InternetPosterChild asked:
I’ve accomplished every goal I’ve set for myself. Whatever it is, I have proven to myself and others that I can do it. The problem I see now is time. I am running out of it. If I went back to school to become an Opthamologist, would I be too old to use my new skills? It seems to me that people might be skeptical of using a newly licensed doctor who is over 50 years old. Anyone else out there do anything like this or know of anyone who has?
Ava
I’ve accomplished every goal I’ve set for myself. Whatever it is, I have proven to myself and others that I can do it. The problem I see now is time. I am running out of it. If I went back to school to become an Opthamologist, would I be too old to use my new skills? It seems to me that people might be skeptical of using a newly licensed doctor who is over 50 years old. Anyone else out there do anything like this or know of anyone who has?
Ava
February 27th, 2010 at 4:00 am
Owen
your never too old. go for it.nb
February 27th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Zoe
Your never to old to better yourself
March 1st, 2010 at 12:42 am
Michelle
If you’ve accomplished all of your other goals why second guess yourself now?? You only get better with age. I say go for it. You’re never too old.
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Paige
I’d liek to say you are never to old to do anything, but you have to keep into concideration the expenses to pursue it. Also, retirement might be an issue as well, but I do not know your financial situation.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Aaron
YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO SET GOALS, AND IF IT DONT WORK AFTER YOU BECOME ONE YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO FALL BACK ON.
March 5th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Cooper
You’re going to be 50 at some point *any*way, so why not be a 50-yr-old ophthalmologist? How will they know you are newly licensed? They’d have to read your diploma. Just keep your office dark, LOL.
A close friend of mine went to nursing school when she was 38. I went back for my master’s in environmental chem when I was 30. An increasing number of adults are going back to school and changing careers, and universities are responding to this with support groups and resources for the non-typical college student. At smaller schools even scheduling is being geared toward people who work during the day.
The hardest part will probably be dealing with drunken med students! After spending time with both, I no longer make much of a distinction between college kids and high school kids.
good luck!
March 5th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Lillian
You are never to old to pursue your dreams/goals. In all the years I have been getting my eyes regularly checked I have never looked at the date on a diploma and calculated how old the doctor was when he received it.
For what it’s worth, I too am a mid-40’s software engineer who is completely burned out on the industry in general and considering a major career change. One of the things that our age group has going for us is that we have generally taken better care of ourselves than our parents generation. 60 is truly the new 40.
March 7th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Christopher
I was in your situation when I was 38. I went back to college [while continuing my law practice] to get those extra courses – like organic chemistry and physics, and then took the MCAT and applied to medical schools. Although I was offered an in at one place, it was made clear that they would not want me in the surgical residency programs because of my age at the time. The other schools made it painfully clear that they worried about my motives – like your motive of I need to have a new goal in life.
Basically, as of 1990, the stand of the medical schools wasn’t that I couldn’t do the work, it was why should WE invest in YOU? It wasn’t whether patients would come to you, it was whether THEIR investment in you would be worth it because you would have less time to live and practice. No, I’m not kidding – they are incredibly snooty as a group, so I would first contact medical schools to find out if there is some sort of cut off age for students. Maybe a secretary will give you the truth!!
March 9th, 2010 at 4:05 am
Cole
nooo,sure never is late for do sth you like ,the best dr in my country start to study at 40