I agree with Thumpers suggestion.
I also like the nursing field, especially for a man. PA or NP, or even RN degrees can go far.
My last doctor had a photo of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers in his office and practiced until well into his 80s. He retired because he felt his mind starting to slip. The OPs father is only 49 years young.
I was going to suggest Physician’s assistant ¶! PA’s make a very good salary (90K isn’t rare) and do most what most family practitioners do.
If he hasn’t already, he should ask for an evaluation of his CSE degree by a company like WES or Joseph Silny. He should get a lot of credits, which may not apply to a PA degree but will shorten the time he needs for a BA/BS. Then he should apply as a “non traditional” applicant both to “direct entry” PA programs and “pre-PA” programs. Those exist at various SUNYs. He would need to complete a set of classes (and the posBacc programs may work, too, but SUNYs may be cheaper) and volunteer - he’ll need 1,000 to 2,000 hours of clinical experience, which he’d need to complete while he takes his pre-reqs. Could he train to become an EMT for now? It’d give him an income AND the hours he needs for PA.
These are links of use:
1° http://www.downstate.edu/CHRP/pa/program.html
2°
http://www.upstate.edu/chp/programs/pa/pa_reqs.php
http://www.upstate.edu/chp/programs/pa/pre_reqs.php
http://www.upstate.edu/chp/programs/pa/
3°
https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/sophiedavis/physician-assistant-program
4°
https://www.york.cuny.edu/academics/departments/health-professions/physician-assistant
5°
5°
http://www.nysspa.org/PAPrograms
One more suggestion…with his degree in computer science is there any chance he would look at a career in healthcare informatics??
I have to wonder what the issue is that’s keeping a college-educated person with excellent communication skills and a good work ethic in a job that by my math is paying about $4 an hour, well below minimum wage. Whatever it is, fixing it (to the extent possible) will likely give better results than starting down the road to med school with it unfixed will.
Assuming a fixable issue and an interest in health professions, I second the suggestions for nursing or allied health. I don’t think PA is going to be a more realistic choice than MD/DO, though.
It has taken me over 7 years to convince him to leave that job. To make matters worse, he is the manager. How he only gets 16k a year while I see him for less than 20 hours a week and is constantly abused at work by customers is beyond me. His defense was that ‘the job market is tough, it’s too risky to leave’.
You have all presented very valuable options. I will have him read over the responses when he comes home from work, which of course, like always, will be late at night. He really can’t go wrong with Healthcare Informatics, Nursing, EMT, RT or redoing a CSE degree. It’s up for him to decide which he likes best. Thank you all.
Our kids’ pediatrician started med school in her 40’s after she had kids. She is AMAZING.
So, I know it is possible.
Here’s a list of some hospital jobs. Some require certification. Have him take a look.
Good for your dad. If he takes 2 yrs to get certified he can make lots of money for the next 20.
FYI
Considerations for older students entering med school
He has decided to go with the PA pathway. Thank you very much.
Best of luck to your father!
Whenever I think of medical school, I read blog posts like the following and quickly come back to my senses:
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2016/04/the-absurd-cost-of-becoming-a-doctor.html
Look here for Non-traditional medical students.
http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/forums/nontraditional-students.110/
I know somebody who pursued a physician’s assistant degree after her kids went to college. She was then in her 40s. She got her degree and is employed in her chosen profession and is very happy.
I think that formal education in a health field is worth discussing but the whole med school track sounds grueling and expensive.
A nursing degree might also be an option.
No offense, but I can see that the apple has not fallen far from the tree. This is honestly nuts. Like with your college search, he needs to pick realistic goals and take incremental steps to get there. There are tons of jobs and careers that pay more than $16K per yet, and don’t require years as many years of grueling and expensive schooling. He should research other jobs in the health care field – there are technician jobs, for example.
Indeed - even grunt jobs that require only minimal computer science understanding pay $60k if you know how to look. Said grunt jobs require maybe 1-2 months of dedicated job training, and 1-2 months of dedicated interview training. The computer science degree is a huge boost.
Would make a lot more sense than medical school at this point, and CS, even at its worst, beats retail at minimum wage.
Quite understandably your dad feels the urge to do other than he’s doing, but there are a vast number of things he can do at age 49 that make more sense than attempting a physician’s career.
It sounds like a lot of the driving force is his desire to escape his current job. Obviously he can quit his job - you have the money that can remove him from it. Perhaps you can let him take some time off from the torture job, so that in a rested and less harassed state he can explore the array of alternative things he can do that make reasonable sense.
I think that when you’re an older person there is especial suitability of educational tracks that you can quit at any point and still get notable gain. Computer science has this quality - just from learning a programming language you’re significantly advanced, but the physician track doesn’t - he wouldn’t get significantly occupationally advanced from doing the prerequisite courses for medical school.
Also, computer science doesn’t have the barriers that the physician or, indeed, all other academic tracks have. In the considerable research I’ve done for these forums, it is the only academic area in which I’ve found significant numbers of employers willing to hire on the basis of demonstrated ability alone. Technically you can teach yourself enough to be employable. Every other field has some point in the preparation process where the demand for candidates is exceeded by the supply. And, while your dad may have forgotten his computer science, prospective employers don’t have to know that. They will to a large extent value his CS degree, and your dad can encourage them in that. Of course, he will have to come up to speed in it. But even if your dad has to learn computer science from scratch, it won’t be harder than learning medicine from scratch, and he is vastly more likely with computer science to get successfully through the preparation process to employment.
I think he should take a handful of CS type classes at a CC to brush up his skills, then look for work on that field. He should be able to easily land something making twice his current salary in an IT department, and work his way up to more.
A great big NO from me. I’m a retired physician. Allow ten years for the entire process- getting superlative grades in requisite courses, getting accepted into a medical school, spending the at least seven years in 16 hours or more per day seven days a week. Start practice around 60 years of age- when many physicians are retiring. It is one thing to put up with lost sleep when you’re young but I know of no physician who relishes the call schedule as we age. Our bodies don’t handle it as well as they did in our thirties. That’s not even considering finances.
I would hope no medical school would accept him over a much younger candidate. Society puts in a lot of resources in addition to the hefty costs to the student, we should expect much more time working. Also- even after residency it takes a few years to have experiences to be at your best.
There are so many other ways to earn a health care living. I know an RN who switched after being a college philosophy professor for many years. Two-three years then working. Plus, as above, many other technician jobs. His math bent may lend itself to being an ultrasound tech or other similar short programs.
There are times for some careers, not all can be started later in life.
He could work on his goal by starting the needed science courses and see how that goes. This assumes he can afford the time and the expenses. I would be shocked to find he becomes a physician. But, if he has the time and resources there is no reason for him to not take college courses in pursuit of a goal. He would make better use of his time with nursing however.
After your father departs his employer, it might behoove your family to consult an employment attorney. If his company has been unfairly taking advantage of him w/o compensating him for O/T, he has a case.
FWIW: I have a friend who started Med School in her mid 40s. But she had the undergrad and pre-reqs done before starting. She’s loving her 2nd year in med school
There are a large number of foreign-trained physicians who have done the Nurse Practitioner route. Some schools have programs specifically tailored for them, where they get the BSN/NP simultaneously. That might be the path of least resistance for your Dad. If his undergraduate degree is “acceptable” to various nursing programs, he can quickly do a number of nursing prerequisites and apply to an accelerated nursing program (~15 months). He can work as a nurse, while pursuing his NP degree.
Physicians Assistant programs are very competitive in most states and there is no guarantee he can get into one after completing his PA prerequisites.