I was not sure which ama was the most appropriate to ask this but here goes.
Were the priorities in your life that motivated you to go to med school still relevant after going through the entire journey. This journey is so long and I find that as we mature, the things that may have been important to me or the things I thought I wanted out of life 5 or 10 years ago are different from today. I wonder would I feel different 10 years from now as an already nontrad.
Did you struggle to keep the same fire in the belly for medicine as some of the younger cohorts who don't have kids or this was their first career.
Were there issues of disrespect from your superiors that you felt comfortable enough to address without ruining your path. Some nontraditional students find it harder to bite their tongue being talked to in a certain way than others.
Lastly what was the biggest challenge for you through it all.
Thanks in advance.
I love what i do. I have always wanted to practice medicine and that still drives me to this day. What got me through medical school was that I am putting my family through all of this struggle and all of this debt, I owe them to see it through. And now that I have, I love what I do. When I started medical school, I thought I would want to go into Emergency Medicine (Hense the screen name. I was an EMT and wanted to become an ER doc). However, when I did a rotation in the ICU, things changed and my focus changed. In fact, the fire in my belly to get into a good residency program and then into fellowship is what kept me going. You need to tailor your goals for each step in the process.
The good thing about being an older non traditional student is that I did not care what my younger cohorts thought. I was already married so I had no one to impress. I did not care if they thought me a geek, a nerd, ugly, handsome, it did not matter. My focus was on medical school. In fact, because of that I did not get involved in any of the drama that they were involved in. Or any of the issues. I had goals in mind that I wanted to achieve outside of the classroom. That included leadership in at least one club, be a part of the admissions committee, make a name for myself, and because I was focused on that and not the bull**** of the younger students I achieved all of the above.
Did I get honors in many classes, no. Was that OK. Absolutely.
With regards to my superiors, actually I found that they had more respect for me than my younger cohorts. For starters, we were close in age so I was closer to being a colleague than just a student. Because I had a family they knew that I was serious about my work and if there was an issue with my grades I would go to them for help and focus. When I became a resident, I was treated very well because again, I took my job seriously. In fact, because I already had workplace experience, I knew how to navigate workplace politics and I never had a bad repoire with nursing or any of the ancillary staff. They never complained about me because if I needed something and I saw that they were busy (such as an ECG), I would do it myself. Because I was not petty. In addition, my mentor knew that I could take the criticism better and worked me harder to prepare me for fellowship. Even when I made a mistake, because I knew I should own up to it (I was told by my younger fellow residents to not do that), I earned the respect of the surgical attendings.
Being an older student is an advantage in my opinion. You have better focus, are not petty, are driven, and know how to navigate the politics of a workplace.
My biggest challenge through it all was not getting jealous of my friends who were making money, getting new cars, taking trips, etc. Eventually, it worked out for me. Now the challenge is getting out of debt.
