@Hamlin Thanks for sharing your story! Not to dissuade you or your dad from going to medical school, but has he considered other health care careers that may be just as rewarding for him but not require the insane 10+ year commitment it takes to become a full fledged practicing physician. I am no expert on this but I’ve heard there’s so many hurdles to jump through and as a parent of a kid who is about to apply to medical school, I can’t imagine having to do it myself! Best of luck with your family’s decision.
He has been out of education for over 2 decades. I wouldn’t know what it’s like to go back to school after such an extended amount of time. We have researched a generous amount on medical jobs, we are not considering sending him to Medical School any longer due to tuition and time constraints.
It’s hard to get a word out of him (he is clearly inclined), he is a busy man who can’t afford the time to do such research. We will not send him to do EMT classes or CS courses in CC so quickly, many things needs to be done beforehand. Recently, a family member of ours has gotten very ill. We are prepared for the worst, I will update afterwards when all of this passes and he is ready to keep searching.
I would like to note though that he does have his preferences. Until then, he has been set with PA but perhaps he may like CS/CE more. I do not know, we will see. Thanks again, CC.
@intparent That is because I am the one that gave him these ideas. We will try to be as realistic as possible, Medical School has been ruled out, as was Graduate School.
Glad to hear that the dad is considering another career path, such as PA (heads up…many programs require 2000+ hands on clinical patient care for admittance, so he needs to get going with that).
To those commenting how they know someone who started med school at age 40. That is a different situation.
The dad is 49 years old and at least 3 years from starting med school. He’d be 52-53+ when he’d start. Those 10-13 years difference are critical. They would influence an adcom’s decision to give a precious seat to a 52/53 year old over a 25 or even 35 year old. As mentioned upthread, a 53 year old could be 63 when actually ready to practice.
Becoming a PA is more reasonable, but also not an easy path. When dad applies, he’ll be competing with all the non-trad applicants who are paramedics, EMTs, and ex-military medics…all who have a gazillion hours of hands-on patient care.
So glad your dad decided on the PA career path.
As a physician myself in a decent specialty which I enjoy,you could not pay me enough to go back to medical school, residency and fellowship.
None of my kids are going to be doctors.
Good luck to your dad.
Decent PA programs are not easy to get into either. One I’m familiar with is 2.5 years, in addition to any prerequisite, and 150K in cost. i think they also require 2000 clinical hours in a medical field in order to apply. It needs to be a program that has a good track record of students passing the licensing exams. And those programs are very attractive to many people. Turns out fields with job security, good pay and decent lifestyles are very competitive.
Speaking as someone in medicine for 30+ years, an adjunct professor at a PA school, and an employer of PAs, I don’t advise it. To develop a good PA requires tons of mentoring by the physician. I personally would not put that effort into a 50+ year old new grad.
The education of a medical professional, PA/DO/MD, is extremely resource intensive. It entails many hours on the part of many people beyond tuition etc. If someone can only works a few years after that investment by society, Society loses.