<p>I'm a current high school senior wondering if nursing or medical school is better for having a family later? I'm a girl so I don't want to be an old mom or anything, we have an internal time clock for having kids and med school takes a long time. I can definitely put in the work but I also want to have time for my kids later.</p>
<p>Thoughts? :)</p>
<p>Define “old mom.”</p>
<p>Would 30 be old to be having your first child? 35? 40? 45?</p>
<p>I want to have like 3ish kids and start having them between like 28-30. I am scared that I won’t have found my husband because of my time being taken up from school and have to start from ground zero at like 30. I don’t want to be old and barely start having kids. I want to have time for all of them.</p>
<p>If 30 is too old, then I am assuming most female doctors will be “old moms”. Think about it, if you graduate medical school at 26, and you finish residency by 31 (some of the longest lasting residency programs are five years) then you can have your first child. I am thinking it is near impossible for a woman to have a child during residency due to bed rest, maternity leave, etc. For fathers its not as bad provided the father can still keep up with residency work and help out with the kid.</p>
<p>Wow, this is a serious worry?</p>
<p>This reminds me of a funny story that was published on school’s newspaper at DS’ school.</p>
<p>One of the professors who teaches the “reproduction” class (a biology class) is a researcher in the infertility area. Probably because of his day-to-day involvement with the infertility problems, he has a strong opinion that women should get married and give birth at a younger age. But the way he talks about this may not be very politically correct. Some female students complain on the school’s newspaper that the professor sort of encourages the students to “go out and mate like rabbits” while they are still young and feel quite offended. Hopefully the professor read that article and correct himself.</p>
<p>The other professor (a female professor) who team-taught the same class was very pregnant at that time. Often she needed to stop and take a deep breath before she could continue to talk. The students said jokingly that the professor gave the students a real-life reproduction lesson. (She gave birth shortly after the final.)</p>
<p>Yes this a serious worry. Thanks for your sarcastic remarks.
Sorry I don’t want to be 40 and start having kids. I actually want to
be around for my children when they get older.</p>
<p>@samgrippi,</p>
<p>Let me start by saying that nursing and medicine are two totally different professions…if your dream is to become a Dr, then GO FOR IT! Live your dream.if you decided to become a nurse for these reasons, you will forever regret it… and a husband will come along(probably in med school)… I have a 16yo daughter and I would not want her to base her future on her ability to garner a husband/have children. The supply of men will never dry up… even when your old and feeble at 32… 
Base your life plans on what will give you the most happiness.</p>
<p>Live your dreams… and the universe will provide you with what you need and deserve!!</p>
<p>Nursing, for sure, is much more family flexible.</p>
<p>This is my “old-fashioned” opinion…lol</p>
<p>If someone is concerned about how they will balance motherhood with a medical profession, then I would think that becoming a nurse practioner (or PA) might be the trick.</p>
<p>One of our family doctors is a mom of four…but her H is a PA…and he has a LOT more time to do the parenting than she does. They are also neighbors and fellow parishioners at our church (and their kids go to the same private schools our kids went to) so we see a lot of the “inside story” as well.</p>
<p>PAs and NPs have their own patients and everything…in some ways they have the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>Look into dentistry. Very family friendly, especially when you own the business.</p>
<p>But, honestly, it’s a little early to be making this decision. Keep your options open. Think about the wide variety of health care opportunities available, check college sites about classes required for the different professions, and keep on the academic track. Soph or junior year will find you better equipped to determine which direction you are headed. Think about med, dent, PT, OT, NP, PA, nursing, public health. You have many options. </p>
<p>I also wanted to be a physician, but while writing the essay as a rising senior,I bailed because I couldn’t see how to make parenthood and medicine work, and was directed into dentistry by the pre-med advisor. I am so fortunate to love what I do.</p>
<p>On a personal level: I own a practice, work a 4-day week, and had my 4 kids when I was 30,32,38, and 42. I am an older mother, but I have no regrets.</p>
<p>I should also add…of the 6 female MDs in our social circle, only ONE works full-time (the one I mention in post #10)…and that’s because her H is able to be more of the “primary caretaker” (yes, they also have a housekeeper, etc). </p>
<p>The rest of the female MDs that we know all either don’t work at all (2 of them…their H’s are also docs)…or they work 2-3 days per week doing “urgent care” or similar at someone else’s full time practice.</p>
<p>Another option–one the wife of colleague followed. She joined a pediatric practice of all female MDs. They all had small children, all worked part-time and covered for each other in case of emergencies. Once their kiddos got older, they all transitioned to full time.</p>
<p>^^^
That’s kind of what is happening with one of the female MDs I know…however, her practice is a mix of fulltime males and full-time women who don’t have small kids and part-time women with small kids (some females married to the males). The moms of minor-aged kids all work part-time, and later when kids are grown, they work more hours (if they want to at that point…some still don’t want to…lol)</p>
<p>I also had a much older female MD friend in Calif (she’s since has passed…she’d be close to 90 now). She was a pediatrician during the days when docs did hospital rounds twice a day and sometimes did house calls! Once she became a mother, she went back to school and retrained in a field that didn’t require hospital rounds or house calls!</p>
<p>BTW…funny story about this same MD. Originally she wanted to become a teacher …she lived in NY. BUT…she was told that she could NOT be admitted into the teachers college because she had an accent and they would only admit those without accents so that students would learn “properly spoken English”…so, she became a doctor! Imagine being “unqualified” to become a teacher, but qualified to become a doctor?</p>
<p>I think the days of having your first child after residency are over. The 4th year of medical school is flexible enough to have a child. This year alone, 5 or so of my female classmates had their first babies. Having a child in a surgical specialty is still difficult although not impossible. In many non-surgical specialties, it is not unusual to have a kid or two during residency. The new regulations regarding residency hours and a general open mindedness towards raising the family has made it very possible to have a child or two before reaching age 30.</p>
<p>Well, if the average age of those starting med school is 24/25, then I can see why some women are having babies in the last year of med school. </p>
<p>I don’t know enough about the demands of med school, particularly the 4th year, but while I think the “pregnancy” part may not be hard (without complications), the taking care of a newborn might conflict unless you have a spouse/extended family willing to help out A LOT! </p>
<p>If it were possible to time the birth right after SOM graduation and months before beginning residency (would that be about a 3 month timeframe?), then that might work.</p>
<p>The problem, of course, is if it’s your first pregancy and you have no idea if you’re prone to “all day” morning sickness…I can’t imagine doing med school while being constantly feeling quesy/barfy all day long. :(</p>
<p>The average age of those starting med school is not 24/25. At UCSF, maybe. But, at virtually any other medical school, it’s 22-23.</p>
<p>Unless your significant other is also a doctor, why shouldn’t your spouse/extended family help out A LOT? I really don’t think that’s too much to ask if you’re going to be working 80 hrs per week. Yes, usually, it’s the female that does the most in raising the kid. But, if you are a female resident physician, your male non-doctor partner needs to step up. </p>
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<p>This is medicine. Suck it up. I’ve worked with pregnant female surgery residents (quite far along, 25-35 weeks) who still came in for 6AM rounds, operated in the OR all day, and left at 7:30 PM.</p>
<p>Idk norcal, I think the age has bumped to 23-24</p>
<p>My Quote:
The problem, of course, is if it’s your first pregancy and you have no idea if you’re prone to “all day” morning sickness…I can’t imagine doing med school while being constantly feeling quesy/barfy all day long.
This is medicine. Suck it up. I’ve worked with pregnant female surgery residents (quite far along, 25-35 weeks) who still came in for 6AM rounds, operated in the OR all day, and left at 7:30 PM.</p>
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<p>Norcalguy quote: "The average age of those starting med school is not 24/25. At UCSF, maybe. But, at virtually any other medical school, it’s 22-23.</p>
<p>Unless your significant other is also a doctor, why shouldn’t your spouse/extended family help out A LOT? I really don’t think that’s too much to ask if you’re going to be working 80 hrs per week. Yes, usually, it’s the female that does the most in raising the kid. But, if you are a female resident physician, your male non-doctor partner needs to step up. </p>
<p>…This is medicine. Suck it up."</p>
<p>========</p>
<p>I think you have the avg age wrong.</p>
<p>And, YES, I did mention that a spouse/significant other would be needed to help out. But what if those people aren’t living where YOU are. Not everyone goes to med school where their family/SO are. And, some SO’s are just as busy, so if you don’t have extended family around, then it’s tough.</p>
<p>And, I haven’t yet met a SO or extended family member that is going to breast-feed your kid for you…and if you’re a doctor, then you KNOW that breast is best…for a host of reasons.</p>
<p>As for your “suck it up” comment…that is really insensitive. I was blessed NOT to have morning sickness or other early/mid pregnancy complications and was able to work full time til the 7th month when I did have an issue and had to be off work for 2 months.</p>
<p>But, if you’ve never had a patient/close friend/family member who has suffered from CONSTANT morning sickness (barfing even water) or other serious complications that plague much/most/all of a pregnancy, then you have no idea of what you’re talking about - even if you are a doctor (please tell me that you’re not an OB/GYN). </p>
<p>Sucking it up is NOT always an option.</p>
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<p>Pump and freeze worked for me and my husband.</p>