Hi. This is my first posting. How “late” is too late to begin a career as an MD? I have been giving this a lot of thought and if I were 10+ years younger(!) I’m pretty sure I’d jump in and go for it. I am 38 years old, married, 2 young children (2 & 3), I’d love a third baby. I work full time supporting our family. My husband has been out of work for a long time and we’ve no unemployment benefits coming in… I will get a few weeks off (from teaching) in the summer to begin taking classes. However, once school begins again I work 60-80 hours a week. I definitely could not take classes during the school year.
To make a long question short, if it takes me 3-4 years to even take enough classes to take the MCAT, then med school, then residency… I’m easily looking at being 50 before starting a career as a doctor. With all the student loans we’d be living on and the years it would take, does it make sense in your opinion to continue pursuing this dream? I realize I never told my reasons or passion for medicine. -trying to keep this post and question as short as possible. 
Thank you for any and all thoughts.
There really is no “too old” for med-school. I am 35, others on here are older and younger than me. And I have read elsewhere of people starting MS-1 at 50+, so really the only thing holding you back is your desire.
I don’t think there is ever an age that would be considered too late. My cousins told me that there was a person in their graduating class at UCI Med School at 49 years young
Follow your dreams
You are more accomplished then me. I am 34 and yet to find a husband (recently divorced) and yet to start having kids. But I am taking chemistry and loving it and hope to get into class of 2015 of med school. And by that time I hope to have my first child.
I think more important questions are how committed you are to your goal and what your hubby thinks about it. Would he be supportive? Would he be willing to get a job to help out?
Hi tlacuache,
I would agree with others and say that it is never too late to start pursuing any dream that you may have or had. The only thing that can hurt you in the pursuit of the dream is spending too much time debating whether or not to start, if you truly think that you would have a passion for medicine. I am younger than you, however, I am speaking from experience on this matter.
I had the same thought processes that you described above (e.g., is it worth it now, what about my family in the near future, how am I going to pay for it, etc.) approximately 2-2.5 years ago and, because of my insecurities about my immediate future if I had chosen to pursue medicine I decided to work on a masters degree in an unrelated field that I like but just didn’t see myself in that career field. Long story short, here I am two and half years later having the same debate…only this time I decided to pursue my dream of becoming a practicing physician. So, now I start the premed journey, which if I would have started when I first realized my ambition to pursue it I would now be matriculating into MS-1…
My advice is:
- Talk with you family and get their opinion and advice, however, you must make it a point to make pursuing this dream your number one priority outside of your full time position as a teacher.
- So what it will take you 3-4 years to work through the premed coursework, as long as you keep plugging away you’ll eventually get there, after which you will be pleasantly surprised at what you will have accomplished.
- There are several ways to pay for medical school without breaking the bank, and having debt up to your ears(!). My state offers a program where they will give medical students a $2,000 monthly living stipend, as well as provide tuition waivers for any students who participate in the program and agree to work in the state for the same number of years that they receive assistance. The only stipulation is, you must practice primary care medicine… I know primary care isn’t the number one choice of most choosing to go to medical school, but I know that graduating debt free is well worth it for me. There are also gov. programs that offer tuition reduction or primary care, so it all depends on what you are looking for, but the main thing is that a medical education can pay for itself.
I hope this helps you, and I wish you the best of luck. Keep us posted on what you decide.
cowboy8085,
I’m 39 turn 40 in a couple weeks. Adopt our first child this year. Lord willing get accepted & then start postbacc in 2014 when I’m 42. Lord willing get accepted start into med school @ 43, graduate 47…3 year EM residency…Newly minted attending EM physician @ 50…payoff debt by 55…retire??? Being a physician is my retirement.
Don’t let anyone fool you. While there is no such thing as too late there is the reality that we will not have as many options as our younger counterparts. Like for me, surgery is out. Standing in one spot for 8, 10, 14, 16+ hours…yeah my knees and back ain’t going to handle that. Moving around, running here & there, no problem. Standing there? Nah.
So all this verbosity to reiterate what everyone else has said.
crooz - I feel your pain! I agree about surgery - no standing long hours for me.
I think paying the debt off in 5 years is optimistic. The numbers crunch even worse for me - finish residency at 60, plan to practice until 80. Then take up my 4th career, as a writer, till I kick the bucket. If I’m still in debt at that point, at least it doesn’t entail to the kids
Kate
kate just blame it on that out-of-state tuition that WVSOM charges. Went to their open house last week and my wife and I had more than a little sticker shock with that one. If accepted there I’d go but I wouldn’t be happy about the cost. Gotta say it irked me when the justification was that it might cost a lot but that’s why doctors get paid a lot. 
crooz - you should have emailed me! It would have been cool to get together!
Yes, the sticker price is exhorbitant. I almost talked myself out of coming here as I had other acceptances, but I’m glad I came anyway.
Kate
To the OP I hope you see that there is no such thing as “too late.” However there are some specialties that just do not lend themselves, at least not physically, to older folk.
Katie, I was thinking about emailing but it only really occurred to me halfway down there. My wife and I loved the campus and especially the Sim center. My wife really enjoyed that. That cost is just like 
I don’t apply until 2014 and the plan is to get into VCOM’s postbacc that same year. We’re pretty open I just get irked with schools that use the “doctors make good money” as justification to charge OOS students so much.
VCOM is still pretty expensive!
The SIM center is impressive - but actually it’s the number of pt exam rooms rather than the number of robots that impacts you the most -when we have student clinic in second year, each pair of students has an hour of clinic seeing a patient from the community, weekly. And there are enough rooms to make it work.
The faculty is part of their expense: was over 100 when I applied. Also, they get some support from the state and thus have a drastically reduced state tuition - below the cost of education. It’s us out of staters that make up the difference.
Kate
VCOM is still pretty expensive!
The SIM center is impressive - but actually it’s the number of pt exam rooms rather than the number of robots that impacts you the most -when we have student clinic in second year, each pair of students has an hour of clinic seeing a patient from the community, weekly. And there are enough rooms to make it work.
The faculty is part of their expense: was over 100 when I applied. Also, they get some support from the state and thus have a drastically reduced state tuition - below the cost of education. It’s us out of staters that make up the difference.
Kate
When is it too late in life to pursue a dream? Google “Walt Jones”.
It’s not too late. 
Cheers,
Judy
Here are some late bloomers who have been inspirational examples of older folks becoming physicians:
61 year old graduates medical school.
Never to late to be a doctor.
Vivir en una villa y trabajar de changas no le impidió recibirse de médico. (Chilean man becomes doctor at age 60).
- croooz Said:
Don't let anyone fool you. While there is no such thing as too late there is the reality that we will not have as many options as our younger counterparts. Like for me, surgery is out. Standing in one spot for 8, 10, 14, 16+ hours...yeah my knees and back ain't going to handle that. Moving around, running here & there, no problem. Standing there? Nah.
So all this verbosity to reiterate what everyone else has said.
While I understand your concern, please try to see the optimism of your situation that I do when I analyze your dilemma. Upon a closer examination of your response, I found myself asking, "can anyone really see themselves being able to retire by age 55?" Answer, no or at least I don't see it. Realistically, good health being a precursor here, most people in the U.S. today are living well into their late 70s and early 80s...now assuming for a moment that this would hold true in most cases, and considering the retirement ideals most perceive, almost no one could maintain their current lifestyle(s) 20-25 years after they have stopped working. Having taken this into account with the fact that social security, and most business agencies, have sought to raise the retirement age, even the most miserly of people would be unable to retire at the age of 55.
That said, you would have at lest 20 years, at the current retirement age, to practice (e.g., EM, Internal Med, Peds, FM, even Neurology—that is if you could stand a 4 year residency program), and while some specialties would be out of reach for you, there are several options that are not near as demanding as surgery which may come to like during you rotations...just an idea.
- cowboy8085 Said:
- croooz Said:
Don't let anyone fool you. While there is no such thing as too late there is the reality that we will not have as many options as our younger counterparts. Like for me, surgery is out. Standing in one spot for 8, 10, 14, 16+ hours...yeah my knees and back ain't going to handle that. Moving around, running here & there, no problem. Standing there? Nah.
So all this verbosity to reiterate what everyone else has said.
While I understand your concern, please try to see the optimism of your situation that I do when I analyze your dilemma. Upon a closer examination of your response, I found myself asking, "can anyone really see themselves being able to retire by age 55?" Answer, no or at least I don't see it. Realistically, good health being a precursor here, most people in the U.S. today are living well into their late 70s and early 80s...now assuming for a moment that this would hold true in most cases, and considering the retirement ideals most perceive, almost no one could maintain their current lifestyle(s) 20-25 years after they have stopped working. Having taken this into account with the fact that social security, and most business agencies, have sought to raise the retirement age, even the most miserly of people would be unable to retire at the age of 55.
That said, you would have at lest 20 years, at the current retirement age, to practice (e.g., EM, Internal Med, Peds, FM, even Neurology—that is if you could stand a 4 year residency program), and while some specialties would be out of reach for you, there are several options that are not near as demanding as surgery which may come to like during you rotations...just an idea.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. My statement that being a physician is my retirement means that I will work until I die. There is no "golden years" of sitting on a rocker, unless it's in my office at work. So unlike some of our younger colleagues who see being a physician as merely a job, for us older students it will be our life because we will be doing it right up until the very end. That's not a concern for me because I notice that many people die not from doing too much but from doing too little. There are some that are beginning to question whether we get older and hence move less or perhaps it might be that we move less and hence get older. We have an expectation to slow down physically as we age which is a mistake. Sure it takes us longer to get going but we need to get going and keep going.
I fully agree with crooz. Med school and becoming a doctor IS my retirement plan. I do not plan to ever actually “retire” but to work up until the end. There was an OB in Buffalo delivering babies until she was 83. There was an addictions medicine doctor supervising treatment facilities in the Finger Lakes up until her death at 89. Most recently, we had a physician here at the health center I work at come in on Tuesday and work and we were notified Wednesday morning that he had passed in his sleep early Wednesday AM. He was 76. The beauty of being a physician is being able to live a productive lifestyle regardless of your age. In my world, and belief system, it is a calling to be a healer, and being a healer is not confined to a certain demographic or age group. And as you age, you can accept and decline different positions and contract for part-time if need be. I want to have a life that has been fully lived. My goal is to be MD by sixty and practice from there on out. NEVER too old!! 
Right, Vicki!
I’m planning to work till I die…well hoping to, anyways. Figuring on at least till 80 (that’s my 20 year mark). As I mentioned elsewhere, the founder of my med school just recently stopped practicing. He went parttime (3 days a week) at 98, and only stopped at 104. He’s 106 now.
Kate