To ask in your very honest opinion what age do you think it's too late to retrain as a doctor?

[VladmirsPoutine]

Considering you'd then need time to specialise and become a consultant?

Please be as frank as you can because I just want to know. I'm considering this path and I'm early 30s. I'd have to start from scratch basically. Though I have 3 degrees none of them are science related and I've mainly always worked in communications/writing/advertising and that sort of thing.

45+

My son qualified in 2015 - one of his pals was aged 48 on graduation so would have been 42/43 assuming he didn’t have ti repeat a year

Depends what you want to specialise in, if it's a hospital job with weekends and nights, think carefully.

I'm nearly mid-30s and noticing it's taking me longer to bounce back from my night shifts - think of a week of insomnia, then exhaustion for a fortnight in the working week. I don't have children yet either, but that is also the equivalent of throwing a stress-grenade into the mix.

Have you done work experience in a hospital yet or shadowing? Think it's a good idea to speak with medics of your age and see what they say

My parents friend started training as a doctor in his early thirties, that was over 30 years ago now but he's had a successful career.

I have to ask, how did you end up doing 3 degrees? Because I come across a lot of people in my job who are constantly retraining for something/ taking another degree or professional qualification but never really manage to work in the area or turn it into a career- with the cost of qualifying to be a doctor it would be awful to waste that as well.

I’m a HCP, we regularly have junior doctors on rotation who are mid to late 30s. Go for it! You’re bringing life experience with you which is often of benefit. Good luck.

Ate you sure that you want to be a doctor? I just think you have 3 degrees, at some point you need to accept that you are no longer a student and get on with working. What makes ypu think this is different? Also, are you eligible for funding?

glintandglide One Bachelor's and 2 Masters degree so it isn't as onerous as it sounds and they are all broadly related and I've always worked in the same industry more or less.

This would be a total change from everything I know.

It probably depends more on your personal circumstances, not age. I'd say someone in early-mid thirties with teenage children and financial security will find it much more rewarding than early 20's in a rented flat with a couple of preschoolers.

onetimeposter I've always worked - I've never been 'the eternal student' I know what you mean by that - at some point you just have to get on with it but this isn't the angle I'm coming from. I also doubt I'm eligible for funding.

I know someone who trained as a Doctor at a similar age to you. It's perfectly doable.

How would you pay for it? Surely you have used up your quota of student fees by now?
Have you ot DC ? How is it oin to fit in with them ?

FlipnTwist I have indeed used up my quota of student funding - my first degree was funded I paid for my subsequent Master's degrees myself. I have savings and also intend to work to continue to self-fund as I go. I don't have children so that's not a concern.

... and also won't you have to do a foundation year if you have no science a levels?

You have to think what you have to offer that an 18 year old with 10A*s at GCSEs and good a levels with relevant work experience cannot offer? They have got12 years more work in them than you will have?

I know people who have done it from nursing backgrounds but that is a no-brainer

Training will be hugely expensive then op, Id look into that. And newly qualified doctors salaries arent brilliant, and the foundation years hard work.
I think age isnt an issue but you will need experience, you are clearly bright but (as i have too) numerous degrees may put them off. You need to demonstrate commitment. Also dont underestimate the sheer slog to become consultant, if you have children it will be incredibly difficult to progresd. Thats why so many gps are women.
But good luck to you

I'd say it was do-able.

I looked into it when I was forty, but I can't do the broken nights. I'd become a zombie.

If you can do the hours then go for it.

I started in my late 30s and am now a junior doctor at 45. There was a lady a couple of years older on my course, but she's really struggling with exhaustion now, athough she also has a young child,which makes it harder (I have teens, which is bad enough).
I think, realistically, up to 40 it's still worthwhile, but after that it doesn't make much sense, as by the time you finish speciality training, you'll find it hard to get a consultant position and you'll be close to retirement age and looking to wind Down.

I would say it was doable.

However I would also suggest you think hard about what you think being a doctor is going to be like. One you qualify, you aren't really qualified - you still have to carry on doing exams to get to your final destination. The quickest of these is GP but that would still be another 5 years after your finals. What age will you have to work to for retirement? A lot of doctors have their eyes firmly set on early retirement as they are knackered but you won't have the years of service to do it.

Plus you have to consider that would be lots of short term jobs, shifts - how do you feel about nights?, possibly moving around the country and so on. This might be just as you are in the middle of a relationship or having children.

If you have children now, there is no family-friendly version of medical school. People have done it with kids, but it is tough.

Finally is being a doctor all that? What looks amazing when you see it for a day untrained, might feel less amazing when you do it day in, day out.

I don't know exactly what age I would think was too late, but definitely a lot older than you are, OP.

Things I wish I'd known before I started grad entry medicine (I was 25).

1. The working week for junior doctors is 48 hours. You don't get time off in lieu for working nights/weekends excepting a day or so to recover.
2. You'll work at least a weekend every month and will have no say in which it is. You have no power to request particular weekends off (and you can't take annual leave when you're on weekends/nights). If you're on a rota you work it or swap it.
3. Rotas often so tight that swaps mean working 2 weekends in a row (a weekend is 3 12.5 hour days) with only 1 rest day per week.
4. You'll probably get a job but there's no guarantee where. In your F1 year you're on a provisional licence and you are only allowed to work in the foundation programme, which means that if you get a job on the other side of the country, you move or are unemployed. The assessment is largely pot luck.
5. Very few people manage to get through all the training without taking some time out, either through competition for jobs or just needing time off the rota. So count on adding in 1-2 years to whatever postgrad training scheme you're considering.

Honestly, it's exhausting. There's good bits too but I often wonder where my previous, 9-5 career would have taken me and how my life would be different now.
Think carefully about how you will manage all of this in your late thirties and forties. I'm coming to the conclusion that I won't be able to carry on in the way I work now.

I'd get some experience in care work OP to see if you're cut out for it before investing time and money in training. I wanted to retrain as a nurse, and was told by the Uni to get a few years in care experience under my belt to help my application as a mature student. Working in a nursing home was certainly an eye opening experience..... dealing with bowel explosions, blood loss, vomit etc took a bit of getting used to and my worst ever experience was from someone with a blocked bowel.... fecular vomiting. I didn't eat for 3 days after.

I also realised that even though I was in my late 30s, there was no way I was going to be able to work nights. I was like a zombie after a 12 hour shift, and certainly wasn't safe to drive home via the motorway so had to take a longer detour. I realised I could work as a trained nurse without doing nights; but there was no way round that in training for 3 years.

I realised sadly that it wasn't the job for me, but am very glad I hadn't started the degree course before finding that out.

Can you say why you want to do this? It looks as though you've had no real interest in science - you chose different A levels, a different degree and two post-grad degrees. At no point did you decide on science.

If you wanted children, taking a course like this would be incredibly difficult.

I think because of inevitable ageism in any work place you have to assume that you could if you were unlucky be encouraged to leave edged out by sixty..... so if training takes seven years and it's a long tough road, I'd want a good 15 years out of it. So I'm going to say if you are over 40 ish.

Some fields like psychotherapy would be less effected by ageism.

If you’re serious about this you’re probably better off speaking to some actual junior doctors who are currently going through training, rather than a bunch of internet randoms who may or may not have any experience of medicine.