Nontraditional med students

I've been considering applying to medical school but would enjoy hearing from other nontraditional medical students (and their spouses) who started school around 37yo. I'd like to hear about all aspects of your situations. I'm gay, with a b/f for 4 years, 37yo, no kids (but would like to adopt someday). You can post msgs here or email me at Charles.K.Reeves@uth.tmc.edu or ckrtx@yahoo.com.



Thank you in advance for sharing.



Kiel

welcome ckrtx--can I ask how you found the site--I am interested

I can answer to two of your issues: age in med training; and being an older parent.



I'm a med spouse of a doc who just finished residency about a year ago. Andrew (my spouse) started med school at age 31 (admittedly younger than you are right now). However, he still had to deal with being significantly older than the 22-24 year olds in his class. He said he felt like a "dinosaur", which usually made all around him laugh but also realize that there are issues with being older. Here are some of the most significant ones my husband faced:



- felt older than classmates in med school

- in residency, his attending docs were often younger than him

- in residency and med school, it was harder to endure the "all nighters" you need to cope with when studying or on call

- you delay your gratification of finishing until much later in life



All that said, Andrew finished residency 1.5 years ago and is now a radiologist. He's 41 years old, and we started our family two years ago with twin girls. I'm 39. We're older, but who cares??? At this point, nobody. It's no longer an issue really. The call is more sane, and the other docs are of all ages. The only thing that depresses me is that I'll be 40 in 3 months!



We waited until the last year of residency to have a baby (then had two!). You have more sleep deprivation issues when you're older and not in your 20s, but it can be done. We waited so long because we couldn't have managed on one salary during residency, and I wanted to stay home with our girls for the first couple of years at least. All in all, I love being an older parent. I don't miss work as much as a younger parent might because I had 10+ years in my career and was desperate for a break from it.



I'd love to say that age never matters, but it is an issue in some respects. That said, it can all be overcome if you choose to go into medicine. Don't let worries about age stop you. When you're 40, you'll have gotten there however you've gotten there. The time will pass just as slowly or quickly, regardless of whether you are in med training or not. The question is, when you are 40 will you still want to be a doctor? If you think so, then go for it and don't let anything stop you. It's hard, hard, hard, but if you want it, you need to hold onto that thought.



Welcome to the board! And go for it!



Janet

I found the link from GLMA.org. I've subscribed to the glb-medical listserv for a couple of years now. And then I did a search for "gay medical" and found the GLMA.org site.



have a good one.



Kiel

I think it is probably easier for non-trads today than it was 20 years ago...todays med schools admit many more than they used to so age is no longer such a disadvantage. Of course, the issues that Janet brought up are good ones to consider.



I don't know how the issue of sexual preferance playas itself out in that arena. In my eyes it isn't an issue. I know that Jason and Daniel could be a big help in that area.



All that said...have you started looking into med schools? Do you have your pre-reqs or are you taking them now? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the application process as a "non-trad"!





Kris

hey sorry it has taken me so long to get back to everyone I have been in chicago with daniel--poor again--yuck--but had a great time



Jane and Kris thanks for being so accomodating to our new visitor--was there another blow up while I was gone

Hi there Jason,



Well, Chicago is a great place! I used to live there as a little kid, near Oak Park with all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. In fact, I took piano lessons in a FLW house (owned by my mom's friend) and lived down the street from another one! Very memorable... My parents were nuts about FLW, so they lapped it all up. I was more interested in my sandbox and swing at the time.



The board has been very quiet. I think people must be busy right now or something.



So, what did you do in Chicago? Art museum? Museum of Natural History? I remember the big dinosaur skeletons from there. There are so many things there, including great blues clubs.