I regret not going to med school

[Anonymous]

OP, as a 35 year old who did a post-bacc at 29 and did not matriculate, I say do this, do this, do this, do this. Don't wait. Just do it. Don't look back.

Well, maybe get some exposure to medicine in a research capacity or as a medical assistant or something, but don't look back. Just jump.

I wish I had.

[Anonymous]

The problem with medical school these days (and especially going later in life) is that medical school has gotten REALLY expensive. Tuition alone (so no living expenses) is $75K/year at all the area schools (and every school in the US except for state programs).
Then you'll be loosing income for a decade plus (you are paid during residency but only $40K a year so it's essentially a wash).
So grads coming out of school these days are $300-400K in debt unless they have someone else footing the bill (parents, the military, a high earning spouse, etc).

It didn't used to be the case. My husband went to Hopkins for med school 15 years ago and his tuition was 35% of what it is today!! In those days it could make financial sense to attend at age 40 and work for only 20 years. Now it may not make financial sense to
pay all that tuition money (and decade of lost income--which is HUGE) to have a 20 year career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a 35 year old who did a post-bacc at 29 and did not matriculate, I say do this, do this, do this, do this. Don't wait. Just do it. Don't look back.

Well, maybe get some exposure to medicine in a research capacity or as a medical assistant or something, but don't look back. Just jump.

I wish I had.

Why didn't you end up martriculating?

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you should do it, but consider the time and money ramifications considerably. Really read back on the Student Doctor forums, ask questions, and see if you can get a real idea of how grueling and intensive medical school will be. It is a great forum and they will help you, but you need to be prepared that the information you find out won't be favorable towards pursuing a career at 30.

That being said, my husband is a military doctor and he is starting his career relatively late (36, first year of residency) but being in the military means he's in fantastic shape and can do the physically demanding duties with no real issues. It's nice not having to worry about money and having a huge student loan debt over our heads, but military medicine doctors aren't getting paid the same as their civilian counterparts, and there isn't a lot of stability either, especially if you have a family.

Think about all of your options, especially monetarily. You are definitely not too old to start.

[Anonymous]

DH is a military doctor and has no student loans. He has an awesome schedule. Depending on the specialty you go into, the military route may not be a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

I work with doctors on a day to day basis and categorically they discourage people from becoming doctors. A lot of negative changes as a direct result of Obamacare. Lower reimbursement, expensive EMR, and more stress.

[Anonymous]

Say you make 100K per year...

One year post back and four years of med school cost you:
$450K lost salary
$250K Tuition (500K plus interest)

Residency then would cost $200K in lost salary.

In total:
1.1 million dollar investment.

IF you get into a well paying speciality it would take at least 8 years or more to simply break even with that calculation (minus taxes).

So you would "break even" at age 45 or beyond. Not to mention if you aren't married it would probably push back your personal life goals considerably as well.

[Anonymous]

It seems like the admin side may be your best bet OP. Honestly, you may end up liking it. Give it a try! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

My cousin is a pediatrician and said she found getting in medical school harder than actually being in med school. The military paid for her medical degree also. She loves her job too.

Being that you have no children, I would go for it now. University of Maryland also has a science in the evening program so you can get all of your pre-reqs to get into medical school.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Thank you to everyone who posted. My dh has been considering med school but would need two years of science in the evening classes prior to sitting the mcat. Then a year of applying before starting so we too are looking at a long road. We have 1 child and 1 on the way in the fall. I love the idea of. A large family but don't know how realistic it would be to continue on in the baby preschool years as basically a single parent. For those that went through medachool or had a spouse do it with young children was it doable? Was medschool harder or residency? I Was thinking if we could be done with babies by residency it might not kill me. Any other advise would be awesome too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a 35 year old who did a post-bacc at 29 and did not matriculate, I say do this, do this, do this, do this. Don't wait. Just do it. Don't look back.

Well, maybe get some exposure to medicine in a research capacity or as a medical assistant or something, but don't look back. Just jump.

I wish I had.

Why didn't you end up martriculating?

In mee school, I mean. Because I got pregnant with #1 and the cost of med school (detailed above quite well) scared me off. I have two prior masters degrees and debt to match.

I'm now considering np programs. I was considering pa programs until I heard it described as a resident forever! That sounds terrible!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Thank you to everyone who posted. My dh has been considering med school but would need two years of science in the evening classes prior to sitting the mcat. Then a year of applying before starting so we too are looking at a long road. We have 1 child and 1 on the way in the fall. I love the idea of. A large family but don't know how realistic it would be to continue on in the baby preschool years as basically a single parent. For those that went through medachool or had a spouse do it with young children was it doable? Was medschool harder or residency? I Was thinking if we could be done with babies by residency it might not kill me. Any other advise would be awesome too.

The only way it would work for your Dh to do this is if you are a single parent. I am the pp above and that was the other reason I did not pursue it - Dh has a demanding job, and we have no family support. It would have been fine in med school, but impossible for residency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who went from wall st to med school for pediatrics at 32. Six years later she's so so so much happier.

amazing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Thank you to everyone who posted. My dh has been considering med school but would need two years of science in the evening classes prior to sitting the mcat. Then a year of applying before starting so we too are looking at a long road. We have 1 child and 1 on the way in the fall. I love the idea of. A large family but don't know how realistic it would be to continue on in the baby preschool years as basically a single parent. For those that went through medachool or had a spouse do it with young children was it doable? Was medschool harder or residency? I Was thinking if we could be done with babies by residency it might not kill me. Any other advise would be awesome too.

So many factors. Age gap of kids. Sex and personality of kids. What you do for a living and how much you earn. How much help do you have - paid or family. How smart your DH is. What specialty your DH is interested in.

I think you will be fine if you have money, meaning savings or family. If you don't have money (savings or family) and don't have physical help (paid or family), I think it will be a very hard few years. Not impossible but hard on you. At the same time, true single moms have to do it so you should also be able to do it.

I met DH when he was in med school, got married when he was a resident, had our first child at the end of residency and 2nd child during his fellowship. Those first few years are a blur but we had local family. My mom was recently retired and helped us out immensely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a 35 year old who did a post-bacc at 29 and did not matriculate, I say do this, do this, do this, do this. Don't wait. Just do it. Don't look back.

Well, maybe get some exposure to medicine in a research capacity or as a medical assistant or something, but don't look back. Just jump.

I wish I had.

Why didn't you end up martriculating?

In mee school, I mean. Because I got pregnant with #1 and the cost of med school (detailed above quite well) scared me off. I have two prior masters degrees and debt to match.

I'm now considering np programs. I was considering pa programs until I heard it described as a resident forever! That sounds terrible!

I'm the pp who said DH said PAs are like forever residents. I didn't mean this in a bad way. DH is a specialized surgeon and he needs a second pair of hands, usually a resident. The PA is just like a resident who assists with the surgery. They are paid well ($100k+) and depending on how competent they are, assist with most of the surgery.