Hello everyone, I am new to this site and am thinking of becoming a doctor. I will be 38 years old in about a week from now and have been discouraged by a few people, as they say I am too old to enter this profession. What does everyone here think of that? I really have no background at all that I can bring into a medical career( I was a flight instructor and sometimes charter pilot), but I’d like to learn more about what is involved and what will be expected of me. Will someone speak to me about this?
Thanks,
Robin
Hello Robin and welcome to the site. I would like to suggest that you just start reading and utilizing the search feature for any questions you might have. Pretty much anything you can think to ask has been answered already. Again, welcome to OPM!! 
Hi, and welcome! I’m 41 and just took the MCAT last week. I’ll be applying this year for admission in fall of 2006. You’re not too old.
Welcome, Robin. There are even a few other pilots on OPM if I’m not mistaken. I’m learning “pilot” as my son is in the Navy doing his primary pilot training… both he and I are having rather intense years but each of us is having fun, too.
Mary
Robin,
I encourage you to check things out and make the decision that you believe to be right, now what others think is right. There are many people on this site with a wealth of knowledge and experience who are very willing to share. Best of luck to you!
Larry
Welcome to the fold! As has been said, you will find a wealth of information on this site to help guide your journey. Your first steps will most likely be signing up for a class and doing some shadowing to be sure you know what you are getting yourself into (and help motivate you during the classwork!).
www.aamc.org has a list of post-bacc programs that you might find useful in terms of finding a good place to start classes. You can search on here for various discussions on the pros and cons of an informal vs. formal program.
Good luck, and don’t let the age issue get in the way. There are a lot of good reasons not to become a doctor, but age shouldn’t be one of them. If you believe within that this is the right thing for you, the rest will fall into place.
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Hello everyone, I am new to this site and am thinking of becoming a doctor. I will be 38 years old in about a week from now and have been discouraged by a few people, as they say I am too old to enter this profession. What does everyone here think of that? I really have no background at all that I can bring into a medical career( I was a flight instructor and sometimes charter pilot), but I’d like to learn more about what is involved and what will be expected of me. Will someone speak to me about this?
Thanks,
Robin
I hope you do well, I’m sure you will. I’m asking some of the same questions, but I’d like to share a story with you. I was asking a lot of questions over at the university and sending emails, but not getting the answers I needed going through formal channels. So I found out about some book sales on campus, and I started going. There was a very intense looking gentleman, he looked like a scientist but he came early and loaded up with books of all subjects, science, art, literature, languages, pedagogy. I found out later that he was bringing the books to poor children from disadvantaged backgrounds. We struck up a conversation, and it turned out that he had undertaken an MD/PhD track. Over the next 45 minutes or so, we had an inspiring conversation about how he had helped his two sons get very good MCAT scores. He was very proud of them. He’s aware of all the academic political ups and downs, and he gave me advice about professors, GPA, the honors program, and key faculty contacts. He told me how the major universities stack up against each other. He asked the right questions, and discussed a desire to undertake another subspecialization involving surgery (if I understood correctly–I sat down and actually wrote down notes after the conversation). I got the feeling it was the first time that someone had been up front and honest with me on campus about a realistic way to approach medical school. Like any good potential mentor, he tried to dissuade me, but it became obvious that he was really more interested in assessing how serious I was about my goals and how much work I was willing to put in. We shook hands, and besides the financial questions I’ve been asking here (which came up later, after that meeting) I felt a much clearer understanding of the timing cycles, and equal opportunity ramifications, and class distributions going into medical school. The candidates, apparently, are evaluated sequentially as the applications are sent in to the admissions committees, so timing can be crucial. Perhaps a difference of two weeks could mean the difference between admission and rejection, even within a margin inside the submission timeframe. After we both walked away, I saw him again at the book sale, and we can touch base there. So, there are great people at book stores, maybe even potential mentors. And the quality of the information was über-adviser.
Hey, I am 45 and will not take the MCATs until next April.