I was told that some medical schools are more sympathetic than others in their view on older applicants. I know someone who was brought up as a mormon, married young, had a daughter early, woke up one day and realized what she had been missig in life, and got divorced. By the time she applied and got accepted into UCSF, she was in her early 30s (I think). She told me that UCSF is one such medical school. Good luck (to the initial poster of this thread).
Exactly. I actually saw an admissions committee in action a while back and there were a number of nontraditional students considered. The age of the applicants did not enter into at all. It was primarily a matter of determining the extent to which the applicant had acquainted him/herself with medicine as a part of making the decision to become a doctor.
Maybe, maybe not. As other people have mentioned, a number of schools actually prefer non-traditional students. My wife went to Med School at the University of Vermont. She was a distinct minority having gone there straight from undergrad. Most of the medical doctors I know (and I know hundreds of them) took some time off after undergrad. Maybe not 5 years, but some time at least. It depends on the specialty and the hospital. My wife is currently an ob/gyn resident. She works 80 hours a week and is basically told when her vacations will be. When she finally enters practice (she may do a fellowship after residency) her schedule might be better if she enters a large practice, but if she enters a small practice, her own practice, or academic medicine, her schedule may never be all that great. If you want a good schedule, go into radiology, derm, or pathology. Later in life you may have a good schedule, but residency sucks in most disciplines. Med School might be tough, but my understanding is that you use very little of what you learn in med school once you reach residency and beyond. Also, I think admittance to med school is about your undergraduate performance, your work experience, your MCAT scores, and your interview. I don't think "doctor skills" like diagnostic ability come into it too much. Loans. You'll get more aid though, don't worry. Stay in state if you can. The good thing is that doctors are considered solid investments by lenders. Not only can you usually get aid because they know you'll be good for it, but later on you may get deals from mortgage lenders and things (we got a low interest no money down home loan through SunTrust just because my wife is a doctor). Good, because being a medical doctor is no guarantee of making any money. Malpractice is ridiculous, some specialties don't pay well to begin with, and your debt load can be huge. Still, it's better than a humanities PhD...
I have a friend from high school and a friend from college who took the "indirect route" to an M.D. The first went to a post-baccalaureate program in Philadephia that was specifically designed to prepare students for medical school. I think it was a two-year program. He's finished med school now and was in residency the last time I heard (at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore). The other friend actually earned a second bachelor's degree at UI-C before going to Rush Medical School in Chicago. He was accepted at at least two other programs but liked Rush best. He just finished his residency and is now an emergency room doctor north of Chicago. Both told me they went back because they felt like they had always really wanted to be doctors and realized it after starting work in other fields. The high school friend also mentioned that one of the women in the program was in her early 40s (although I would think she was an outlier). Most were like him--mid to late 20s. Bottom line: If you really want to be a doctor, then your age shouldn't be an obstacle.
PHD's are much harder to get IMO.... to get an MD, all you need to do is to memorize, or if your lucky, be blessed with a photo-graphic memory. but for PHDs, in feilds of science; you need to be creative and innovative and do a lot of problem solving to come up with a theory.
This is where my gf comes in...a guy from MDAnderson found out he was doing the same research as she was, and at a conference, sought her out. Nice!
Of course, MD is more respected. For example, a pharmacist these days earns a doctorate of pharmacy, but no one ever addresses them as doctor.
I'm not sure it's a respect thing as much as custom. I certainly don't respect dentists, but everyone calls them Dr. (BTW, in my limited experience the PhD's who insist on being called Dr. invariably turn out to be the poorest professors)
That's may also be true for MDs. If one cares so much about one's title, one may not be taking care of things that one should really pay attention to.
Most insecure, perhaps? Anyway, my favorite is Dr. John Doe, Ph.D. Um, before or after, not both please.
The schedule depends heavily on the specialty. ER docs actually have one of the easiest schedules, because they work fixed shifts, and when they leave work, they leave work. Radiology and pathology also typically work on fixed schedules. Most other specialties need to at least be available by phone at all times, even if they work "normal" hours, and in all hospital jobs will be on call on some nights. Family medicine, dermatology, psychiatry, etc. tend to have the shortest regular working hours (though all are expected to answer the phone any time of day), while ob/gyns are the most likely to still be working at ridiculous hours of the night, and a number of surgical specialties are known to occasionally be in the OR for 24+ hours on end. Pediatrics, of course, usually means a cushy in-office schedule but lots of middle-of-the-night phone calls from concerned parents... As it is, most of the doctors on crazy 24/7 schedules are residents, and most residents will be on those crazy schedules, but it's just for a few years.
That depends on what you mean by "few". My wife is an OB/GYN resident. She has a four year residency (she's through about 2.5), but then she may do a 3 year fellowship afterthat during which the lifestyle and pay don't get much better. If she doesn't do a fellowship chances are good that she'll be on call at least every 3rd day (including weekends) for the rest of her working life because of the nature of OB. I suspect some surgical specialties require even more than the 7 years that are typical for your average hardcore OB/GYN. My wife would not do this again if she had another chance at it. No matter how dedicated you are to medicine and to your patients there are some medical specialties that are just designed for misery.
Oh yeah, I know, I was just piling on. Between the hours, the bad residency, and the malpractice insurance, you really have to love vaginas to go into OB/GYN.
Hmm...that's more how the patients arrive in an OB practice, not the docs. Ah, the stories I hear over dinner...