3 year residency...it is exhausting, both physically, and mentally. I don't know if I would be able to do this if I was older, as I am feeling quite burnt out from it now. My former older classmates seem to be doing okay though, they pursued anesthesia, peds, and IM and I think one was thinking of doing GI or heme/onc fellowship too. So if you know yourself and really want it, I think it can certainly be done. But it's important to know what you're getting into.

 

[gyngyn]

hi guys,

I appreciate you reading my post and I am looking for realistic answers please.

I am a software engineer, and it is a great career, you do make good money and have tones of free time to enjoy life for sure. coding and math is a piece of cake for me no joking. but the trouble I don't like it at all. that makes me miserable and less motivated and I feel like I am wasting my time doing something that I don't like at all. I always wanted to go to medical school early on but things happened and prevented it and I had to change course and adjust but that dream isn't dying.

I have already taken all the prerequiste classes and done with them. my GPA 3.9 and I have a master degree as well. I have shadowed over than 20 physcians. I am also done stuyding for the MCAT and planning on taking it in January. I am aslo a mom and my kids are in college already so I have plenty of time on my hand. I am 44 by the way. trust me I tried to fight the urge to go back to school but I failed. I just can't seem to be able to let go of that dream.

my question: if I get accepted I will start medical school at 46 and finish when I am 50. do you think I have a chance in matching up after graduation? I want to be a cardioligist if I can, not a surgeon no. but that the part that I love the most.

from your experience do you think this is feasible? am I gonna be too old when I graduate? if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

I thank you all for taking the time to read and I value your feedback. all the best

You can stop shadowing.

 

[LunaOri]

I think a lot depends on how healthy and energetic you are. Are you a 44 year old marathoner who needs only 5 hours of sleep a night? Or a couch potato who needs 9 hours? Intellectually, it should be a piece of cake for you, but physically it will be much more challenging, especially the loss of sleep during the clinical years. Whether you match will depend on your stats and recommendations, just like for any other candidate.
Have you considered PA school? 2 years of school, and one year of "residency", followed by regular working hours.

 

[TechDoc19]

I think a lot depends on how healthy and energetic you are. Are you a 44 year old marathoner who needs only 5 hours of sleep a night? Or a couch potato who needs 9 hours? Intellectually, it should be a piece of cake for you, but physically it will be much more challenging, especially the loss of sleep during the clinical years. Whether you match will depend on your stats and recommendations, just like for any other candidate.
Have you considered PA school? 2 years of school, and one year of "residency", followed by regular working hours.

Thank you for your response. I am in great shape and people don't believeI I even have kids. I excercise regularly and I don't drink or smoke at all, never did which kept me looking much younger than 44. I only need 6 hours of sleep and if I sleep more I would end up with miagraine throughout the day. I lead a very healthy life and I am very energetic, I don't know how to sit still. I find joy in learning and reading but within structure. my concern is my age when I graduate, not because I will be out of shape but because I am afraid they might think I am too old for it. I know I am up for it and I know I have what it takes. but I keep hearing about age beign a factor in matching up.

I never thought of PA school to be honest, but I still need at least 4 years to finish that given that I studied computer science. I don't mind going for a longer time to achieve what I truly want. I really never settle for things, I go after what my heart desires and I do my best to achieve what I want. I got my bachelor and my master after having my kids and it wasn't easy at all but with planning and commitment everything is possible. thank you again

 

[LunaOri]

Thank you for your response. I am in great shape and people don't believeI I even have kids. I excercise regularly and I don't drink or smoke at all, never did which kept me looking much younger than 44. I only need 6 hours of sleep and if I sleep more I would end up with miagraine throughout the day. I lead a very healthy life and I am very energetic, I don't know how to sit still. I find joy in learning and reading but within structure. my concern is my age when I graduate, not because I will be out of shape but because I am afraid they might think I am too old for it. I know I am up for it and I know I have what it takes. but I keep hearing about age beign a factor in matching up.

I never thought of PA school to be honest, but I still need at least 4 years to finish that given that I studied computer science. I don't mind going for a longer time to achieve what I truly want. I really never settle for things, I go after what my heart desires and I do my best to achieve what I want. I got my bachelor and my master after having my kids and it wasn't easy at all but with planning and commitment everything is possible. thank you again

Fellowship might be harder to find, because you will be over 50, but I think you will not have a problem matching to a residency, as long as you are not super-picky.

 

[TechDoc19]

Fellowship might be harder to find, because you will be over 50, but I think you will not have a problem matching to a residency, as long as you are not super-picky.

may I ask what residency doesn't require fellowships? I always was interested in cardiology but I know for fact that i have to finish 3 years in internal medicine and then go into another (if i match) 3 years cardiology fellowship followed by another 1 to 2 years of more specialized cardiology fellowship. tha is sad though, because I am so interested in that speciality... how about neurology?

 

[LizzyM]

Ask yourself, "will I have the stamina five years from now to work an 80-hour week for 156 weeks with 2 weeks of vacation per year? Will I have the stamina to continue on for an addition 104 weeks of fellowship with no cap on hours worked? Will I be statisfied with practice in a broad field like neurology or will I want to specialize in acute brain injuries, epilepsy, degenerative diseases of the brain or some other area of specialization?" I think that it is important to think about whether you have the grit and the physical and mental capacity to work your tail off for the next 10 years to get what you want. Because whether you match will depend on whether you can convince yourself, and others, that you have what it takes to pull your weight in a training program.

Every specialty has subspecialties. Even family medicine has sports medicine, geriatrics, family planning as subspecialties.

 

[NITRAS]

Start residency at 50, start fellowship (assuming you get into cardiology fellowship) at 53, then consider subspecialty fellowship for one or two more years to start staff physician at 56 or 58 y/o (at the earliest to be a cardiologist). Then realize that cardiologist that make the big bucks work their butts off.

Almost certainly not worth it financially. Personally, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t want to put my family through that. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t our couldn’t . I just wouldn’t, especially if you wanted to retire in the mid/early 60’s.

 

[LunaOri]

Palliative care is a nice specialty, without demanding hours. So is pathology.

 

[NITRAS]

I’d also want to add, that half of medical students are in the bottom half of the class. If you go to medical school, you should be ok with being in FM, IM, pediatrics in the middle of nowhere.

This is all a bit of moot discussion until you get your MCAT back.

may I ask what residency doesn't require fellowships? I always was interested in cardiology but I know for fact that i have to finish 3 years in internal medicine and then go into another (if i match) 3 years cardiology fellowship followed by another 1 to 2 years of more specialized cardiology fellowship. tha is sad though, because I am so interested in that speciality... how about neurology?

You can practice without fellowship. It just depends on what you want to do And where you want to do it.

 

[TechDoc19]

Some of my all time best students have been in thier 30s and 40. I graduated a stellar one at age 50. She's now an attending in SoCal.

thank you for encourging response and I truly appreciate it. May I ask what residency she ended up matching to? was this recent?

 

[Goro]

thank you for encourging response and I truly appreciate it. May I ask what residency she ended up matching to? was this recent?

Family Med and it was in the past five years or so. My school's record for a grad was 53. He's over 70 now and still in practice!

 

[Dr. Brandon Green]

Age is just a number. Some of the best gen surg residents I’ve seen are non traditional and in their 40s. The maturity outweighs the energy in almost every circumstance. If you’ve for the drive to do it and have made it a life goal there is no age limit. Hang in there.

 

[TechDoc19]

Age is just a number. Some of the best gen surg residents I’ve seen are non traditional and in their 40s. The maturity outweighs the energy in almost every circumstance. If you’ve for the drive to do it and have made it a life goal there is no age limit. Hang in there.

Thank you so much for your encouraging words.I truly appreciate that so much.

 

[TechDoc19]

I’d also want to add, that half of medical students are in the bottom half of the class. If you go to medical school, you should be ok with being in FM, IM, pediatrics in the middle of nowhere.

This is all a bit of moot discussion until you get your MCAT back.



You can practice without fellowship. It just depends on what you want to do And where you want to do it.

I invite you to watch this YouTube and let's see where this 49 years old ended up matching... and he is now a practicing physician you can google his name if you like, he resides in California.. hard work leads to a great success...age is a state of mind.

 

[Medisaint]

Residency will be grueling as you'll be working 80 hour workdays 6 days per week for 3 years. It is physically and mentally taxing and definitely not for everyone, especially if they've tasted freedom in their professional life. You'd have to be comfortable going from being a successful authority in your field to being a complete novice and getting bossed around by people 20 years younger than you. Matching to cards is going to be its own hurdle and you should have a back up plan. It's very competitive so to have a chance you'd have to really play the game. Kissing ass, research, working extra etc.

In my mind the biggest question is whether you can afford this. These are your earning years. You are probably better at math than I am but it looks like you're going to pay 250K to not work for 4 years only to earn 60-70K for the next 6 years as an intern/resident/fellow. Does that make financial sense and can you afford it? If the answer is "yes" then go for it. If money isn't an issue then worse case scenario this is an expensive bucket list item that you can say you've explored.

 

[TechDoc19]

Residency will be grueling as you'll be working 80 hour workdays 6 days per week for 3 years. It is physically and mentally taxing and definitely not for everyone, especially if they've tasted freedom in their professional life. You'd have to be comfortable going from being a successful authority in your field to being a complete novice and getting bossed around by people 20 years younger than you. Matching to cards is going to be its own hurdle and you should have a back up plan. It's very competitive so to have a chance you'd have to really play the game. Kissing ass, research, working extra etc.

In my mind the biggest question is whether you can afford this. These are your earning years. You are probably better at math than I am but it looks like you're going to pay 250K to not work for 4 years only to earn 60-70K for the next 6 years as an intern/resident/fellow. Does that make financial sense and can you afford it? If the answer is "yes" then go for it. If money isn't an issue then worse case scenario this is an expensive bucket list item that you can say you've explored.

financial loss for me is huge no kidding. I am going to lose my six figures income over 4 years being a medical student + the tuition for medical school and I will be making around 25% of what I make today if not less over residency. I did do the math. it is only OK if I was able to match which is obviously a different game now and especially that they don't grade step anymore.



the students would have had a chance to stand out being smart, but not anymore now. I know it is merely connections and other nonsense sadly. and that is exactly why I am hesitant.



quite frankly I don't care about how much to make because it is what I love, but the residency matching is what is scaring me...what if I lost all of these years and all of the money and then I failed to match up...I Know residency isn't easy and I know that residents get bossed around by other physicians and nurses. I am surrounded by physicians and they told me horror stories.



as a matter of fact, I have a friend who was NP and then decided to go to medical school at 40. he did good and was able to get into anesthesia residency. was doing well and then he got into feud with a nurse, the next morning he walked in they informed him that he was no longer part of the residency program. he since then tried to match up but to no avail. he went back to work as a nurse. it is so sad, he is brilliant and great. it is a shame to lose your residency because of some bad people around you. and I shadowed a pediatrician and he told me the same exact story and that he lost his residency due to similar reason and it was so hard to find another residency program until finally he accepted to go into pediatric one. he is still so bitter about it, so see stories like this scares me. I was lucky enough and I got into a shadowing program, even though I wasn't a physician or a medical student, I experienced the bad side of nurses. some were so nice, and some were literally witches. my friend one day started to cry because of what the nurse did to her. she went on and become a doctor though - good for her. but ya I know what you mean. I am the boss at work, I do whatever I want without anybody telling me how to do it. but again, I am willing to keep up with everything, I know I am very realistic and resilient. but matching up is what worries me. what if I graduated and didn't match...what would a 50 years old do at that age????

 

[Groove]

financial loss for me is huge no kidding. I am going to lose my six figures income over 4 years being a medical student + the tuition for medical school and I will be making around 25% of what I make today if not less over residency. I did do the math. it is only OK if I was able to match which is obviously a different game now and especially that they don't grade step anymore.



the students would have had a chance to stand out being smart, but not anymore now. I know it is merely connections and other nonsense sadly. and that is exactly why I am hesitant.



quite frankly I don't care about how much to make because it is what I love, but the residency matching is what is scaring me...what if I lost all of these years and all of the money and then I failed to match up...I Know residency isn't easy and I know that residents get bossed around by other physicians and nurses. I am surrounded by physicians and they told me horror stories.



as a matter of fact, I have a friend who was NP and then decided to go to medical school at 40. he did good and was able to get into anesthesia residency. was doing well and then he got into feud with a nurse, the next morning he walked in they informed him that he was no longer part of the residency program. he since then tried to match up but to no avail. he went back to work as a nurse. it is so sad, he is brilliant and great. it is a shame to lose your residency because of some bad people around you. and I shadowed a pediatrician and he told me the same exact story and that he lost his residency due to similar reason and it was so hard to find another residency program until finally he accepted to go into pediatric one. he is still so bitter about it, so see stories like this scares me. I was lucky enough and I got into a shadowing program, even though I wasn't a physician or a medical student, I experienced the bad side of nurses. some were so nice, and some were literally witches. my friend one day started to cry because of what the nurse did to her. she went on and become a doctor though - good for her. but ya I know what you mean. I am the boss at work, I do whatever I want without anybody telling me how to do it. but again, I am willing to keep up with everything, I know I am very realistic and resilient. but matching up is what worries me. what if I graduated and didn't match...what would a 50 years old do at that age????

I'm around your same age. I know this is not what you want to hear, but I think this is a terrible idea for many of the reasons above already listed. I couldn't help but read your original post and wonder if this is a mid-life crisis of sorts for you. You have a wonderfully paying job that pays you six figures, authority in your field, management experience, job security. You have no doubt saved for retirement and are on track to retire at a certain age. Your kids are grown and out of the house and before too long you will probably have grand children that you would like to spend time with and become part of their lives. I don't know if you are married or not but there are other lives to consider besides your own that will be affected by your decision. Medical school and residency are grueling, arduous, and replete with a survivalist type of self centeredness where you have little time for yourself much less others. When I look back at my training, 4 years of medical school and 4 years of residency...it's a decade lost to me and I'm exhausted just thinking about it. I was non traditional when I started at age 30 but I can't imagine mustering up the energy now on the hind end of my 40s. You'll be finishing training near 56. (Medical school + 3 years IM + =4 years cards = 11 years) Finishing residency with a massive amount of debt and nearing retirement when you should be enjoying the rest of your life without the stresses of work, with your friends and family while you still have the gift of health. If it's the disillusionment and despondency of your mid career life that is part of your discontent, I would warn you that medicine is no different. Sooner or later, a job becomes a job...for everyone and anyone. Everyone gets tired of what they do. Everyone gets bored. Everyone gets burned out. I once met a physician who told me that he loved what he did for 10 years, tolerated it for another 10 and hated it for 10 and then retired. I think that sums up most careers. I've known a few older medical students. We had a few in my class that were in their 40s and one was 50. I only know of one that went on to become a practicing physician and she was a pharmacist beforehand. We had a woman in her 40s in my intern class who had a mental breakdown and (I think) was headed for a divorce and she was fired from our intern class and I'm not sure what happened to her. So, although I've known of a few non traditional, older students/residents... I know very few of them that ended up succeeding. Good luck to you.

 

[Apollo1]

I agree that it's possible to be successful in pursuing med school at your age, but IMO it's not the pragmatic choice at this point. You've already stated that you'd be losing out on significant income, and you probably won't have a significant amount of practice time to recoup those losses; also, factor in the beginnings of functional decline/cognitive decline, etc.

Would recommend the PA route; less debt, far less time & ability to lateral into different specialties.

 

[NITRAS]

I invite you to watch this YouTube and let's see where this 49 years old ended up matching... and he is now a practicing physician you can google his name if you like, he resides in California.. hard work leads to a great success...age is a state of mind.

Please don’t confuse me saying that I wouldn’t with people can’t.

I know what it costs in terms of time, money, to go through medical school and residency. I know medical training can be degrading more so than grueling. I’ve never been a fellow, but I’ve seen a lot of them. I still have to explain to my parents that I’m working Christmas this year. . . And they still don’t get it. I don’t have college age children, mine are 3 and 5. But with the lost wages, loss of time saving for retirement, could easily cost you 7 figures at retirement. You can make it up, but it will take a decade.

You want to do it, then go for it. I hope you love it.

 

[Medisaint]

financial loss for me is huge no kidding. I am going to lose my six figures income over 4 years being a medical student + the tuition for medical school and I will be making around 25% of what I make today if not less over residency. I did do the math. it is only OK if I was able to match which is obviously a different game now and especially that they don't grade step anymore.

Medicine is a lot of upfront risk. The trade offs are different for you but there's substantial risk to going into med school in your 20's as well. Sure you're younger but you usually enter from college with debt, few marketable skills and little to fall back on if medicine doesn't pan out. Hopefully you have financial stability and can avoid going into heavy debt. You have the advantage of already having kids and won't need to juggle navigating the dating scene and family planning etc. which will arguably free up time to focus on pursuing medicine. You would also enter in with emotional maturity and life experiences. Equanimity is a big part of being a good doctor so if you can bring that to the table it will set you apart from 23 year old kids who are still learning to be adults.

Given the risks, just a few questions to consider while you balance the financial and lifestyle pros and cons.
1) How much do you need to be a doctor?--Could you be happy doing something like EMT/Paramedic or volunteer that is less demanding and risky? If you are interested in healthcare I'm sure there are plenty of areas you could apply your background in software development--Quality Improvement, healthcare apps, biostatistics, etc.

2) How much do you need to pursue cardiology in particular? Anything is doable but taking cardiology off the table will make your career pathway much less daunting. I knew people who started gunning for cardiology in undergrad and medical school. They ran a 7 year campaign (4 med school + 3 residency) to try to get into their cards program of choice. Many applicants end up not matching to cards or matching to a back up subspecialty (Nephro) which seems like a waste. Even if Cards seems better than your current job, it's important that this holds true for other careers in medicine. Could you be a hospitalist or PCP if you don't match or don't feel like doing fellowship?

3) How easy would it be to return to your old job/field? From what I know, tech is difficult to get back into once you step out. If you're unhappy in your current job then you probably need to look for something else. That said, I think you should factor in the feasibility of backtracking if you realize after 1 year of med school that you made a huge mistake.

 

[gyngyn]

if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

Medical school was demanding but the biggest downer that I can recall was dread. Dread of failing an exam, failing your team, failing to get the residency you hope for. It was like being stuck in that dream where you haven't prepared for an exam (for 4 years!).

Residency was the most extreme experience I've ever sustained for 4 years (physically and emotionally). There were long stretches when numbness was the only coping mechanism that worked. We often spent days in the hospital, as in 40 hour days with little sleep and and the most senior person was only a year in training ahead of you. It was a 4 year period of self-harm spent covered in every form of human bodily fluid. I was 30 when I finished residency.
Now that there is only an 80 hour work week (on average) the area where mistakes get made are the seemingly endless hand-offs that are now required to give some semblance of continuity to care. Your experience will differ in that regard.

I have achieved some level of success in my field, but it took decades of work (and luck) to get here. It was a good choice for me because I wanted a field that could use up all my time (I've never been good at outside interests). It's not for everyone, though.

 

[deleted367183]

I am 43 and a PGY-2 in pathology. I have energy, feel healthy, etc., but I'm definitely beginning to feel the passage of time. I have no regrets, but I feel like starting med school at 37, as I did, was already really out there as a life choice.

 

[biobukowski]

hi guys,

I appreciate you reading my post and I am looking for realistic answers please.

I am a software engineer, and it is a great career, you do make good money and have tones of free time to enjoy life for sure. coding and math is a piece of cake for me no joking. but the trouble I don't like it at all. that makes me miserable and less motivated and I feel like I am wasting my time doing something that I don't like at all. I always wanted to go to medical school early on but things happened and prevented it and I had to change course and adjust but that dream isn't dying.

I have already taken all the prerequiste classes and done with them. my GPA 3.9 and I have a master degree as well. I have shadowed more than 20 physcians. I am also done stuyding for the MCAT and planning on taking it in January. I am aslo a mom and my kids are in college already so I have plenty of time on my hand. I am 44 by the way. trust me I tried to fight the urge to go back to school but I failed. I just can't seem to be able to let go of that dream.

my question: if I get accepted I will start medical school at 46 and finish when I am 50. do you think I have a chance in matching up after graduation? I want to be a cardioligist if I can, not a surgeon no. but that the part that I love the most.

from your experience do you think this is feasible? am I gonna be too old when I graduate? if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

I thank you all for taking the time to read and I value your feedback. all the best

It’s about what you want.
My father was a physician in our country. Came to this one, passed the boards and started residency again at 45. He is a hospitalist and could never live without medicine. He was already seasoned when he went into the match, but again some programs told him straight up you are too old (even with 20yrs of experience, which I would relish to have in a resident). Even for him, redoing residency was hard—and he was not interested in a fellowship, just to get back to his “other love” (medicine).

So even a slightly later start to your career is tiring. I can’t imagine starting at 45, or 50. I can see someone exceptional doing it, but it is not the average story.

Residency is hard but unavoidable—no other way to compress the experience you need to practice alone, unless they extend the training for 10 years instead of 3-4. It is not the long days and nights, but also the low salary and the inability to balance hour work and home life, unless you are young, male, unmarried and without dependents. I won’t get started on what it feels and sounds like to have 20 year old nurses look down on you, play games and report ridiculous accusations without thinking of what it means for you as a human being. It absolutely happens, and since residents are in workforce limbo, your efforts are easily destroyed by being dismissed for any reason. Recourse is not available and you are back to square one.

 

[MarE2Med]

I'll tell you what a doctor I've recently shadowed told me when he learned I was 35.

MD: "Aw hell, you're gonna age no matter what. Might as well be a damn doctor while you do it!"

 

[DO&DPM]

hi guys,

I appreciate you reading my post and I am looking for realistic answers please.

I am a software engineer, and it is a great career, you do make good money and have tones of free time to enjoy life for sure. coding and math is a piece of cake for me no joking. but the trouble I don't like it at all. that makes me miserable and less motivated and I feel like I am wasting my time doing something that I don't like at all. I always wanted to go to medical school early on but things happened and prevented it and I had to change course and adjust but that dream isn't dying.

I have already taken all the prerequiste classes and done with them. my GPA 3.9 and I have a master degree as well. I have shadowed more than 20 physcians. I am also done stuyding for the MCAT and planning on taking it in January. I am aslo a mom and my kids are in college already so I have plenty of time on my hand. I am 44 by the way. trust me I tried to fight the urge to go back to school but I failed. I just can't seem to be able to let go of that dream.

my question: if I get accepted I will start medical school at 46 and finish when I am 50. do you think I have a chance in matching up after graduation? I want to be a cardioligist if I can, not a surgeon no. but that the part that I love the most.

from your experience do you think this is feasible? am I gonna be too old when I graduate? if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

I thank you all for taking the time to read and I value your feedback. all the best

Hey if you really want to be a doctor go for it. Take the MCAT and apply, once you get in med school then you can start worrying about other stuff like matching for residency. My husband in an international doctor, couldn't match due to the increasing challenges internationals are facing these days (or years) so he decided to go back to medical school and get himself a second "US" medical degree... at 40. He was told that he's too old, better do something else like PA school, etc. But no, he could only see himself aging as a doctor and for the that he went. Yes it's harder for him to go through those intense sleepless exam weeks but he's doing it. On the other hand, I have many older international doctors that managed to match at their mid-late 40s. They're probably much less active and slower than other younger residents but oh well, they're living their dream. About being a cardiologist... might be an overkill to shoot for fellowship at 50, but who knows... Take the MCAT and apply

 

[esob]

I agree with others that cardio fellowship might end up not working out, but matching in general to all but the most competitive specialities is doable.

 

[Dr. Junior]

hi guys,

I appreciate you reading my post and I am looking for realistic answers please.

I am a software engineer, and it is a great career, you do make good money and have tones of free time to enjoy life for sure. coding and math is a piece of cake for me no joking. but the trouble I don't like it at all. that makes me miserable and less motivated and I feel like I am wasting my time doing something that I don't like at all. I always wanted to go to medical school early on but things happened and prevented it and I had to change course and adjust but that dream isn't dying.

I have already taken all the prerequiste classes and done with them. my GPA 3.9 and I have a master degree as well. I have shadowed more than 20 physcians. I am also done stuyding for the MCAT and planning on taking it in January. I am aslo a mom and my kids are in college already so I have plenty of time on my hand. I am 44 by the way. trust me I tried to fight the urge to go back to school but I failed. I just can't seem to be able to let go of that dream.

my question: if I get accepted I will start medical school at 46 and finish when I am 50. do you think I have a chance in matching up after graduation? I want to be a cardioligist if I can, not a surgeon no. but that the part that I love the most.

from your experience do you think this is feasible? am I gonna be too old when I graduate? if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

I thank you all for taking the time to read and I value your feedback. all the best

Go for it! I'm 44 and applying to medical schools with 3 offers so far. IMO older, non-traditional students are more focused-better students.

 

[HuskyMD Emeritus]

Gave your question some thought and here's my $0.02 from the perspective of an older doctor near retirement, some topics the idealistic young people with lots of energy may not have thought of (I am actually still idealistic but with less energy).
The financial cost is huge, not just in terms of the wages lost from your current job. You are in the years when most people begin to peak in their income and this is also time when you put the most money into retirement. If you stop working now and spend the next 4 years with no pay and accumulating debt then low wages the next 6 years (IM 3 years, cards fellowship 3 years), you are losing out on contributing to your retirement investments and losing out on the compounding growth of those investments. This loss is on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Being accepted to medical school is not easy even with stellar stats and ECs. Once in, getting to the residency and fellowships you want will be the next hurdles. IM residency probably not too big deal but may be physically challenging (I am in pulm-ccm, residency and attending life is physically challenging). Others say go to a specialty that's easier with on call, such as radiology, path, PMR, psych, palliative care. These are polar opposites of what cardiology does and if you feel unsatisfied with being a software engineer (a glamour job to those not in your field), you will probably find these specialties just as unsatisfying (in pulm-ccm, we actually deal with a lot of palliative care and end of life related issues, read a lot of x-rays, outpatient pulm involves a great deal of psychotherapy).
Regarding cardiology, you also mentioned not doing surgery. Why? Both are procedure oriented fields. If it's due to the demands of being on call, let me tell you the cardiologist's on call is worse than mine, especially the interventional cardiologist. The less call demanding cardiology subsubspecialty I can think of is echocardiology--but this can get old reading echos all day, and electrophysiology--very competitive and another 2 years of fellowship after the general cards fellowship (not to mention yet one more board exam to take and then retake every 10 years).
I hope this adds more perspective to your decision making. I don't mean to discourage you because I have no regrets with my career choice (undergrad BSEE and my daughter is in a general surgery residency) and can't see myself doing anything else. It's just that the cost to you is huge.
Best wishes to you.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

I hope this adds more perspective to your decision making. I don't mean to discourage you because I have no regrets with my career choice (undergrad BSEE and my daughter is in a general surgery residency) and can't see myself doing anything else. It's just that the cost to you is huge.

Thanks for writing this, it was very insightful.

Future me might regret this, but I read the whole thing and recognized all of the hardships but chose to focus on the last part. (Admittedly, I am in my early 30s so I feel as though I have years left before I peak.)

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

I'm an early-40's M1 who left a good career to pursue medicine.

Rank these in order of importance to you:
- Financial stability
- Personal comfort (physical and emotional)
- Becoming a physician

If "Becoming a physician" isn't #1, then don't change careers. I'm ex-military, so I'm used to being poor and uncomfortable. Other people might have different priorities and that's ok. Decide what is most important to you.

 

[spacegun]

hi guys,

I appreciate you reading my post and I am looking for realistic answers please.

I am a software engineer, and it is a great career, you do make good money and have tones of free time to enjoy life for sure. coding and math is a piece of cake for me no joking. but the trouble I don't like it at all. that makes me miserable and less motivated and I feel like I am wasting my time doing something that I don't like at all. I always wanted to go to medical school early on but things happened and prevented it and I had to change course and adjust but that dream isn't dying.

I have already taken all the prerequiste classes and done with them. my GPA 3.9 and I have a master degree as well. I have shadowed more than 20 physcians. I am also done stuyding for the MCAT and planning on taking it in January. I am aslo a mom and my kids are in college already so I have plenty of time on my hand. I am 44 by the way. trust me I tried to fight the urge to go back to school but I failed. I just can't seem to be able to let go of that dream.

my question: if I get accepted I will start medical school at 46 and finish when I am 50. do you think I have a chance in matching up after graduation? I want to be a cardioligist if I can, not a surgeon no. but that the part that I love the most.

from your experience do you think this is feasible? am I gonna be too old when I graduate? if you have gone through residency, please explain to me the demands of that, the workload, and the process of getting accepted. have worked with residents in their fifties?

I thank you all for taking the time to read and I value your feedback. all the best

I haven't read all the comments. I just wanted to respond to the "I want to be a cardiologist if I can, not a surgeon" part.

1. Cardiology isn't necessarily easier to match into than surgical specialties. Cardiology is very competitive. Maybe only second to gastroenterology or approximately equal (depending on program). I think it might even be easier to match into general surgery than cards, but look at the NRMP match data to be sure.

2. Cardiology doesn't necessarily have a better lifestyle than surgery. For example, I think ophthalmology and ENT can have much better lifestyles than interventional cardiology as attendings.

I'm just speaking in general, there are lots of factors that could make things better or worse, of course.