Starting medical school at 27 - too out of place??

Getting into Med School is Hard? Not with BeMo.
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Is starting medical school at 27 too late?

  • Yes

    Votes: 1 0.6%

  • No

    Votes: 144 92.3%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 11 7.1%
  • Total voters
    156
Status
Not open for further replies.
HerbertVKarajan

HerbertVKarajan

Membership Revoked
Removed
10+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
A friend of mine is worried that, at the earliest, he won't start med school until he is 27.

Do you think starting medical school at 27 is problematic considering:

1) Most of his classmates are 4-5 years younger than him?

2) He will not be able to practice until mid-30s? - he wants to start a family, and is still single at the moment.

I personally started med school at 29. I did find I had trouble making friends with some of the 21-22 year olds, and I do constantly worry about finding a SO to start a family with all my busy schedule. But what is the general consensus on SDN??

Thanks for the advice Y'all!!
Members don't see this ad.
 
I'm starting at 30. I do wonder about whether I want to be looking for "my person" in terms of a longterm SO, and whether that might be difficult, but I also am not going to stop what I'm doing career-wise just to make the odds of that a tiny bit better. In terms of socialization, there are medical schools (like OHSU) where the average first-year matriculant age is 27. And I don't think med students are necessarily close friends with ALL of their classmates anyway. Unless, maybe, you go to Mayo :)
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I should add that this friend is a GIRL -

so might be in a more dire situation than guy.
 
I can't say much considering I'm 24 married and have a kid, but I feel as long as you're moving towards your dream no time is to late to get started. Now I imagine finding a SO during such a busy and hectic time would be different (also finding one that is understanding of your schedule and responsibilities), but I think he will actually have an advantage in that department. In general people his age are more comfortable with themselves and much more stable both financially and emotionally. This I think will help him find that person who will be supportive and will be more likely to want to settle down soon. But then again may just be talking out of my a**.
 
If she is concerned about starting a family, I'd be more worried about still being single as she goes into residency. If she waits until after residency to start a family, she might be pushing the upper limits of her child bearing.
 
Its better than being 47 and looking back with regret! And remember, people are living longer, marrying and having children later, etc.

27 is definitely not 'too old'
 
HerbertVKarajan said:
A friend of mine is worried that, at the earliest, he won't start med school until he is 27.

Do you think starting medical school at 27 is problematic considering:

1) Most of his classmates are 4-5 years younger than him?

2) He will not be able to practice until mid-30s? - he wants to start a family, and is still single at the moment.

I personally started med school at 29. I did find I had trouble making friends with some of the 21-22 year olds, and I do constantly worry about finding a SO to start a family with all my busy schedule. But what is the general consensus on SDN??

Thanks for the advice Y'all!!
Click to expand...

HerbertVKarajan said:
I should add that this friend is a GIRL -

so might be in a more dire situation than guy.
Click to expand...

Then why did you address your friend as a "he" repeatedly in your original post?

Personally I think 27 is a good age to be entering. It's not "too" old, but old enough where someone has enough life experience to help put things in perspective. Regardless of gender, it would be horrible to put off med school thinking that you are too old, but only to cave in a few years later because you realize it's what you need to do.
 
CityLights said:
Then why did you address your friend as a "he" repeatedly in your original post?
Click to expand...

because my original intention simply bringing up this issue without regard to this person's gender - so I defaulted to "HE"
 
HerbertVKarajan said:
because my original intention simply bringing up this issue without regard to this person's gender - so I defaulted to "HE"
Click to expand...

Got it. I can't comment from a female perspective, but if medicine is truly what she wants to do, I feel like holding off for the sake of a future family would only make her resentful and regretful of the decision she made.
 
Young people always talk about how old they are getting....
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Tell your friend to watch Steve Job's commencement speech at stanford from 2005.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown our your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
 
rachelkj said:
I'm starting at 30... there are medical schools (like OHSU) where the average first-year matriculant age is 27.
Click to expand...

Well next year the average at OHSU will be slightly higher. I was accepted and I will be an extreme outlier at 42 when I start. I wonder what it will do to their average starting age...

Starting at 27 is NOTHING! I have former students that I taught when they were in high school that are now older than 30. Some of them may be attending physicians at places were I am a med-student on rotations. :scared:

chemsmith said:
Its better than being 47 and looking back with regret! And remember, people are living longer, marrying and having children later, etc.

27 is definitely not 'too old'
Click to expand...

So true. I can't say that I had a bad choice in what I have done for the past 19 years. However, I have burned out and now need to do something for me in terms of my career. My only hope is that I can repay the loans before I turn 80. Ha ha.

dsoz
 
Hemorrage said:
Tell your friend to watch Steve Job's commencement speech at stanford from 2005.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown our your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Click to expand...

That was beautiful. One of your better comments. :thumbup:
 
27 isn't too old at all. some people start in their 30s

The average age of people starting medical school is 24 for MD programs, and for DO programs it is 26, so your friend isn't really far from that
 
Matriculants into medical school of recent years have trended towards being older and older. Over 60% of my class took at least a year out from college, and if I had to venture a guess, I'd say about a quarter is 25 or older.
 
Give it another decade and 27 will be considered young.
 
Also, as far as finding people to date, I don't think I would be searching among my fellow med students.
 
Er, Nevermind. I don't think that was actually what you were saying.
 
Most of his (her?) classmates will in fact NOT be 4 or 5 years younger than her (him?). More like one or two years.
 
HerbertVKarajan said:
A friend of mine is worried that, at the earliest, he won't start med school until he is 27.

Do you think starting medical school at 27 is problematic considering:

1) Most of his classmates are 4-5 years younger than him?

2) He will not be able to practice until mid-30s? - he wants to start a family, and is still single at the moment.

I personally started med school at 29. I did find I had trouble making friends with some of the 21-22 year olds, and I do constantly worry about finding a SO to start a family with all my busy schedule. But what is the general consensus on SDN??

Thanks for the advice Y'all!!
Click to expand...

The only thing out of place us posting this thread in pre-allo instead of the nontrad board, where most of the posters will start med school older than 27. Currently the average age for starting med school is around 26-27, and there will be people older than 30 in every med school. The notion that people in med school ought to be 22 ended in 1980. Most programs are finding a lot of value in nontrads these days, as medicine becomes more consumer/customer service oriented, and as the patient base ages.
 
I'm 29 and I feel like I'm in the middle of the pack in my school. We are known for being a non-trad friendly MD school though.

At a state school, you might feel slightly out of pace, but there's not that much of a difference between a 22/23 year old and a 27 year old.
 
No. Finding a SO can be hard at any age.

I was 34 when I started and I made plenty of good friends in medschool that hung out at my house quite a bit.

I was also told getting into a competitive residency is harder when you are older, but I started my ortho residency on my 38th birthday, so that didn't prove true either.

Your dreams are your dreams and age won't change that.
 
I'm 27 now and will be 28 by the time I start. There were plenty of "older" medical students giving tours and interviews at all 4 of the MD schools I interviewed at. I don't think this person has anything to worry about. In fact, I think it is an advantage!
 
I don't think we can exactly go on average figures. What if the class is like 95% 22 year olds and 5% 100 year olds. That gives you an average age of 26 but only ~5 people are old.
 
About 40% of my class was above 25, and there were a couple >40 so you'll be fine.

I will say that there was a clear disconnect between the straight out of college kids and the rest of us (I started at 26). The younger kids are very interested in being social, having fun, going out. The rest of us didn't care too much about getting wasted at a bar.

rachelkj said:
Also, as far as finding people to date, I don't think I would be searching among my fellow med students.
Click to expand...

You'll probably end up eating your words. In the end, it's much easier and likely to date a med student. I dated 3 girls in my class (and have been with the same one M2-M3), and it just made life easier because there's less talk about, well, "crap".

Also, post-coital quizzing is super, super fun.
 
Plue00 said:
I don't think we can exactly go on average figures. What if the class is like 95% 22 year olds and 5% 100 year olds. That gives you an average age of 26 but only ~5 people are old.
Click to expand...

Wow. Talk about extreme examples.
 
I'd say anything before 30 isn't too bad. I'm not sure about medicine. I'm thinking about being an actuary right now. I'm currently studying for the first test. That being said, if I go to medical school, I'll probably be 25 or 26 so I'm in the same boat as you. I think you're fine. Just look at the poll results.
 
I'll turn 27 after a few months of starting med school. Definitely not too late; I am married already, but we will probably be starting our family during med school and adding one or two more during residency.
 
I can understand the cause for concern, since a lot of people put a lot of pressure on themselves to accomplish certain achievements by a certain age. We need to graduate college at this point in time, we should be married by this point in time, have kids and own a home at this point and on and on.

However, with how rigorous medical school can be I do think your friend's age should be the least of his/her worries.

In terms of problems making friends with classmates younger than you, I honestly believe it will mainly boil down to your personal temperament and personality.

As for your friend not practicing until his/her 30's, I don't think it should be a problem. In our first world culture, people generally start families later anyways and just start to realize the payoffs from their years of education at that age. It's not like you have to wait until you're done with medical school to find someone. You can multi-task and be in a happy relationship while you're in medical school.
 
Wordead said:
About 40% of my class was above 25, and there were a couple >40 so you'll be fine.

I will say that there was a clear disconnect between the straight out of college kids and the rest of us (I started at 26). The younger kids are very interested in being social, having fun, going out. The rest of us didn't care too much about getting wasted at a bar.



You'll probably end up eating your words. In the end, it's much easier and likely to date a med student. I dated 3 girls in my class (and have been with the same one M2-M3), and it just made life easier because there's less talk about, well, "crap".

Also, post-coital quizzing is super, super fun.
Click to expand...

It might be "easier" but not necessarily the best. I would rarely want to talk about work/school outside of that environment, and dating a med student might bring that crap home. Someone who wants to talk about classes or rotations a lot would be extremely boring. Not to mention, if it goes south, you can't avoid each other. Plus, it's fun to date people other than within medicine haha


It's like dating within family in some places :eek:
 
I'll be 27 when I start (I love getting to say WHEN not if!!) and I've come to terms with it. I do have concerns about when I'll get around to meeting someone and having a family, but if seems to me like I want to have all this happen while I'm working on becoming who I want to be. I don't feel like I'd ever be in a place to start that journey while living a life that doesn't satisfy me.
 
EndersRebutal said:
I can't say much considering I'm 24 married and have a kid, but I feel as long as you're moving towards your dream no time is to late to get started. Now I imagine finding a SO during such a busy and hectic time would be different (also finding one that is understanding of your schedule and responsibilities), but I think he will actually have an advantage in that department. In general people his age are more comfortable with themselves and much more stable both financially and emotionally. This I think will help him find that person who will be supportive and will be more likely to want to settle down soon. But then again may just be talking out of my a**.
Click to expand...

Haven't read the rest of the thread, but props to you for being where you are. I'm 21 and can't imagine having a kid... I have a lot of growing up to do haha.
 
KnuxNole said:
It might be "easier" but not necessarily the best. I would rarely want to talk about work/school outside of that environment, and dating a med student might bring that crap home. Someone who wants to talk about classes or rotations a lot would be extremely boring. Not to mention, if it goes south, you can't avoid each other. Plus, it's fun to date people other than within medicine haha


It's like dating within family in some places :eek:
Click to expand...

My POV: I tried to date outside of medicine, but studying pretty much dominates most of my day (after M1 anyway), and even when I'm not studying I can't help but think about medicine. Other people might be able to compartmentalize better. We do non-med things, but a lot of what we talk about is medicine. Dating girls outside of medicine became annoying really fast - they didn't seem to grasp that I couldn't drop **** for them.

And yes, things can go south, and there were relationships that soured and ensuing drama. But, in my humble opinion, this is because they were immature kids to begin with. I'm on good terms with my exes within the class and it's not even an issue anymore.

I will say that my gf is magnitudes more driven and probably smarter than I am. I was top 5 in my class, in no small part because of her. So my experiences are better than other people who date within the class.
 
Wordead said:
My POV: I tried to date outside of medicine, but studying pretty much dominates most of my day (after M1 anyway), and even when I'm not studying I can't help but think about medicine. Other people might be able to compartmentalize better. We do non-med things, but a lot of what we talk about is medicine. Dating girls outside of medicine became annoying really fast - they didn't seem to grasp that I couldn't drop **** for them.

And yes, things can go south, and there were relationships that soured and ensuing drama. But, in my humble opinion, this is because they were immature kids to begin with. I'm on good terms with my exes within the class and it's not even an issue anymore.

I will say that my gf is magnitudes more driven and probably smarter than I am. I was top 5 in my class, in no small part because of her. So my experiences are better than other people who date within the class.
Click to expand...

That's a good point, that non-med school people sometimes don't get med school. I dated a guy a few months ago who didn't get that I can't "call my boss" to take random days off to stay out late with him or ditch and chill with him :|
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

N
I'll be 27 when I start medical school next fall; am I too old and will I be considered out of place?
Replies
20
Views
2K
tacosnguacamole
T
H
What to do before starting medical school
Replies
8
Views
1K
2023applicantxd
2023applicantxd
infiniteregress2020
Laptop Recommendations for starting Medical School in 2024?
Replies
23
Views
4K
atriablack
atriablack
sillychemistry
Importance of enough time before starting school
Replies
2
Views
638
CitrusPeel
C
dntldns
is it too late to start volunteering for this cycle?
Replies
2
Views
633
LizzyM
LizzyM
Top