AIBU to want to go to medical school?

[tummytickler]

Hello
Well, am i being unreasonable to want to go to medical school?
I have four kids and i am currently a sahm, which i mostly enjoy, but we have used all of our savings to enable me to do this.
Dh job comes to an end in June and is having trouble finding another, so we are not very well off at all at the moment.
BUT - I have always had a yearning to go to medical school, wanted it desperately when i was at college but ended up doing something completely unrelated.
I havent done my research yet, as i have been mulling it over for a couple of weeks, but seem to be talking myself into it more than anything! So i thought some opinions of strangers might be in order before i unleash mad thoughts to my family.
My degree is in Anthropolgy so think i may have to do some A - levels first.

So am i too old?
Am i just mad?
Is it the most rediculous thing you ever heard?
Is it really unfair to do it with young children (although surely i cant leave it much longer as i will be too old?)

Thanks ladies - talk some sense into me!

Was thinking about this and I think that, unless you have close friends or family in Medicine you should definitely do some work experience first/ talk in detail to students/ doctors, etc. I think it is v difficult to imagine what the lifestyle may be like unless you take the time to do this.
I am also married to a doctor (as are a lot of doctors due to the unusual nature of the job and the long hrs spent with other medics). He is training in Interventional Cardiology and I work pt time as a GP when not on mat leave (because this specialty is much easier to do flexibly with the children). We have certainly had to make a lot of sacrifices as a family- numerous house moves, exams, financial issues, children not seeing much of their father and sometimes having a rather stressed mother due to not having much support! Financially, I would imagine that the outlay would be v significant for you and doctors do not earn huge amounts of money for many years. My husband is in his late 30s, has been qualified nearly 11 years an earns 65,000 (probably works 70-80 hrs plus/ week) which is clearly far more than average but is in no way comparable to other professionals. We also (unlike other professionals at a training stage) have to pay for our professional registration, exams, text books, equipment, defence union costs (in case of litigation), etc, etc. Clearly, nobody would become a Dr to earn huge amounts of money as there are much easier ways of doing this but I just feel it is fair to point this out to you. The other issue which is different nowadays is that it is actually v difficult to get jobs in a lot of specialties. In my area it is frequently taking young GPs 2 years or so to find a job (we are all having to locum which is a complete nightmare with children). However, all this may have changed in another 10 yrs.
I imaging that you must be v used to hard work already with 4 children and be a born a optimist if you are even thinking about this so v best of luck!! If you have any more q's am happy to answer!

I don't want to put you off ...but I think you are off your rocker! I went to med school - very full on - absolutely masses to learn (first 2 years of 3 degrees in just 2 years, followed by even more for the clinical part). And it's learn off by heart stuff, not understand and you can do it - like maths iykwim. Then you have to do post-grad exams - 2-3 sets over 3-4 years. They are very hard and lots fail once or twice and then have to keep repeating them. And you do these while you are working (day and night) in whatever speciality you have chosen.
Why do you want to be a doctor? Could you find something allied to medicine that would enable you to see your kids?

Hi everyone.
thanks for all your advice.
Dh and i had a big chat last night. Unfortunately bacause i have been a sahm for so long we used all of our savings so that i could do that. I dont regret that one bit, but those savings would have paid for me to go to medical school and so finance is an issue at the mo (in that we have none ).
HOWEVER he is keen to be a sahd for a while as he has worked bloody hard and spent lots of nights late in the lab (or pub!), and he does feel he has missed out on the kids a bit during that time, so he would be happy to do that.
I think our plan of action is now for me to try and find a job related to medicine to get a bit of experience, save some pennies, and wait until the kids are a bit older. I am so excited that he was enthusiastic and understanding though, so it looks like i can actually start to consider this seriously in 4 years or so and spend this time enjoying the dc's and working towards that goal.
trouble is i am a bit of a NOW, NOW, NOW person (I think this comes from having lots of dc's), so i think his quiet, relaxed encouragement has helped me to calm the beans a bit!
We aer going to do some thorough research into my local uni's course, the financial situation and look on the NHS website for something for me to do in the meantime!
Thank you so much for all your advice - i am excited about the future!

Umlella -me too ! I was put off speech therapy by a careers advisor and did accountancy instead.But now the youngest is about to start school I am beginning to think seriously about it.