Is age a factor?

njs030

Hi everyone I'd love if you could give me some good honest opinions please!
I applied for medicine in my early 20's and was accepted but had to turn down my place when I found I was unexpectantly pregnant. My children are now almost teenagers and I'm considering applying as a mature student next year when the smallest starts secondary school, if I get in I will be 35 when I start, in your honest opinions is that too old?
Would you think it would be too tough physically/mentally?
I would really appreciate any comments on this positive or negative with your own experiences! Thank you.

medic087

Definitely not. I started medicine last year at 24. There's people in my class in their 40's. If medicine is the dream, go for it.

candlegrease

I personally wouldn't dream of doing it at that age, but everybody's different.

bluemagpie

If you want to and think you can do it why not, you'll still have another 30 years of work ahead, sounds like plenty of time for a second career to me.

ThatDrGuy

... If your husband can run the entire household for the next 10 years and you can survive/put kids through college on his income sure. But medicine will eat a huge chunk of your time and when you qualify it will eat all of it. Route to GP takes around 4 years before any laxity in working hours that would lend in anyway toward a family life. You would probably have to forget about any other specialisation beyond GP starting at that age. There are no doubt people who have done it but it would be pretty hard. I honestly couldn't imagine getting home from a 36 hour shift and trying to tend to family stuff or squeeze in any sort of life between 70 hour weeks, exams, research etc.

njs030

Thank you all for the replies, much appreciated!!
ThatDrGuy-you say that GP would be the only specialisation possible due to age, would you mind telling me why?
Do the 70+ hour weeks last for more than a couple of years?
My family would be fine and very soon the children would be gone-it would be nice to have achieved my dream or at least be on the way.

ThatDrGuy

notjustsweet wrote: »

Thank you all for the replies, much appreciated!!
ThatDrGuy-you say that GP would be the only specialisation possible due to age, would you mind telling me why?
Do the 70+ hour weeks last for more than a couple of years?
My family would be fine and very soon the children would be gone-it would be nice to have achieved my dream or at least be on the way.

Well its not impossible but. There is a major bottleneck in Irish specialist training. You would end up in your mid 40's competing against 30 year olds with PHDs and multiple academic publications for the tiny amount of speciality training spots. You would assumingly also be constrained by being unable to move house every year and doing 36 - 70 hour straight shifts in your 40's would destroy you. You might be able to get into something like radiology or anasthetics but again you would most likely lose out as well. GP is best route for older grads, if you want to do a hospital speciality emigration would be your best bet. 70 plus hour weeks last 10-15 years at least in most hospital specialties.

chanste

I was 28 starting in Med school. Age hasn't been an issue at all. When you start you will probably wonder what you ever worried about. There can be endless reasons not to do a medical degree, but age is not one of them.

As regards the alternative to GP, I myself kinda figure I don't care if I ever get to consultant level so long as I have a job I can be comfortable in and keep paying the bills. I'll prob aim to do basic medical training or equivalent in emergency med, and after that I don't really care about specialist training (for now anyway - and I figure if I want to take it on when I'm 35/36 I can assess things at the time)

Not sure how regular re-locating would figure into my plans, that would bother me much more than not being a consultant.

njs030

Thanks again that's great advice, if I'm lucky enough to get in next year by the time I'm finished college/intern years my baby birds will have flown the nest and either be in college themselves or out in the world so I actually have no limitations to movement/travelling to different countries etc. I was seriously considering moving to England at some point anyway.....maybe two birds, one stone!!


I accept that at my age it will be harder to climb the ladder but once qualified can you stay at a level of your choosing? Or does everyone have to continue with the training programmes to get a job?

ThatDrGuy

notjustsweet wrote: »

Thanks again that's great advice, if I'm lucky enough to get in next year by the time I'm finished college/intern years my baby birds will have flown the nest and either be in college themselves or out in the world so I actually have no limitations to movement/travelling to different countries etc. I was seriously considering moving to England at some point anyway.....maybe two birds, one stone!!


I accept that at my age it will be harder to climb the ladder but once qualified can you stay at a level of your choosing? Or does everyone have to continue with the training programmes to get a job?

Oh definitely. You can be a Reg/ SHO forever. A lot of people are. It just that working conditions for those below consultant level are hellish in a lot of hospitals. So people try to get through them asap. UK system is a lot more civlised with more opportunities for things like job sharing etc. If you can emigrate that opens up a lot more options.

Flier

I would think long and hard about what kind of medicine you want to end up in. A lot of people start into their medical degrees just wanting to be 'a doctor', but with little idea of where they actually want to end up. With you being a bit older than most, and a family, you probably want to look further than just your college years. Some specialties are very intensive, hours, training and competition wise, and be it right or wrong, your age might be seen as a disadvantage. You may end up having to move to a different part of the country every 6 months or year, and in the later stages of training, fellowships abroad, even if you have decided to do your training here. Other specialties are less intensive, and won't require you to go abroad to be fully trained. So if I were you, I would think beyond college and give some thought to where you want to end up. If you've your heart set on a specialty that logistically will be almost impossible to achieve, you might not want to settle for an 'easier' specialty. Good luck with your decision making!

njs030

Thanks for the very informative message, I'm so glad I asked the question you're all very helpful!!
Hmm I had a vague idea of paediatrics or obstetrics and genealogy but from what I've read they are very hard so I've kinda weaned myself off them! Maybe anaesthetics as thatdrguy suggested before, it seems interesting and I'm looking into it a bit more!

I probably will apply and go from there, to be honest it's been a dream for so long I dont think age can be the reason to give up on it and I'd regret not trying.

Thanks again for great advice and ill definately think about the speciality!

his_dudeness

The hospital based specialities do tend to be very stressful, in terms of working hours, competition, lack of personal time, but they can be very rewarding.. But there is alot more to medicine than hospitals and GP is not the only-non-hospital speciality.

Pyschiatry is now predominantly community based, as is occupational health. From a lifestyle POV, Emergency work is at least predictable in terms of shift work, so at least you know what time of the day you'd finish.

highcream

If you are willing to move from ireland then no its not a factor.I couldnt imagine trying to compete for training posts working 80+ hour weeks in ireland in your 40s.Try and get on a gp training programme abroad maybe when qualified u can move back home.10 years working as a gp and u will be up to your eyeballs in money:D

bohemian2010

honest opinion is that at entering medical school at 35 you will be severely limiting your career options, presuming its a GEM programme you're entering you will be graduating at 39, finishing intern year at 40, at which point you'll be entering into 10 - 15 years post graduate training (if staying in hospital medicine), of which some of it will almost certainly be abroad away from family/friends, you will come back to Ireland in your early to mid fifties to try and compete for whatever few posts become available, in short it is highly unlikely you will be considered for a post over someone 20 years younger, however presuming you go into GP, you'll finish your training at 44, looking forward to over 2 decades of working ahead of you, I feel GP maybe a more sensible option for someone of your age. Sorry for sounding ageist but thats reality for you as I see it.

ericm84

Former Irish rugby player Emmer Byrne started Medicine at 34 and graduated last July at 39. Now I've no idea what he is going to specialise in but its just an example of people entering medicine later in life:

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/life-after-rugby-26868373.html

Cailleachdubh

Personally, I envy you that you've practically finished raisingyour children and are still only 35. I started medicine at 31 and am going to have to try and figure out how to fit in the whole 'having a family' thing with studying and starting a career in medicine. But I am certainly not alone. We are generally told to just 'have your babies as you go' as you can't risk waiting. A good few people in my (GEM) course have done just this. It's difficult, but doable. I don't know how it'll pan out in the post-grad world and it's pretty scary to be honest. But people do it. When you have to do it, you'l manage.

If you ask me, you're at an advantage compared to those of us who are late twenties/thirties and haven't started our families yet! I know of two women in my class who were in their forties starting out, so you're still a spring chicken by comparison!

pc11

Flier wrote: »

I would think long and hard about what kind of medicine you want to end up in. A lot of people start into their medical degrees just wanting to be 'a doctor', but with little idea of where they actually want to end up. With you being a bit older than most, and a family, you probably want to look further than just your college years. Some specialties are very intensive, hours, training and competition wise, and be it right or wrong, your age might be seen as a disadvantage. You may end up having to move to a different part of the country every 6 months or year, and in the later stages of training, fellowships abroad, even if you have decided to do your training here. Other specialties are less intensive, and won't require you to go abroad to be fully trained. So if I were you, I would think beyond college and give some thought to where you want to end up. If you've your heart set on a specialty that logistically will be almost impossible to achieve, you might not want to settle for an 'easier' specialty. Good luck with your decision making!

Can you give some idea of which specialties are most intense and which are less so?

redlane

bohemian2010 wrote: »

in short it is highly unlikely you will be considered for a post over someone 20 years younger

20 years is a bit excessive. You're suggesting competing against someone who started at 15 and furthermore started GEMS at 15! 15 years, maybe.