Got into medical school at age 25... Is it too old or just right?

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cliquesh said:
Just right. I think was 26 when I started.

Residency is not a pleasant experience and I think it would be hard if you were older. When I say older I mean 40 not 30.

Im actually thinking about switching to a nonmedical career, but I feel too old/beaten down to start again.
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What do you most dislike about medicine? I hope you don't mind me asking.
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I'll be starting school when I'm 27. My dad started school in his late 30s, when i was in high school.
 
What is/was everyone doing between ages 22-25. So basically what did you guys do between undergrad and med school?
 
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Your fine at going to medical school at 25. Im just saying, I'm 25 and I just came off vacation from Costa Rica and had a blast. Im late in my third year of medical school. Missing out by going to medical school too early is not true. The earlier the better. It will be bumpy at first but you will evolve and learn to do the things you love in life. If your in turmoil in life that just means your 1 step closer to your goal.
 
TheaterOfTheme said:
What do you most dislike about medicine? I hope you don't mind me asking.
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There are some patients who are acutely ill and we end up helping them. I enjoy those patients. However, I feel like most of my patients are chronically ill, and I am simply delaying the inevitable. I am actively extending their suffering and wasting a tremendous amount of resources. It makes me feel like a terrible person. Additionally, I see a lot of post operative complications, which makes me feel like we do more harm than good in many cases.
 
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the best doctors I know graduated in their late 30's.
25 is baby young:) But I don't blame you for asking this, I am younger than you and still think, am I too old? lol
 
cliquesh said:
There are some patients who are acutely ill and we end up helping them. I enjoy those patients. However, I feel like most of my patients are chronically ill, and I am simply delaying the inevitable. I am actively extending their suffering and wasting a tremendous amount of resources. It makes me feel like a terrible person. Additionally, I see a lot of post operative complications, which makes me feel like we do more harm than good in many cases.
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What specialty are you in? Do you think this is more the case in primary care?
 
TheaterOfTheme said:
What specialty are you in? Do you think this is more the case in primary care?
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I'm in Anesthesia. My issues are related to critical ill inpatients, which is something most primary care physicians do not deal with, so, no, I don't think it's an issue encountered in the typical primary care setting.
 
Hell its my goal to get an acceptance by 30. I'll be 27 in two weeks. :'(


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I was stressing about the same thing. I'll be 26 when I start. But then again I know a guy that made co-co dollars as an investment banker and decided to switch to medicine. He's not a first year ENT resident and is 41.
 
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Young people.
 
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license43 said:
Hi everyone, just curious what is the perspective on a 25 year old getting into medical school. Is it too old or just right? I think the average age is 22 right?

Thanks.
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Since I'm 33 and still at least two years away from starting medical school, I would say there's no better time than the present. Two ER physicians at our local hospital have said they were older than me before starting. In a way I wish I was only 25 and starting this, but then I wouldn't have ten years in EMS already behind me. Good luck.
 
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One of my interviewers at UT Rio Grande Valley is a pediatrician who started med school at age 50. That was more than a decade ago and she's going strong! Definitely not too late.
 
I'm starting at roughly 24. With every passing year, as my knowledge grows higher, so will my hairline.

There goes my dream of being a doctor AND having a nice head of hair.
 
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I don't know how people get in as 22 year olds, seriously peeps. I wouldn't never have been ready for med school at 22.

I think it should be mandatory for all students to take a gap year and work in the real world before applying to schools. Doing a gap year and raising my GPA is the best decision I've made. I've become so much more mature over the last two years, where if I was 22 in school, I prolly would have dropped out. I've got a lot of gray hair going on, but being smacked down by life these last 2 years and picking myself up is an incredibly humbling experience.
 
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If you got admitted to a school you want to go to, then I'd say you did it at the right time in your life.
 
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GypsyHummus said:
I don't know how people get in as 22 year olds, seriously peeps. I wouldn't never have been ready for med school at 22.

I think it should be mandatory for all students to take a gap year and work in the real world before applying to schools. Doing a gap year and raising my GPA is the best decision I've made. I've become so much more mature over the last two years, where if I was 22 in school, I prolly would have dropped out. I've got a lot of gray hair going on, but being smacked down by life these last 2 years and picking myself up is an incredibly humbling experience.
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That's true, but mental maturity is not necessarily defined by age. I know plenty of 30+ yr olds who behave like teens. They work and have families but they aren't "mature." They lack the ability to make long term commitments, are easily shaken by criticism, don't possess a spirit of humility, and act before thinking etc.

Gap years are not for everyone, but that's a whole other conversation right there. I'm starting off as a 21 yr old and I believe that I am mature enough to take of business. Maturity is developed through life experiences and solidified by the way a person responds to those events.

But then again, that's my take on it.





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I'm 25 too and starting this year. Honestly, I think its a personal thing. Some kids are totally prepared at 21 and 22, and I totally respect them for that. Some of us just need a little longer, and that's fine too. I don't think either group is superior to the other, but I do think in the grand scheme of things a three year age difference is nothing, especially as you get older. We are still very young, and it is totally possible for meaningful friendships and relationships to develop between 22 and 25 year olds. In fact, I'm not even in med school yet, but one of my best friends in the world atm is 22. We have our whole lives ahead of us, three years is nothing :)

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Another 25er that will be starting this summer, I feel great about it! Although, to be fair I have no alternative with which to compare it too.

But, also a quick tip to happiness I have found, is not putting too much weight on what others think!


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