#MedSchool40s #CareerChange #MatureStudent
Hey there! 🌟 So, I recently went to an open day at a med school and got some discouraging feedback about applying as a mature candidate in my 30s. The lady I spoke to basically made it sound like studying medicine at 40 is a crazy idea.
But hey, I’ve been in finance for almost 15 years, and I’ve never felt fulfilled. I’ve always had a passion for science and making a real difference. I did my research, evaluated my options, and even started a biology course to test the waters. I was finally considering a big career change…
But now I’m feeling pretty defeated and questioning if pursuing med school near 40 is truly impossible. Do I really have to spend the next 20+ years paying for my teenage mistakes? 🤔
I’m looking for honest advice here – is it really that unadvisable to start med school later in life? Can you share your thoughts on this?
Possible solution:
– Research more about medical schools that have a more diverse age range for students
– Consider part-time or online programs to balance studies with work/family commitments
– Speak with career counselors or mentors who can provide guidance on making this career switch
Let’s have an open and honest discussion about this! Your insights and experiences could really help me with this life-changing decision. Thanks in advance for your input! 💬🔍
The simple answer is that going to med school, doing residency, and maybe additional training for a speciality means that your monetary rate of return for going to med school vs staying in finance is going to be low, unless you are able to work into your 70s.
That doesn’t necessarily mean not to do it though. From your finance career you may already have substantial savings, and enjoying what you do could be worth ending up with less money. You will have to deal with agism, but there are non-traditional med students who succeed.
You’ve never studied science , what if you hate it. Maybe start there at a community College
If you have considerable savings or passive income, why not?
I speak here of the US experience.
It is doable. But do you really want to? Look into the burnout rate of doctors and how many want to leave the field. Look at the reasons for the burnout.
Ask yourself if this is the only way to help people? Why not nursing or social work or…? Why not using your finance skills at a non-profit? Really examine your ego and desires before committing. It is a brutal process to just get to be called Doctor.
Then talk to some med students/ doctors who did it.
Do you have a realistic idea of what most doctors do all day? Can you get some practical experience to find out?
Know that med school won’t be the hardest part of the journey, on you or your family. The hardest part will be residency. This is a minimum of 3 years of intense work over long hours after your 4 years of medical school.
Make sure your relationship is super strong before starting residency or it can be crushed by your mental and physical exhaustion. Your whole family will be sacrificing things (mainly time with you) to make your dream happen.
As far as financing it, there are loan pay back/ forgiveness programs if you are willing to work in an underserved area in certain specialties.
TL;DR Totally doable. But make sure you really, really want it.
Good luck!
Take some science classes first. You haven’t studied it so you have to make sure you like it and that it’s something you can excel in. You’d have to do a lot of work before you can even go to med school; since you weren’t pre-med in undergrad, you’d have to take care of that first.
Why don’t you consider nursing or physicians assistant, or something a bit further out like pharmacy, physiotherapy or occupational therapy, counselling social work, etc.
All of these careers require 3-4 years of education and you get accredited and start working.
One of my nursing unit managers was a med student who dropped out at the age of 20 due to burn out/pressure and pursued something else. Afterwards at the age of 33 craved to do medicine again and weighed his situation out and realised that medicine would take too long and his returns wouldn’t be worth it and has wife and kids to look after and enjoy life with which medicine would effect. So decided to study nursing, became a nurse at 36 and is not the NUM in late 40s.
If you still feel like medicine after these degrees it definitely becomes easier.
I hope this helps 🙂
P.s this is also a lot easier in every way and still great demand and good pay
You get one life.
Fuck, go for it.
I think the very fact that you have a high pull in this direction at the age of 40 and with some life and career under your belt is the exact reason I REALLY hope you go for it!! I feel inspired by your post even with the less favorable mentions. You’ve done a lot of research and preparation. You clearly aren’t thinking on a whim. Maybe that’s a higher power.
If you’re passionate about it go for it. If you just need a change maybe continue swinging the waters until you figure out where you fit. I believe in you
Yes you are bonkers for even considering it unless your financed for retirement are already sorted and you want to do nothing else for the rest of your life.
If you’re in the US, You haven’t yet taken the difficult science prerequisites- a year of O chem, Biochemistry, cellular biology, molecular biology, and genetics with sufficient grades to qualify. You will have to study psychology and sociology for the modern MCAT as well.
Then you have to apply, interview, and get accepted.
Then two more years of accelerated graduate level study on Anatomy, Physiology, biochemistry and genetics, immunology, histology, disease pathology, pharmacology, and all of clinical medicine and physical examination including practical examinations, group projects, individual presentations, small group discussions, examinations on all of the above every two weeks commensurate to college coursework final examination levels of material.
Then two years of practicing full time clinical experience in core and sub specialty medicine including internal medicine, surgery, surgery subspecialties, neurology, obstetrics, ambulatory medicine clinic, critical care, psychiatry, clinical research, and a number of selectives like radiology or dermatology or pathology, etc. Then to be licensed and credentialed to practice medicine, three to eight or more years of double full time indentured servitude in internship residency at near minimum wage, at least in the US with minimum one to two physical relocations around the country not of your choice. And by the way, it sounds like you’re already well behind every one of your potential competitors and colleagues in preparedness and qualifications.
You’re looking at tens of thousands of hours of time commitments away from your family, friends, hobbies, vacations, and earning potential. Is it worth it?
You can also entertain other careers in the medical field that don’t take doctorate degrees / residency to complete. It may not be the best idea to get into something with 8-12 years of school this late, but something that requires 2-4 can still pay well
If this is something you can dedicate the rest of your life to. Go for it. Finances can be figured out.
You’re currently going through the informed pessimism, next is valley of despair, then you either quit or you become an informed optimist.
Yes there’s a lot to think about and you only have this **one** life. Block out the noise and spend time **learning** more about it rather than thinking you can’t do it because you’re wasting all this time and energy on doubt.
At the end of the day nobody cares about your credentials, but can you DO the job.
If my dentist cleans my teeth and they are clean, I do not care how old they are or how long they’ve been working. As long as my teeth are clean.
If you have a family then imho I would advise against it. I can go into detail if you like but I speak from personal experience when I say if you are doing it, you keep going until you’re finished. It’s a game changer for your family if you’re the breadwinner
Speaking from experience from the US – if you study diligently you’ll be fine in terms of learning “new” material – chemistry, biology, physics prereqs are not that useful. You’ll be studying physiology, biochemistry, pathology, anatomy but the amount of work is dense under a tight timeline – most students don’t feel like they can breathe during this process. After 2 years of it, then you have to learn new subjects in different specialties and if your tests are anything like the NBME tests, they are borderline unfair and not really designed to assess your knowledge but more designed to weed the weakest test-takers from the pack. Depending on how well you do during these four years determines which specialty you’re able to go into, and then after you choose a specialty that program owns your life for the next 4-7 years. The main reason why people in the field don’t recommend this path easily is that for nearly a decade of your life – everything will be put on hold in order for you to concentrate on learning and adjusting to the hospital system. Your previous academic experience is not that big of a factor since I had classmates with non-science majors do phenomenally well and there were a few people in their 40s that while they weren’t top of the pack, they did fine and got into the positions they wanted. If you asked them at the midpoint (med school graduate but before residency) whether or not they still had that same initial enthusiasm they were more ambivalent.
Ultimately, don’t let any one opinion sway you. Understand there are pros and cons to both sides. If you can’t imagine doing anything else with your life outside of becoming a doctor then know it’s more than doable. If you value your free time, time spent with family, and potential opportunities that may arise in the next decade of your life then understand that these will be the payment for the medical path.
What I’ve found it is that the total amount of debit doesn’t justify it at a later age ….. there are alternatives tho physician assistant or nursing and continuing the education to DNP …. I’m in a similar position I spent my whole career in banking and finance ( small business banking) and left to go to nursing I’m 48 and currently in nursing school. I love the change even though it’s full of blood sweat and tears I’m glad I made the change
Because you said you want to contribute to science, you might be more interested in a PhD, which is paid for and you have a lot more approaches forward compared to medical school. Also, it’s easier to get into a graduate program than it is to get into medical school and overall shorter (if you include residency). A PhD/MD program might also be interesting to you, but it might be more classes than you care for. I’m in one now and it’s great for motivated student who know what you want.
There are probably more physicians wishing they had your job than people with your job wishing they were physicians.
The medical industrial complex is a terrible place to work with decent pay that is the only thing that keeps people going into it.
Perhaps it depends on how serious you are about it. Make sure it’s not just a phase. And you don’t necessarily have to become a full blown doctor. Other credentials like physician assistant (PA), nurse, and APRN are ones I’ve heard of. Good luck!
I tried in my early 30s as Medicine was something I always wanted to do.
Re-did some of my exams I didn’t do so well at when I was in school and was looking to convert my degree over. Even sat the entry level exams for medical school after studying organic chemistry/biology etc
It wasn’t enough and I didn’t pass. Gave it a bit more thought and I felt that it was too much of a career jump, the amount of money I’d have lost by quitting my career on top of spending a fortune in more university fees at Medical school.
Ended up staying where I was, bought a house, married the girlfriend. Now I have two children and I’m early 40s. I’m likely staying where I am until I retire. It isn’t amazing but I can also live with it.
Personally I feel adding value to the human race or doing something amazing is overrated and it’s better to have enough to live and to enjoy your own corner of the world sufficiently. Then again my career isn’t a desk job and I have wild stories both ridiculous and earth shattering to tell so maybe I can’t be the judge of that.
I mean, if you’ve given it serious, serious, SERIOUS thought, have weighed the pros and cons of being an older med school student, and you’ve worked out the finances and you know you can afford to do it… why not?
Ultimately, it’s a leap of faith, and no one can really guarantee you will find what you’re looking for
PLEASE don’t let anyone dissuade you!!! ONLY YOU know your passions, feelings, thoughts, dreams, ideas, imagination, capabilities, life logistics, what you are willing to do, what you would regret NOT doing, the future you imagine for yourself… You clearly aren’t being flippant about this, it’s not just some whim or passing thought you happened to throw out there. I have to say the fact that you felt “disappointed”, “sad” and “totally defeated” not to receive an encouraging response (which I totally understand) says everything – it just shows how YOU feel and what YOU are excited about in your life. Please do not let anyone crush this!!! “Disappointed”, “sad” and “totally defeated” – just no! Please do not accept anything that makes you feel like that! If you didn’t feel that strongly about it in the first place, or if you felt relieved to hear the “don’t do it” type of advice, then that would indicate something entirely different that you could consider for what it was. But my gosh to hear you imagined doing something great and were crushed when someone dissuaded you makes me sad and tells me you SHOULD do it! Might it be hard? Sure. Are there logistics to consider? Of course. But does that mean it’s impossible or something you shouldn’t do? ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN NOT!!!!!!!! Please follow what excites you and calls you, NOT what crushes you. All the best!!! xoxoxoxox
I think it’s the perfect age. I wish there were better funding for it.
I don’t think it’s a great idea at 40 unless you have really good stress tolerance.
Becoming a doctor is hell. My Sister is 2 years into her residency after graduating from med school and she currently makes about minimum wage. You’ll be nearly 50 by the time going to school pays off and that’s if you can handle all the 80+ hour weeks they make you work and all the stress they put you through. If you fold halfway through,
It would probably be a better idea to find a new career path where the experience you already have can help you make the leap over rather than completely starting over.
Fuck yeah brother do it. I started a little later too, took out full loans. Now I’m doing emergency medicine and the pay is S-T-U-P-I-D. You can pay off loans within 3 years easy even if you take a less competitive path. With the shortage of doctors out there the sign-on incentives are insane. Schedules are flexible because everybody needs help everywhere.
Don’t let others tell you what you can and can’t do, don’t let other people dissuade you. If you don’t like medicine then go into consulting work for other med-adjacent companies. This field is big. Huge. And the money lying around is dumb.
You’re gonna be 50 regardless. You can either be 50 and be a physician or be 50 and be something.
You have one life. If it’s what you want to do then do it.
Does the UK have something like physicians assistant? Or nurse practitioner? I feel like this might be a happy medium where you can be in the field but not have to jump through quite the same time/financial hoops
Folks Thanks for all the kind words and very helpful advice.
The word debt kept coming up so I thought it’d useful just to add that I’m based in UK. The med school fee as I understand is around 37k (at today’s money) for four years which I suppose is considerably lower than in the States? From foundation training year onwards (similar to residency) there’ll be salary.
Lemme tell you one thing- if you are knowledgeable
you don’t need to have expensive classes that takes too long.. it takes them 4 months to get through 1 textbook! That’s kinda crazy?! I was raised by my grandmother was a nursing professor and she died when I was fairly young (17 underage) and her son came and swept everything away and I was left for dead. Anyways~ being in her classes as a child made me very interested in what the adults were learning, and by the age of 12 I had passed the RN exam.. there are no state laws saying you have to have prof. education if you are knowledgeable enough you can self-study, and that shows a LOT of determination and interest in your field! It can get you into 👍 the latter part of med school at least! Without having to blow lots of $ on the first yrs. Penny for my thoughts (I am 41 now btw)
I work in medical academia at a medical school in California. I would reevaluate this plan. Medical school, licensures, credentialing, CME, and the job itself is extremely stressful and depending on what scope of medicine you wish to practice you really won’t make any substantial money until after your fellowship and then you’ll spend awhile paying your student loans. I would look into NP (nurse practitioner) or PA (physician assistant) school before jumping to an MD. Work life balance can be better for NP’s and PA’s.
I think she really gave you a good answer. You’re looking for meaning in the wrong place, IMO. Starting a new career in your late 40s means you’ll have to work well into your 70s. It is not advisable in the sense that no reasonable person would like to grind in their 40s for little money, and start getting back their investment in their 50s while doing a demanding job. Because it’s not like once you’re a doctor it’s over; then you have to work and what does it make you think that it won’t be as soul-dragging as finance?
I know many MDs and honestly no one is finding “meaning” in their job. The best part of the job is the money and prestige. So you may feel now in your late 30s a “meaning crisis” but what about when in your 50s your peer doctors will be in a nice financial position, with houses and on track for retirement, while you’ll be working to barely break even from your investment? Are you sure you gonna like that? Because the more we age the more we start valuing different things, and most likely not ready to make sacrifices for our career as much as we do in our 30s.
OP is based in the UK guys… stop recommending nursing… pay starts at 27K. Training to be a doctor isn’t as hard in the UK and being a junior doctor is easier. They have mandated days off and hours are capped. Also medical school isn’t that expensive in the UK. OP, my mum is a psychiatrist and a couple of her colleagues trained later in life. It’s doable.
If you were single and childless and could financially support yourself I’d say go for it.
But No. It is totally not fair to your partner who doesn’t realize they’ll be pretty much raising your child on their own while providing all the financial support for the family as you are going through med school, internship, residency. You simply won’t have time to give them much attention at all. Resentments will build and stress will pervade.
Your 40s and 50s should be peak earning years towards your retirement and you’ll never make up those lost earnings. Again, not fair to your family.
I think its an okay idea if you have a good support system. A family, money in the bank, and you are mentally and physically strong. But just know its very daunting to start something like this later in life.
I did something similar and while I did achieve my goal, it was extremely taxing. My goal is also only a masters program as well, so only 2 years. I can’t imagine doing 7-10 years at my age.
What about nursing school or being a physician assistant? Here in the US, they have accelerated nursing programs and then you could get a masters to become a nurse practitioner. I’m 36 and was considering med school or nursing school. I think the lack of money for 7ish years and crazy loans would set me back too much. Here, I can do prereqs and then do the year of nursing school and then start making money. I’m currently a tenure-track professor going into my fourth year (have my PhD) but nursing is calling my name and I’ll make more money/have more stability. It’s also flexible and you can change specialties if you get bored or burnt out. Good luck!!!
Use your financial modeling skills to run semi detailed scenario analysis. It could be worth it, it might not be. Science and math are about objective data, so do appreciate the answer!
However, if it leans towards medical school, which seems to be a matter of the heart from what you’ve written, do not think for a moment it will fill every gap. It is an institution that is… glorified to the extreme. It will cost you more than time. You will learn about kickbacks, rebates, and all nature of strategic partnerships that will make you question your decision.
Tldr. Medicine is a business. If you are looking for true fulfillment, a career isn’t going to offer that. I would advise caution, and to attempt seeking fulfillment at another vehicle (volunteering) before committing many years of your life to an emotional choice.
Totally your life. If you want to spend 42-52 walking around bein a doctor doin doctor stuff then that is absolutely up to you. Seems like a weird bag, NGL, but again, it’s your perogative.
35 here and doing post bacc for med school at the community college.
WHY THE FUCK NOT AT 40? Esp if you are in a situation that allows you to go back. People starting over at 40 everyday! If you want to do it, then do it. There’s that one quote about how once the idea has been planted in the brain, it’s always gonna be there. If you can do it, then you totally should.