AIBU to apply for medicine at 39 after qualifying as a teacher?

[DrRedT]

AIBU to consider applying for medicine at 39 after just qualifying as a teacher?

I’m 39 and have just qualified as a secondary science teacher. I have a permanent teaching job and genuinely enjoy it, so this isn’t about wanting to escape teaching.
But medicine was what I originally wanted to do, and lately I’ve found myself seriously considering applying again.
My route into education wasn’t traditional. I missed the usual qualifications when I was younger due to ill health, returned to education as an adult and eventually completed an undergraduate science degree, a Master’s and a PhD. I applied for medicine years ago but didn’t get through the initial screening stage and ended up taking a different path.
Alongside academia and teaching, I’ve worked for the ambulance service for several years taking 999 calls, so I do have experience of healthcare, dealing with people in crisis and communicating calmly when someone is frightened or distressed.
Oddly, qualifying as a teacher has made me think about medicine more, not less. I’ve realised that the part of teaching I love most is working with people — explaining complicated things clearly, building trust, adapting my communication and helping someone who is struggling.
I know medicine would mean starting again at around 40, years of training and a significant financial commitment. But equally, I’m going to be 45 one day regardless, and I don’t want to reach that age wondering whether I should have at least tried.
I wouldn’t give up teaching just to apply. I’d carry on working and apply for medicine alongside it. If I didn’t get in, I already have a career I enjoy.

So, AIBU to seriously consider applying for medicine at this stage of my life, immediately after qualifying for another profession?
And particularly interested in hearing from doctors/medical students, mature students, teachers who’ve changed careers, or anyone who went into medicine later in life. Would you think I’d lost the plot — or would you apply and at least find out

Can you afford it? Both financially and time. Any children that require childcare? Have you got the necessary qualifications? Go to an Open Day and ask about applying

DC starts grad med this Autumn. They are in 20s but around 1/3 older many with NHS experience. Key is getting good UCAT score. Some unis use GAMSAT. Helpful thread on r@ddit. Good luck

Presumably you would be 44 before you graduated? Then have to work your way up through the junior doctor years.

It feels fairly pointless to me. What was the point in doing teaching?

Surely you can admit you just like doing degrees at this point and don't want to work?

I'm not sure its the utopia you think it is.

How would you cope with the deanery issue where you could be placed virtually anywhere? (A friends son was given an F1 placement in the Isle of Man a couple of years ago for example.)

And the shifts. And the years of training after the degree. And the pay isnt all that in the early years.

Doctors also are struggling to get jobs. And loads leave for Australia and the likes.

None of my medic pals recommend it all.

Not a doctor but I changed careers at 30. 8 years of study and now working in my new career. Very happy I did it but I am now 46 and my appetite for work in general has taken quite the nosedive. Perhaps combined with peri. I would not be able to deal with the pressure of study and exams now. If you feel like you can then why not go for it, but I think it might be a very hard slog.

I wish! I’ve worked alongside all my degrees, even during teacher training worked 20 hours every weekend, so it’s not that I don’t want to work!

Starting anything again at 39 sounds like my idea of hell but medicine, absolutely not. I personally think it’s too much but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t if you’re fully aware of what’s involved.

Child free so no childcare to consider

How will you fund it? Unless medicine is different I don't think you'll get student finance for qualifications at the same level as those you already have.

Menopause does do something that very badly impacted my motivation for work, but maybe being in a new career at that time of life will help with that.

How would you fund medecine, another student loan ?

I'd say go for it. I'm late 30s and retraining - at the end of the day I could have another 35 years of work! almost as long as I've already been alive. Life is short, and you get 1 chance, so squeeze in as much as you can is my philosophy.

When I was at a previous place of work, there was a student dr in her late 40’s. She’d been a pharmacist previously but had a late career change. She’s a GP now.

How will you evidence that you are genuinely committed to completing a medical degree, and practicing as a doctor? Your work history is quite varied, and given you've only just qualified as a teacher I expect admissions tutors will have questions about why you are choosing this path and whether you will stick it out.

That said, there is no harm in applying if you are keen to!

I absolutely think you should do it as long as you are aware of all the points pp have listed. Being placed anywhere for F1, shifts etc.

I thought about it myself but am older than you and wouldn’t cope. Am working towards patient facing healthcare science instead.

I would have loved to do medicine, I do kind of regret not doing it. At 18 and in my early 20s I didn't think I could manage with the people side of being a Dr. If I could have done it as an OU course and never had to see a patient I would definitely have done it.
I went down the science route instead, Masters and PhD then started a career in the pharmaceutical industry. Still very much in love with the human body and it's quirks. I'm also 39 this year and at a pause point having been made redundant. Oddly the thing I'm mostly looking for in a role is that people interaction and support.

I was unwell during my GCSEs and A levels which massively impacted me. I was able to go straight to a degree but I was in survival mode. I do think that had I taken pause after my GCSEs, done my A levels later medicine would have been an option. It took me 11 years to qualify in my industry and then worked for 8 years in a company. I qualified at the same time as my friend who has started medicine at the same time as me qualified as a GP. The idea of doing 5 years of study followed by 5+ years as a jr doctor to find where I fit in. I just don't have that in me any more, also I have a health condition that means working shifts would be very bad for me and this has gotten worse for me as I've aged

Previous roles have fulfilled the body side of my love of medicine, I'm now looking for roles that support the people side.

I would be asking yourself what would medicine bring to your life that you don't have now and also look across a wide array of jobs I health care.

I think it’s a sense of FOMO/the one that got away, you have obviously achieved a lot academically but it seems like you need a new challenge to feel satisfied?

i had a friend who did this but never really got into the swing of clinical work after qualifying. It sort of seemed more that she had to prove she could.

i am a vet, a bit older than you and > 20 years experience. I find as you get older you struggle more with confidence and you take sad outcomes to heart much more than when you were younger. I couldn’t go back to the rigor of a hospital or emergency clinic now, I feel like a bit of a dinosaur. Not sure if it is peri or just what comes with age.

You’ve done a lot of education and steering towards a different career, it seems a bit strange starting again, almost like the never ending student.

did you do biology / scientific degree and PhD?

If you really want to do medicine, just be completely sure you can manage the time in education, any loans (as they’re huge these days, in my day, I took max as dis a degree and PhD and my loans totalled about 12k, and were much easier to most off as very small interest.
lastly, just consider the hours you’ll be doing as a trainee, my DB is now a
consultant, but was often working crazy hours during his trainee years before he was a consultant, it’s not so easy when you’re in your 40’s rather than your 20’s. There may also be considerable chopping and changing of hospitals as a trainee too, may require lots of travelling.
if you still fancy it after these things, and other issues that other posters point out, maybe see if you can apply. Consider a 4 year course too perhaps if your other degrees are in science

It's quite weird to put all that effort into qualifying in one new career field then straight away consider starting again in another. I think I'd be exploring what the underlying yearning is. I wonder if you are slightly addicted to new starts - that sense of possibility and exciting challenge? As a recruiter, I'd be wary that you might not be serious about a career change so soon after another career change.

What sort of role in medicine do you want to do? Are you thinking of training as a nurse or paramedic or training to be a doctor? These obviously have quite different time frames, costs, impact on lifestyle etc etc.

Look into what you need to have before applying. As a postgraduate you need lots more recent and relevant work experience than an 18 year old. And you'll need a killer UCAT score (if you want to apply this year you'll need to get on it asap). How do you plan to pay for it? I know two people from my PhD who went on to do medicine afterwards, they were 10 years younger than you. It's not impossible but I think you do need to make the decision in the next year or so.

To add, all my degrees are science subjects, I have done research, all focused on improving patient care, I’ve worked within the NHS for 13 years whilst completing masters/phd and PGCE & QTS.

its not so much a turn around, I applied for medicine and got rejected 10 years ago, so I thought I’d focus on a career in research.

financially, would be tough but not impossible.

If you can fund it, why not? I know someone who’s just finished her training aged 50.

student Finance England rules changing for 2027 entry so full loans are available even if you have had prior degree funding.

What was the point in teaching? Seems like a waste of money to me. Just putting yourself further into debt, sounds like you prefer being a university student sorry.

You sound like me before I started my meds for ADHD. Genuinely. I occasionally will still make comments about going back to uni to do medicine but I’m not sure I would actually do it. For context I have a degree in an arts subject, a masters degree in a science, a postgrad qualification in counselling and a floristry diploma…