Greetings!
I registered here a couple of years ago and at the time I was still in a PhD program in public health on a student visa and thinking about possible ways to make the med school dream come true. I’m 35 now, completed the degree, have a faculty job and hopefully about to receive a green card soon. I have spent most of my adult life in school (11 years total…4 years of undergrad, 2 years for masters and 5 for PhD). The idea of many more years of school is scary but on the other hand I love studying and there isn’t anything else that would give me as much satisfaction as practicing medicine and doing relevant academic research.
There are a lot of MDs in my current field and I’m thinking that I should look at medical school as a continuation of my career. I already have 20+ publications including in top journals and am very familiar with the way academia works. Still, I am intimidated because this is a huge undertaking. I was considering other degrees to boost my career such as MBA but at the end of the day I’m back here to follow my dream…
My plan is to apply for the pre med program at my university for a Fall start and take courses on a part time basis because I can take 2 courses per semester for free. The pre med program here is very competitive ( it’s an Ivy League school) so I don’t know yet if I will get in. Any advice will be appreciated. My chemistry undergrad in from a foreign country but I had good grades (about 3.8 U.S. Equivalent) as well as top grades in the masters and PhD in public health from the U.S. I am not a good test taker, had average GRE scores and the MCAT will be a challenge…I don’t think they discriminate based on age although the average age in the program is mid 20s.
I think I am advancing slowly but steadily:) The strangest thing is that I don’t worry about my age anymore. I worried all my life that I am getting too old for med school. Now it feels like it would be perfectly ok to start med school at 40. There is no rush. Being a real (hehe!) doctor by 50 would be a big achievement! Would 4 years be sufficient to complete pre med requirements on a part time basis? Any other opinions would also be appreciated!
Thank you all for reading !