Too young for residency?

[Carabas]

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I know there have been questions regarding being too old for residency. However, I have a question on the other end of the spectrum.

If everything goes according to plan hopefully, I will be 22 when applying to programs. Would programs see that as a good thing, a bad thing, or an insignificant thing? Just wondering. Thanks.

 

[deleted116380]

An issue? Legally no, they're not allowed to make it an issue. In the real world, we all know discriminatory hiring practices are out there even though laws make it clear it shouldn't be allowed.

One of the rads residents at my home program started intern year when he was 22 and he's one of their best, if not best, radiology residents.

Shouldn't be a problem, but it is a reason why I think DOB shouldn't allowed on the ERAS application. Employers in the "real world" aren't allowed to ask it and neither should residencies. Of course I have a lot of issues with the way medical education and training is run in this country, but that's a story for another day.

Good luck. I hope you get to match in the field you want where you want.

 

[ioh]

I think it makes no difference, but the concern during your interviews will be if you'll conduct yourself in a professional manner (eg. no late nights out partying before work, etc). This is important for all applicants, but being younger it will matter all the more that you appear mature for your age.

 

[umean2tellme]

If you are old enough to graduate from medical school you should be old enough to become a resident. Just don't wear a Pokemon tie or something to your interviews and you'll be fine lol.

 

[survivordo]

Shouldn't be an issue. If you have managed to be professional enough to get through med school I don't think people will have a huge concern and I assume you will assuage any fears during your interviews. Regardless, what is your other option, take a year off just to be a year older? Its really a moot point.

Survivor DO

 

[Law2Doc]

...Regardless, what is your other option, take a year off just to be a year older?...

while I think you were being sarcastic, at 22 I think I might not be so fast to dismiss this idea. Being in residency through your early 20s is going to come at a much steeper price than late 20s or beyond. Think of all the immature fun things a lot if us were doing at 23 compared to night float in the ICU for a month. I might think long and hard about whether it might make sense to slow down the med school process to do a research year or maybe get an MBA or MPH or both. Probably would have erred toward MD PhD in the first place, if you aren't already past that decision point. Your CV could be improved with an advanced degree and research, and you will delay the inevitable drudge of intern year another year or two, to at least enjoy your early 20s, which were not meant to be spent on the wards. There's a reason the average starting age for med school has edged up to 23-24, and it really can't be explained by the 1-2 30 year olds in each med school class of 150-200.

Or i guess you could go into Neurosurg and still finish training around the same time as the IM colleagues of your vintage.

The only good reason I can think of to be in a rush to intern year is for family planning reasons. Of course I'm a bit biased, having enjoyed my younger years in a different field with a whole different set of demands and stresses, and feel like in some ways it made the journey more rewarding to me and didn't cheat me out of my early 20s.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Starting at 23 is not really a problem if you're ready for it and that's what you want. I don't agree with randomly trying to pick up another degree like an MPH just to spend an extra year if you don't have a strong interest in that degree (note that currently MPH's are hard to get from accredited programs in one year).

I graduated a US medical school and started residency at 24. Who cares? It happens occasionally in the US that someone started at 22-24 years of age. No one notices.

 

[smq123]

Moving to the ERAS forum, which focuses more on applying for residency. Gen Res is really for issues pertaining to current residents.

 

[septoplasty]

I know there have been questions regarding being too old for residency. However, I have a question on the other end of the spectrum.

If everything goes according to plan hopefully, I will be 22 when applying to programs. Would programs see that as a good thing, a bad thing, or an insignificant thing? Just wondering. Thanks.

You'll be 22 when you apply, 23 when you start.

Join the club bro.

 

[VenusinFurs]

I was going to say a lot of us are 25 or 26 when we start, so it's silly to worry that much about starting at 23. Then I thought about how much I've changed in the past few years and how little tolerance for alcohol I have now and how I'm not always immediately beset by crippling anxiety anytime someone puts a bit of pressure on me to prove my worth.

However we're all works in progress, and if you made it through the beast's jaws relatively unscathed, you're probably going to be fine during residency. It's not like you're going immediately from partying with your frat bros in undergrad to putting in central lines at 4 in the morning.

 

[Carabas]

Thanks for all the replies folks. I'm not a party or bar guy in the first place so I don't anticipate having trouble coping with residency.

I was just a bit anxious about how program directors would perceive a younger applicant, but I guess that's not much of an issue.

 

[Law2Doc]

This is awful advice coming from someone who went the road of the OP.If you have the CV now to match into what you want you to do go forward with it. There is no need to slow down because you are younger than the rest. You will finish training earlier, earn more quicker and be in a position to have more flexability in career choices. In terms of missing out, again I disagree. At 23, I might have been on nights but when I was off, I enjoyed life just like most of my fellow interns did with immature fun. The value of a research year if you are already competitive enough is limited and unless you want to go into administration an MBA/MPH has limited value in my experience.

I would argue the increasing age of entrants is a bad thing not a good thing but obviously I am biased having gone the short route. If physicians can practice for longer, part of the so called shortage disappears. Physicians are able to earn more as they work longer as well. It was far easier to get through the nights and pain of residency being younger and being able to not have the pressures of family planning, etc. since I was young enough to forgo this while training and still be reasonable young at the end.

I think everyone needs to do what's right for them but in their early 20s not everybody actually knows. You may have -- Who knows. I can only generalize based on the average person.

But I would point out that while you "enjoyed life just like most of my fellow interns", most people who have been down this road would agree that intern life pales in comparison to the "living" that the typical 20 year old does. You simply have too little spare time and too much responsibility and too high expectations to look at life the same way.

 

[michaelrack]

An issue? Legally no, they're not allowed to make it an issue. In the real world, we all know discriminatory hiring practices are out there even though laws make it clear it shouldn't be allowed..

Law2doc can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe age-related legal protections only apply to those discriminated against for being too old (greater than age 40).

 

[45408]

while I think you were being sarcastic, at 22 I think I might not be so fast to dismiss this idea. Being in residency through your early 20s is going to come at a much steeper price than late 20s or beyond. Think of all the immature fun things a lot if us were doing at 23 compared to night float in the ICU for a month. I might think long and hard about whether it might make sense to slow down the med school process to do a research year or maybe get an MBA or MPH or both. Probably would have erred toward MD PhD in the first place, if you aren't already past that decision point. Your CV could be improved with an advanced degree and research, and you will delay the inevitable drudge of intern year another year or two, to at least enjoy your early 20s, which were not meant to be spent on the wards. There's a reason the average starting age for med school has edged up to 23-24, and it really can't be explained by the 1-2 30 year olds in each med school class of 150-200.

Most of us strictly traditional students were M2s at the time. I hardly did anything immature or exceedingly fun, to be honest...

 

[Textbookversion]

Law2doc can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe age-related legal protections only apply to those discriminated against for being too old (greater than age 40).

This is correct. You can discriminate against someone for being too young, just not for being too old. That's what you get when old people write the laws!

 

[Buzz Me]

Most of us strictly traditional students were M2s at the time. I hardly did anything immature or exceedingly fun, to be honest...

Yup. I was an M2 at age 23.

 

[Law2Doc]

Most of us strictly traditional students were M2s at the time. I hardly did anything immature or exceedingly fun, to be honest...

Compared to your surgical intern year? At any rate, the average med school start date these days I'm told is 23-24, so a lot of M2s nationally are around 25, and start intern year at around 27-8. The OP will be starting intern year at 23. He's hitting early residency at the sweet spot of his early 20s.

Anyway, yes I was more than a bit spoiled in terms of enjoying my early 20s without the kind of yoke of responsibility you get in early residency. Law was not like this. If I was going straight in from a younger age, I'd seriously consider an advanced degree and or research year and set myself up pretty for the next step, and enjoy myself a bit more in the process. It's not a race. Rushing through to be done is a mindset that gets built into a lot of us during school, and then you get to the other side and realize life is increasingly stressful and challenging and you missed your window to be a young drunk irresponsible loafer with a full social calendar. Not that you'll still want that, but it would have been nice to have had some glory days.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Rushing through to be done is a mindset that gets built into a lot of us during school, and then you get to the other side and realize life is increasingly stressful and challenging and you missed your window to be a young drunk irresponsible loafer with a full social calendar. Not that you'll still want that, but it would have been nice to have had some glory days.

Not everyone perceives life this way. As noted, I didn't then and I don't now. I know lots of folks who would rather spend their early 20's as a hard-working student and completely skip the drunk irresponsible loafer phase of life. Nothing glorious about being drunk for many folks. It's not necessarily the case than most of them will later regret this, despite your view of life. As noted by another poster, being an attending subspecialist by around age 30 has some benefits in life as well. It may not be a race to the finish, but some will choose an early start.

 

[septoplasty]

Not everyone perceives life this way. As noted, I didn't then and I don't now. I know lots of folks who would rather spend their early 20's as a hard-working student and completely skip the drunk irresponsible loafer phase of life. Nothing glorious about being drunk for many folks. It's not necessarily the case than most of them will later regret this, despite your view of life. As noted by another poster, being an attending subspecialist by around age 30 has some benefits in life as well. It may not be a race to the finish, but some will choose an early start.

Dang physician rocket scientist? Holy smokes. 😱

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Dang physician rocket scientist? Holy smokes. 😱

Some day astronauts will give birth in space. SOMEONE needs to be trained to take care of the babies!😛

 

[septoplasty]

Some day astronauts will give birth in space. SOMEONE needs to be trained to take care of the babies!😛

Hire me please?

 

[Hemichordate]

Just curious though, did you guys graduate from college in 3 years? Or did you just skip several years of middle/high school?

 

[septoplasty]

Just curious though, did you guys graduate from college in 3 years? Or did you just skip several years of middle/high school?

Both in my case. High school was 3 years, and so was undergrad.

 

[Law2Doc]

Its all about balance; as someone who went through the same scenario that the OP did, I had plenty of my young, drunk, irresponsible moments in my 20s during med school and even as an intern/resident. Its obviously specialty specific. The flip side to the coin is I finished at 28 making an attendings salary. And the reality is I get to enjoy my late twenties with a nice income and work hours that are pretty good compared to those that are residents in their late 20s/30s

I'm not saying that path was bad in your or any particular poster on this threads case. I'm just saying for the average premed/med student it might actually be a less desirable timeline, and not a necessary one. Obviously this is heavy on opinion and personal experience and light on data.