Older Student Going to Med School - Advice Needed

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BZ1984

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Good Day,

So I am an older individual. I’m considering a career change. I have been practicing pharmacy in a hospital (have a PharmD) for over 10 years. The profession has changed and I find myself hating it.

I would like to advance myself (and yes make more money - since I'm single and I would like to retire before 80 years old!) – however, I am a 37-year-old single lady and I don’t want to spend my entire life in school. I have a lot of hobbies and things in life that I would like to do.

I’m considering Ross Medical School for a few reasons: 1- They have an accelerated program. 2- They are willing to override the basic 101 class requirement ( > 10 years old – most US schools will consider them invalid). 3- They have scholarships. My undergrad GPA (not that it matters) was 4.0 and my graduate (pharmacy school) GPA was 3.5.

I have not taken the MCAT YET! I just made this decision yesterday.

Given my age and current quality of life/lifestyle (I LOVE to travel – COVID’s put a halt on it) – I am afraid. There is a lot of uncertainty going on…
1- Is this the right move?
2- How do I study for the MCAT? What would be the best way to study for it when I work full time + have other obligations at home
3- My Brain’s capacity to study in general? I was never been book smart – but I’m very good at concepts that require ACTUAL THINKING/understanding vs memorizing.

Any advice/thoughts are appreciated!

PS. Feel free to privately message me

Thanks!

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The accelerated program only really saves times if you start at a certain application cycle, otherwise, while you may finish slightly quicker, you'll still be waiting for the same match year as everybody else.

None of what you wrote even makes it seem like medical school in particular is what interests you. You want more money and to upkeep a certain lifestyle you've been accustomed to. There are better ways to make money other than medicine and you won't have a life outside of medical school like you're used to (especially since you'll be in another country for 2 years).

Are you prepared to give up your hobbies and travel for years, go into 450k of debt (the scholarships are not guaranteed and don't make much of a dent in this), and work 80hrs/week for 3-7 years during residency? At 37 you'll be in your mid 40's at least by the time you're an attending. It doesn't make much financial sense at this point especially if being a physician wasn't something you had been passionate about since you were a kid, went to pharmD school, hugely regretted it, and cannot find yourself being happy doing anything other than medicine.

70% of our grads go into primary care. While it is a better salary than being a pharmacist, 99% of us won't be making NSGY/ortho money. You'll only have~ 20 years post-residency (assuming 3yr residency) until retirement, would you really come out too ahead with 450k of interest accruing loans, 4 years of lost pharmD wages, and 3-7 of essentially minimum wage?

TLDR: Based on what you have posted, I don't even recommend medical school, let alone Caribbean medical school.
 
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Good Day,

So I am an older individual. I’m considering a career change. I have been practicing pharmacy in a hospital (have a PharmD) for over 10 years. The profession has changed and I find myself hating it.

I would like to advance myself (and yes make more money - since I'm single and I would like to retire before 80 years old!) – however, I am a 37-year-old single lady and I don’t want to spend my entire life in school. I have a lot of hobbies and things in life that I would like to do.

I’m considering Ross Medical School for a few reasons: 1- They have an accelerated program. 2- They are willing to override the basic 101 class requirement ( > 10 years old – most US schools will consider them invalid). 3- They have scholarships. My undergrad GPA (not that it matters) was 4.0 and my graduate (pharmacy school) GPA was 3.5.

I have not taken the MCAT YET! I just made this decision yesterday.

Given my age and current quality of life/lifestyle (I LOVE to travel – COVID’s put a halt on it) – I am afraid. There is a lot of uncertainty going on…
1- Is this the right move?
2- How do I study for the MCAT? What would be the best way to study for it when I work full time + have other obligations at home
3- My Brain’s capacity to study in general? I was never been book smart – but I’m very good at concepts that require ACTUAL THINKING/understanding vs memorizing.

Any advice/thoughts are appreciated!

PS. Feel free to privately message me

Thanks!

If you're considering medical school for the purpose of making more money, there are really better ways paths.

Medical school is at minimum a 7 year commitment. During these seven years, you won't be able to travel freely, you'll have to dedicate a lot of time to studying and clinic, and you'll be going into debt. Full scholarships are incredibly rare, US schools or the Caribbean. I'm an older student and it's definitely a huge change to go from a working professional who had the ability to travel, go out to happy hours, and take vacations as I pleased to having to study and budget tightly.

Some US schools might have limits on the age of classes, but they vary by school and there's no hard rule that your courses are invalid. The MCAT does test on a lot of basic science topics though, so you might find yourself having to take some of these courses - formally or informally.

I'm not at a Caribbean school, but I have friends who graduated from them. They talked about living on the island and how there were struggles they had regarding travel and how infrequently they were able to come home and visit family/friends. A lot of Carib schools do rotations in the US, but it will depend on which hospitals have availability, meaning my friends had to move around frequently, camping out in Air BnBs and hotels.
 
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At 37 you'll be in your mid 40's at least by the time you're an attending. It doesn't make much financial sense at this point
I'm curious why you think all is lost at 37?

Even with full med school loans, PSLF does exist as well as a variety of programs that offer very generous loan repayment options. Even if OP were to pursue primary care, they could realistically have a 25 or even 30 year career as an attending making upwards of 300K during which she could easily pay off student loans and accumulate a million or more with some very basic financial planning. Also, we don't know the OP's financial situation so for all we know they could already be a millionaire or marry one lol.

Now as far as going to the Caribbean, I don't think that is a wise decision but 37 is certainly not too old to pursue medicine for anybody. We have several 40+ students in our school's DO program.
 
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I'm curious why you think all is lost at 37?
It isn't but as I stated; there are better ways to increase your income at that point in your life rather than medical school.
Even with full med school loans, PSLF does exist as well as a variety of programs that offer very generous loan repayment options.
Varies by individual but yes PSLF can be helpful.
Even if OP were to pursue primary care, they could realistically have a 25 or even 30 year career as an attending
They'd be about 75 y/o if they were to work 30 years. Obviously possible but a decade past the average age of retirement for physicians.
making upwards of 300K during which she could easily pay off student loans and accumulate a million or more with some very basic financial planning.
Financial planning and investment can be done in their current situation. $300k is again possible, but pretty above average for primary care.
Also, we don't know the OP's financial situation so for all we know they could already be a millionaire or marry one lol.
If they were it would invalidate their entire reasoning for medical school, $$$.
Now as far as going to the Caribbean, I don't think that is a wise decision but 37 is certainly not too old to pursue medicine for anybody. We have several 40+ students in our school's DO program.
I never said they were too old to pursue medicine but as I mentioned in my first post; nothing about her post makes it seem like she wants to do medicine in particular. What they want is just a different and higher paying career.
 
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They'd be about 75 y/o if they were to work 30 years. Obviously possible but a decade past the average age of retirement for physicians.
The thing about medicine is that you can work for a long as you want or retire as early as you want. There is a GI at the hospital I work at who is 90 years old. I don't think he's anywhere as busy as he was about two decades ago but he's 90 and still working.

I don't think I was directing my comments at the OP because I wasn't buying their reasoning either. I was replying regarding age because pursuing medicine at 37 is still financially doable even though it would be nice to get those extra 15 years back. In the end, I guess you have to decide what money means to you and I'll be honest, you don't need 1 million to be happy.
 
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I'm curious why you think all is lost at 37?

Even with full med school loans, PSLF does exist as well as a variety of programs that offer very generous loan repayment options. Even if OP were to pursue primary care, they could realistically have a 25 or even 30 year career as an attending making upwards of 300K during which she could easily pay off student loans and accumulate a million or more with some very basic financial planning. Also, we don't know the OP's financial situation so for all we know they could already be a millionaire or marry one lol.

Now as far as going to the Caribbean, I don't think that is a wise decision but 37 is certainly not too old to pursue medicine for anybody. We have several 40+ students in our school's DO program.
I mean the biggest difference is that you're at a DO program and OP wants to go into a Caribbean program. Age isnt really a factor, but it kinda is at the same time because you need to have the ability to pay it off. Everyone is banking on PSLF but not many know that PSLF is very selective on who they pick. I've heard horror stories where physicians "did" PSLF and it got denied after the 10 years they served. Banking on PSLF should not be your only option when paying back the loans. You need to be ready to take on the worst case scenario which is paying it back on your own. Caribbean schools are more expensive than even the private DO schools. Private DOs are around 300k while caribbeans, you can hit into the 400k or even 500k depending on your expenses.

Another thing to consider is that DO schools generally have a good match rate and so the risk of pursuing medicine isnt as high as compared to the caribbeans. So, age is a factor because if you go to the Caribbean route and you don't match. How are you gonna pay off the enormous debt esp at the age where you're gonna be around your early to mid 40s. At least with DO, you have a very very good chance of matching into primary care where you can easily pay off the debt.

I think you're looking at the BEST case scenario for a general incoming or prospective caribbean student, but the reality is that A LOT of students fail out during their first semester. The match is a different beast as well. You have a lot stacked against you if you go towards the caribbean route. You will accumulate a lot of debt without much to "back" it up. With DO, you're pretty much guaranteed something in primary care if you dont have any red flags. Even with one or two red flag, you're still gonna match. However, the same can't be said about caribbean med schools.
 
I mean the biggest difference is that you're at a DO program and OP wants to go into a Caribbean program. Age isnt really a factor, but it kinda is at the same time because you need to have the ability to pay it off. Everyone is banking on PSLF but not many know that PSLF is very selective on who they pick. I've heard horror stories where physicians "did" PSLF and it got denied after the 10 years they served. Banking on PSLF should not be your only option when paying back the loans. You need to be ready to take on the worst case scenario which is paying it back on your own. Caribbean schools are more expensive than even the private DO schools. Private DOs are around 300k while caribbeans, you can hit into the 400k or even 500k depending on your expenses.

Another thing to consider is that DO schools generally have a good match rate and so the risk of pursuing medicine isnt as high as compared to the caribbeans. So, age is a factor because if you go to the Caribbean route and you don't match. How are you gonna pay off the enormous debt esp at the age where you're gonna be around your early to mid 40s. At least with DO, you have a very very good chance of matching into primary care where you can easily pay off the debt.

I think you're looking at the BEST case scenario for a general incoming or prospective caribbean student, but the reality is that A LOT of students fail out during their first semester. The match is a different beast as well. You have a lot stacked against you if you go towards the caribbean route. You will accumulate a lot of debt without much to "back" it up. With DO, you're pretty much guaranteed something in primary care if you dont have any red flags. Even with one or two red flag, you're still gonna match. However, the same can't be said about caribbean med schools.
I don't recommend the Caribbean.

PSLF has some rules that you need to follow and you need to follow them for a full 10 years. As long as you follow those rules, you should be good. The people that don't adhere to the requirements completely are the ones that get denied and that is their fault. There are some success stories listed here on SDN.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, there are some very generous loan forgiveness programs for primary care. I have seen programs paying off 110-150K with four years of service.
 
The thing about medicine is that you can work for a long as you want or retire as early as you want. There is a GI at the hospital I work at who is 90 years old. I don't think he's anywhere as busy as he was about two decades ago but he's 90 and still working.

I don't think I was directing my comments at the OP because I wasn't buying their reasoning either. I was replying regarding age because pursuing medicine at 37 is still financially doable even though it would be nice to get those extra 15 years back. In the end, I guess you have to decide what money means to you and I'll be honest, you don't need 1 million to be happy.
Again, I was not making a general statement for everybody but rather answering OP's situation so your view on medicine being viable well into middle ages is fine, but irrelevant for this thread. I have friends the same age as OP doing well in med school as well.

Lastly, the GI doc working to 90 is fine and dandy but again, irrelevant to the thread. OP could work to 90 but, at that age you aren't doing it for money because you'll croak before you get to really spend it in any meaningful way.
 
Again, I was not making a general statement for everybody but rather answering OP's situation so your view on medicine being viable well into middle ages is fine, but irrelevant for this thread. I have friends the same age as OP doing well in med school as well.

Lastly, the GI doc working to 90 is fine and dandy but again, irrelevant to the thread. OP could work to 90 but, at that age you aren't doing it for money because you'll croak before you get to really spend it in any meaningful way.
That's fine.

You said "you only have 20 years post residency..." so I was just pointing out that 20 years is still a lot of time for ANYONE to do well in medicine just in case they were reading the thread and they were in the same age bracket.

As far as the OP, I don't agree with their plans to apply to the Caribbean.
 
If the issue is you dislike being a pharmacist, want to make more money, and have a chiller lifestyle - I can't recommend health IT enough unless you absolutely hate computers and/or working in an office (not an issue with WFH). Epic and hospitals with Epic love former pharmacists. They make good money and bank if you go into consulting.
 
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I don't recommend the Caribbean.

PSLF has some rules that you need to follow and you need to follow them for a full 10 years. As long as you follow those rules, you should be good. The people that don't adhere to the requirements completely are the ones that get denied and that is their fault. There are some success stories listed here on SDN.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, there are some very generous loan forgiveness programs for primary care. I have seen programs paying off 110-150K with four years of service.
You do realize that people who do actually follow the right steps and STILL get denied. You should not bank on PSLF because that's the worst thing you can do for yourself in the 10 years. You can control everything correctly on your end but on the other, it might not be. Likewise, there are stories from other forums and SDN of those who did everything "right" but still got denied.

I agree there are other repayment options like joining a practice and having them help pay off your debt as long as you commit X amount of years to them. That's a better alternative than relying on PSLF because PSLF will only work for a small percentage. But honestly speaking, even w/o PSLF, your base salary as a PCP is way more than enough to pay back your loans within a few years.
 
You do realize that people who do actually follow the right steps and STILL get denied. You should not bank on PSLF because that's the worst thing you can do for yourself in the 10 years. You can control everything correctly on your end but on the other, it might not be. Likewise, there are stories from other forums and SDN of those who did everything "right" but still got denied.

I agree there are other repayment options like joining a practice and having them help pay off your debt as long as you commit X amount of years to them. That's a better alternative than relying on PSLF because PSLF will only work for a small percentage. But honestly speaking, even w/o PSLF, your base salary as a PCP is way more than enough to pay back your loans within a few years.
PSLF is a government program. SDN is an anonymous forum.
 
You do realize that people who do actually follow the right steps and STILL get denied. You should not bank on PSLF because that's the worst thing you can do for yourself in the 10 years. You can control everything correctly on your end but on the other, it might not be. Likewise, there are stories from other forums and SDN of those who did everything "right" but still got denied.

I agree there are other repayment options like joining a practice and having them help pay off your debt as long as you commit X amount of years to them. That's a better alternative than relying on PSLF because PSLF will only work for a small percentage. But honestly speaking, even w/o PSLF, your base salary as a PCP is way more than enough to pay back your loans within a few years.
Absolutely! You are not too old! Not even going to be a factor. Age is likely going to put you at an advantage. You will have a strong +20 career with excellent pay. I know The loan debt will be steep, but it’ll be worth it. I think you should pursue a career as a doctor.
 
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Good Day,

So I am an older individual. I’m considering a career change. I have been practicing pharmacy in a hospital (have a PharmD) for over 10 years. The profession has changed and I find myself hating it.

I would like to advance myself (and yes make more money - since I'm single and I would like to retire before 80 years old!) – however, I am a 37-year-old single lady and I don’t want to spend my entire life in school. I have a lot of hobbies and things in life that I would like to do.

I’m considering Ross Medical School for a few reasons: 1- They have an accelerated program. 2- They are willing to override the basic 101 class requirement ( > 10 years old – most US schools will consider them invalid). 3- They have scholarships. My undergrad GPA (not that it matters) was 4.0 and my graduate (pharmacy school) GPA was 3.5.

I have not taken the MCAT YET! I just made this decision yesterday.

Given my age and current quality of life/lifestyle (I LOVE to travel – COVID’s put a halt on it) – I am afraid. There is a lot of uncertainty going on…
1- Is this the right move?
2- How do I study for the MCAT? What would be the best way to study for it when I work full time + have other obligations at home
3- My Brain’s capacity to study in general? I was never been book smart – but I’m very good at concepts that require ACTUAL THINKING/understanding vs memorizing.

Any advice/thoughts are appreciated!

PS. Feel free to privately message me

Thanks!
You are going to be a strong candidate. I’m sure you can tackle the MCAT. Definitely not too old. Let’s be honest... the best doctors are typically older.
 
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PSLF is a government program. SDN is an anonymous forum.
Uhm, yes im aware PSLF is a government program LOL. That doesn't really mean much. So yes, all of those success stories are anonymous (so are the horror stories). You don't know the validity of those posts as well. Pretty much, it's very case dependent and you can easily mess up within that ten years. You're better off doing the alternatives to repaying back your student loans with refinancing and reconsolidating.
 
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@futurestudent2021 I mean you disliking my comment just shows that im right. Even the attending physicians of the FM page in this forum thought you were trolling because of your lack of knowledge on such topics, especially when you asked if FM physicians can hit over $1M dollars per year. Again, as you said, it doesn't require you to be a medical student (as you stated you were a student in a master's program w/ a linkage) to understand finances. However, your lack of knowledge (similar to the FM post) kinda makes you look like a troll.
 
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Hey, Gambino. You shouldn’t go into medicine.
Lol... I’m totally j/k. Don’t be mad. Honestly we should support a persons dream to be a doctor. That’s all. 😅
 
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Lol... I’m totally j/k. Don’t be mad. Honestly we should support a persons dream to be a doctor. That’s all. 😅
Blind support is how medicine becomes the most highly burnt out career path. Dw I won't be mad from a random with 6 posts and a pre-medical flair, I'm quite happy with my choice thus far and halfway through; then again, I'm not 37.
 
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Blind support is how medicine becomes the most highly burnt out career path. Dw I won't be mad from a random with 6 posts and a pre-medical flair, I'm quite happy with my choice thus far and halfway through; then again, I'm not 37.

Great that you are happy with your choice as I am happy with the path that I am pursuing but I'm curious why you constantly discourage people from applying to the Caribbean when you say that you are "happy" with that same choice?
 
Great that you are happy with your choice as I am happy with the path that I am pursuing but I'm curious why you constantly discourage people from applying to the Caribbean when you say that you are "happy" with that same choice?
How in good faith can I recommend a choice that has a 30-75% attrition rate depending on school choice with less than ethical business practices? I have had several friends fail out, in 6 figures of debt, and no career to pay it.

Going caribbean is a personal choice that should be done by someone that has all the possible information and still decides to pursue it knowing that it isn't recommended.

I'm happier with my choice now that I've passed the culling phase but I'm sure I wouldn't be happy if I was one of the 30% that failed out.
 
How in good faith can I recommend a choice that has a 30-75% attrition rate depending on school choice with less than ethical business practices? I have had several friends fail out, in 6 figures of debt, and no career to pay it.

Going caribbean is a personal choice that should be done by someone that has all the possible information and still decides to pursue it knowing that it isn't recommended.

I'm happier with my choice now that I've passed the culling phase but I'm sure I wouldn't be happy if I was one of the 30% that failed out.
Can you continue to offer updates on your class so other students can understand how the Caribbean programs work? I am very interested to know how many people start the first year and then how many actually become doctors.

I'll admit I did consider going Caribbean before choosing to pursue an MS but I read that most of the people that attend don't make it whereas on the first day of my MS orientation we were clearly told that there is zero attrition in our program related to academic performance.
 
Blind support is how medicine becomes the most highly burnt out career path. Dw I won't be mad from a random with 6 posts and a pre-medical flair, I'm quite happy with my choice thus far and halfway through; then again, I'm not 37.
Yeah, you’re right. I understand.
 
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