Count me in too. Last 4 pre-reqs this sp and fall. May be taking a MCAT course this summer. Plan on taking MCAT 2011. Oldest will gradaute high school in 2012.

In my medical school class we had 2 students who were 40. They both found it very difficult to retain the volume of information that their younger classmates could handle. Now that I am 42 I understand that a little better. One of them graduated and the other dropped our "for family reasons".

When considering your options remember that for the 4 years of medical school and at least 3 years of residency you will need to spend nearly every waking hour studying. This studying may be in the classroom, in study groups, in the hospital on rounds or on your own. You will always feel like you did not learn enough and you will probably feel guilty for anything that you do that is not studying. That's at least 7 years that you will miss out on family events and important occasions.

If you have young children, this is especially important! If you are "doing it for them" will they be grown and out of the house by the time you make a reasonable income? If you are paying back your student loans will you have $ to pay for their college expenses? Weddings? Gifts along the way? Medical reimbursement is dropping very quickly and is expected to drop more. Malpractice costs are going up. There might not be much money left to take home once you graduate and get a job as a physician.

Some schools will only consider students who will be able to provide at least 20 years as a physician before retiring. If you are 47 when you finish residency and retire at 65, that's less than 20 years and a red flag. Expect to be asked questions about this!

With all this being said, I love being a physician. Call the admission offices at the schools you are interested in attending and ask them directly about the ages of their oldest students. I even went to their offices and introduced myself the year before I applied. I found out what they were looking for in students and worked on that (more research, more community involvement, more leadership in my community..).

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do!

I'm going to have to disagree with ohbee on a number of points.

1) Decreasing learning capacity doesn't occur with everyone as they age. In my case, I've developed a very keen photographic memory which allowed me to ace medical school courses like Pathology and Histology. I didn't have anything close to one 20 years ago.

2) Quite a few of us in our 40's applying/attending to med school don't have young children and many of us have nests that will be empty by the time residency rolls around. Therefore we won't have to limit ourselves to family friendly specialties. In fact for us, the sky is the limit because we don't have to worry about how balancing future young kids and families (wombs are CLOSED, thank you very much) with our careers, a point I'm sure to make with every school I interview with.

3) The point about time to practice I think is moot because so many women become Physicans in their 20's only to quit medicine it seems for primarily family reasons. So I ask the question, who is the riskier bet, a woman with nothing much in her life that would cause her to quit medicine, or someone younger who you know for sure, is going to have at least some trouble balancing a high stres career with family?

4) Speaking of high stress careers, many of us in our 40's already know how to handle a high stress career with other responsibilities. A 27 year old doctors' first experience with this is as a Physician. With life experience comes much wisdom.

I've said it a gazillion times, older applicants IMHO make better Docs because of their life experiences, Moms make better Docs because of their experiences, the combo? Well now you've got a hellva Doc on your hands, LOL!!! So our job as the "best candidates" is to own it, sell it, WORK IT!!!!!!!

Did you do anything special to improve your memory? Or did that just happen as a consequence of your increased focus and motivation?

Thanks.

you inspire me...I totally agree with you. I just turned 40 this month and am completing my pre-reqs as well. I too have received discouragement and am also dealing with the (insecure husband) issue stuff sometimes too. But it seems the best advice is to pursue your goals and dreams.... I originally had a scientific background in pharma research as well as in the clinical lab as a lab tech while I was in my 20's.

I needed to make a drastic change during the mid 90's to IT and transitioned to systems engineering and software development. Really wish that I could have remained in the scientific arena as originally planned. However, life happens and I got married and started a recruiting firm and then realized when the economic downturn happened in 2008 that medicine was still a very real passion of mine.

I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A PHYSICIAN FROM THE AGE OF 4...I am so much more focused and determined now that I am 40. I believe first that God himself is empowering me. 2ndly, that experience somehow really grounds you. It is something that you really can't explain. I suffered many devastating things growing up from mental, sexual, emotional and verbal abuse to surviving being kidnapped and raped by three men, two of which were murderers. I am so gratful that God even allowed me to be here and pursue my real goal of being a physician..

You know some say that your time of actually practicing will be limited after 40. I say that whatever time God allows me to practice it will be time well spent. Thanks for listening ladies.....

PS: By the way how did you acquire such a great memory? I'm starting Ginkgo Biloba this week. Anyone ever tried it?

Hi Marvak-

You are awesome! I think it's a myth that your memory declines with age. Mine has improved. When I was a medical educator I had a student who graduated and set up private practice at age 68. You can do it when you know that you can. I have worked with people who had the self-esteem and self-love issues that need to be healed coming from a childhood of trauma. Address these and let go of all the non-essentials while you are in school and your concentration and memory in school will surely improve.

-Devi

;)THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT!!!! I am definitely working on all the "non-essentials" right now. I am so glad I know what they are. The hardest part is over...LOL Where are you practicing now? This site is more than an educational resource but a sisterhood of support.... So Glad I found it

I'd say that focus and motivation play a major part, as does being very interested in what I'm learning.

I was also Dx with ADD a few years ago and take alternative meds to treat it. That in and of itself filled a HUGE gap in my ability to not only focus, but also retain what I learn.

Now if I could just remember to to take 2 daily doses, I'd really be doing great, LOL!!!

That's awesome! Would you mind sharing what the alternative meds are? I would like to discuss it with my doctor. Thank you!

I'm 30 and contemplating following my long time dream goal of becoming an OB so I can relate. I did get some discouragement from some saying do PA or etc. I am also researching and considering the certified nurse midwife route as I am deeply interested in homeopathic medicine as well.

I had a photographic memory in high school and while it did decrease it was not from age it has more to do with the muscle that the brain seems to be weakening from lack of "study". I say study because I never had to really study in my life. I reviewed but nothing like hours which I'm sure would be different with medical school. But the brain is like other muscles you have to study and read to keep it up. I completed medical assistant certification in 2008 and had a 4.0 my medical terms and anatomy were almost all scored at 100%. While almost all of the students in my smaller sized class had 4.0 but I was the only one that aced the anatomy with 100%. I am just saying that it all came back to me in my late 20s after years of no formal education classes.

I say go for it. I have heard stories of 60 year olds entering and completing. Best thing you can do is stay inside a comfortable means. Save save save. Don't go buy extravagant house and cars and you can probably have no issues repaying debts and be able to save for retirement and help children with college costs. Weddings is something that is nice to help out with but not required. Just saying nobody paid for my education(to date) or wedding(well we had a short term with wedding from family but repaid it all and it was a VERY small frugal wedding). That part of life had detoured me off my education path and when I went for the MA school was me as a single mom trying to better our lifestyle. So far it has proved useless as I don't have experience and many in my area require bilingual to even be contacted for consideration. I had 3 years of high school Spanish but am far from fluent or even up to communications levels. I am working to get Rosetta Stone or something to improve my pronunciations and learn new terms particularly medical terms. I know our local Mayo clinic offers classes at times during the year.