This site! Thank you having it and making it available to all of us “olds”.
So. this is my condundrum, dilema and stop me now before I jump situation. I am turning 40 in (gasp) two weeks. I am about a year and a half from my Bachelor’s Degree. Since I can remember I have wanted/needed to be a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. Situations and lifes needs have kept me from heading down that road and getting the completion of my degree earlier. I know that once I finish my degree and get to Med School, I have 4 years, then residency and on and on and by then I will be 50.
Is this just an over the top desire and want of mine? I came to the sad conclusion and awareness years ago that I would never be Miss America, or a major league baseball pitcher, or a fighter pilot, or President - is Doctor another one that I will add to my sad conclusion list?
I am in great health, vibrant and have the support of my family. Any of your thoughts, experiences, ideas, medications - anything is truly welcome.
Thank you all so much!
why not? lots of us have been your age or older. Go ahead and run with the idea - as you start putting the details into place you'll have plenty of opportunities to test your ambition.
Also, be open to the idea that you might find something else appealing besides psychiatry. I'm not sure any of us who are at the specialty-choice stage are doing what we thought we'd be doing.
But spend some time reading the old threads here - you'll find some inspiring stories and some really good advice on how to pursue your goal.
If I follow through on all of this I will be over 50 by the time I am finished, so you're not the only one with over the top ideas! As Mary said, read through the old threads for some inspiration.
Good luck!
LM
Thank you to the both of you! I cannot express how wonderful your words make me feel. I am going to conntinue forging ahead!
Dang, again, thank you for saying the perfect words.
happy girl dance
Hi there,
I will turn 51 on Sunday and I will say farewell to my surgical internship in five weeks. Can’t think of a better way to head into my fifties than doing surgery. As a member in good standing of the bonafide “Baby Boomer” generation, I plan to show the Gen Xers that we will do it better and and make it look good while we are doing it better. We are setting that bar pretty high.
You can do anything that you want at 50, 60 or later if you set your mind to it. I can even run a 3-minute mile (in my head but that’s my reality). As Satchel Page said, " Age is mind over matter. If you don’t mind, than age don’t matter".
Congratulations on pursuing your dream and kick some A–!
Natalie 
As the others before me have already pointed out, you are certainly young enough to pursue your goal!
I, for one, am 52 (and proud of it!), and will be starting medical school this fall, making me 59 or 60 when I finish residency! Personally, I look at age as a state of mind, and as long as I feel young and energetic, I hope to be able to practice medicine. The way I figure it, with the good Lord's help, that will give me at least 10-15 years to practice, maybe more!
So, focus on your goal, and never let age become an issue. Good luck on your journey!
Go for this!
If it is what you know you want to do, try it. Make sure you have solid grades in your pre-req’s, study for the MCATs, and apply at places you believe will get you where you want to go.
To add to the “it’s possible” list, I will be 43 tomorrow (today?) and will be MS1 this year. I think that especially in Child and Adolescent psychiatry your age will be a boon. Go through the necessary hoops, and you may be amazed at the opportunities available to those of us over 40. You are so lucky to have a supportive family, and as they say, you will turn 50 reguardless. You might as well turn 50 as a doc. 
Best of luck!