How Old is too old?

Just curious…
What is the oldest MSI you've ever known?
What about the oldest PGY1?
Thanks,
heart

Here on OPM, Linda Wilson starts school in a few weeks and she was born 12/25/50. Presumably she'll be a PGY-1 in four more years from that.
There are numerous stories of people in their fifties - one graduated from Einstein a few years ago at (I think) age 54; another did school in the Caribbean while in her late 50s and is doing her residency in Tennessee, I believe. (these are just the people who for whatever reason got newspaper stories written about them; there are undoubtedly many more)
Supposedly there was a guy at UT-SW who was close to 70 years old. I think he must've graduated by now, I believe he was a year or two ahead of me.
To be blunt, I don't see much point to the question. If someone is contemplating med school, hopefully they'd find the numbers encouraging because they show that, really, anyone of any age CAN get into med school. But if I were reporting that the oldest person I knew in med school was me (who started at age 44), and you are, say, 50, the information wouldn't really be very helpful… would it be discouraging? Because it shouldn't be.
Anyone trying to get into med school should just be determined to make their best possible attempt, be the most impressive applicant they can be, and recognize that age is only a small part of their portfolio.

What Mary Renard said!
Before I took the pre-meds, I heard of an attorney who started med school at the age of 55 and had recently retired at the age of 93. He served his home town as its doctor for over two decades; previously the town had had no doctor and people travelled pretty far to get to one. (There’s a couple of punchlines to be found in that story: If he’s ever sued, he can defend himself legally. If he ever makes a medical mistake, he can sue himself! laugh.gif )
I’ve heard of a couple of residents who were in their sixties. Age doesn’t matter! What does matter is stamina, energy level, determination, etc. You probably know these things about yourself well. If you’re gut hunch is saying yes, I say go for it whole-heartedly. You’ll probably do fine. Good luck — it’s a blast!

Heart,
I am the Linda Wilson that Mary told you about. And let me tell you, there are several people my age here at WVSOM. I know last year had an MS1 student the same age as me now. And I know there are several in their mid to late 40s in last year's class, and some this year, too.
As Mary said, I will be a PGY1 in 2007, God willing. And that's all any med student can say, regardless of his or her age.
What one professor said to me, when I was wondering if I was too old, was to think about how old I'd be in 5 years. And think about whether or not I would be that age regardless of whether or not I got into medical school. The fact is, 5 years from now, we will all be 5 years older.
The thing to remember is. . . in 5 years will you have worked hard and tried to achieve your goal or will you sit back and tell yourself that you can't do it, that you're too old. Read the quote on the homepage. And remember, even if you never get in, you will be able to look back and say you gave it your best shot. That is an achievement in itself!
Best of luck and feel free to email me or send me a personal message if you need to talk more.

“Age is a number. I was never limited by that. When I was 16, they said I was too young. Now I’m 46, they say I’m too old. I just never listened to that, and I don’t intend to start now. You need to do whatever your heart says to do, whatever your passion is. Age should not determine whether you do something or don’t do something.”
–Martina Navratilova, Tennis Player, age 46, interviewed by Stefanie Weiss for an article in The Washington Post’s Health section. The article is “Love-46” and it appears in today’s paper: Tues. 7/22/03.

The age mythos of med school admissions has its roots in many forms:
1 - Folks are generally resistant to change & older folks in med school is a departure from tradition…but, let me assure, the terms wrong & different are not synonymous & interchangable.
2 - I think a certain minority of traditional students, residents & some attendings are somewhat intimidated by someone who is technically their inferior, but who, in reality, possesses a great deal of life skills than they themselves may have…not to mention the fact the immense sense of confidence & self that you must possess to even attempt to undertake this journey as a non-traditional.
3 - It is the unfortunate nature of some people who wish that they had the confidence & audacity to attempt to chase their dream or better their station in life to rebuke those who actually make an attempt or let alone succeed in accomplishing such a feat.
Thankfully, in my personal experience, these people are vastly in the minority. However, they do tend to be highly vocal & apparently strategically placed upon your path. Rhetorically, you couuld think of them as hurdles to test your level of commitment. Pragmatically, they are simply nay-sayers.
Only you can truly know whether you have what it takes to succeed in this. No, not everyone who aspires to become a physician will make it. But, again pragmatically, not everyone should be a physician. We all have a skill-set we were graced with and what we choose as a profession should be commensurate with that.

I hope that you're all right and that age doesn't matter! I'm older than Linda and will be 53 when I apply next year! Aloha.

I agree with what everyone’s said here and I can’t add any anecdotes about the “oldest” med students–honestly, it’s just not something I think about much.
Being super young when you start your career can have its disadvantages too, I would think. For one thing, I think it must be kind of boring to have everything planned out from the age of 16 or whatever. For example, if you go the traditional route, then the MCAT and that stuff has to be one of the defining features of your youth, which I guarantee will put all readers of your future memoir straight into a coma. Us nontrads often have more interesting lives. The pre-med curriculum is pretty tough and competitive–while I enjoy doing it these days, I’m glad I had a lot of other experiences earlier in my life. If some people want to be critical of that or fixate on age, they can go ahead, but it’s their loss–not ours!

Hopefully, this will make you feel young! I am applying to DMUCOM and the admissions personnel was telling me that they have a young lady in her mid-60's attending their school right now. Supposedly she is in their 5 year track, but is trucking right along. Your only limited by how much you limit yourself.

I think you have to look at what you will bring to the doctor job market when you get out. lets say you are 45 now and when you are done you will be 52. Being at that age and a doctor you will probably be more attractive do to maturity and lifes issues. You will have a stronger work ethic than younger doctors and will probably be in just as good as shape. Trust me the work ethic compared to years ago is different for young people. Another issue is that you will understand what is important to the work environment.
Let me leave you with this ' It doesnt matter where you have been it only matters where you are going' Big Bill

It occurs to me that part of this fear is driven by the modern day recognition of taking on a huge student debt coupled with the need to also set aside retirement funds. Although I'm just 35, and will enter med school at 37 (God willing), an age which makes these things presumably manageable, the combined financial burden of coping with these two things at the same time is something that has crossed my mind. Anyone want to take a cut at this double-edged sword?

The financial concerns are the biggest worry for me. Student debt combined with saving for retirement plus paying for my daughter's college education all at the same time. I don't know if it's going to work.

QUOTE (OldManDave @ Jul 22 2003, 07:52 PM)

2 - I think a certain minority of traditional students, residents & some attendings are somewhat intimidated by someone who is technically their inferior, but who, in reality, possesses a great deal of life skills than they themselves may have...not to mention the fact the immense sense of confidence & self that you must possess to even attempt to undertake this journey as a non-traditional.
3 - It is the unfortunate nature of some people who wish that they had the confidence & audacity to attempt to chase their dream or better their station in life to rebuke those who actually make an attempt or let alone succeed in accomplishing such a feat.
Thankfully, in my personal experience, these people are vastly in the minority. However, they do tend to be highly vocal & apparently strategically placed upon your path. Rhetorically, you couuld think of them as hurdles to test your level of commitment. Pragmatically, they are simply nay-sayers.

As usual, Dave has some good thoughts on this journey. I have alot of anxieties as I slog along the application trail at 42. On the one hand I have alot of people encouraging me and telling me how great a physician I will be, the cool life skills I have and other nice supportive comments. On the other hand, there is my own brain, which says insecure things like: am I too old? have I wasted my life by not doing this when I was 22? am I spending these thousands of dollars for nothing? That last one is really hard to listen to ...
Sadly, I have lost some people from my life who were not very supportive or who were sort of critical of my goals ("Well I could go to medical school too, if I WANTED too ... rolleyes.gif ) and one old friend who just stopped speaking to me after I told her. That really hurt.
I know that not every school will want me, and that's ok. I can just do my very best and show up and keep moving forward. I don't need to go to JHopkins or anything and I know that for me, I just want to practice medicine and I LOVE working with patients. In the end, the school(s) that accept me will be the one(s) that really want ME, and that will be priceless.
For me, this time of applications and secondaries really stirs up my life examination and so I think it's natural to really re examine my past, my life, my motives, etc. It is a really profound period of change and growth, which is scary and really cool at the same time !