Career Paths of Older students

[miguel_lwms]

Hi there,
does anyone have any info on the career paths taken by older students post graduation?

I will graduate at 35yrs of age (hopefully) and I'm beginning to think that a few career paths are pretty much closed for me (eg neurosurgery, orthopaedics).

When I first entered med school, I thought that GP would be a nice career path, but now with only 12 months to go I'm pretty certain I don't want to be a GP

Does anyone have any real life examples of older medic graduates who decided to ditch the "you'll make a really good GP" path and go for something a bit more hospital based such as paediatrics or opthalmology

My previous degree was in history, so I don't even have the luxury of a science BSc and I did not want to intercalate.

Thanks

Mig

[spk76]

Well, Carol Black is quite an inspiring figure for us oldies:

http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/bio/CarolBlack.asp

[Linda]

::watching this thread closely::

I'll be 48 when I finish! You are a mere spring chicken at 35!

L.

[bigdaikon]

Hey Linda, wouldn't mind picking your brain about life, the universe and everything if that's OK?

[Linda]

Originally Posted by bigdaikon

Hey Linda, wouldn't mind picking your brain about life, the universe and everything if that's OK?

Hi bigdaikon. Feel free to pick away, though I am not sure how much of my brain is left at the moment. Just trying to finish off things at work before handing over to my successor so that I can GO TO BARTS IN SEPTEMBER!!!

*ahem* sorry .. just really excited now. Well, I was until I bought two textbooks in preparation and actually had a look at the amount of information that will need to be learned.

Linda

[pretoria]

I don't think any career paths are closed because of age - you might just have to deal with more prejudice. Anyway - it will be illegal to discriminate on the basis of age from next year (yay Europe!)

I will be 35 when I graduate, and fully intend to pursue whichever career path most interests me - at the moment, academic medicine/surgery

[LoohooZooher]

good thread this....miguel_lwms i'd be interested to hear more about what makes you feel that certain career paths are closed: is this because of problems/prejudices in the NHS which would prevent you from getting the job you want because of your age, or is it because of family/lifestyle issues that would make it impractical for you?

[asdasd12345]

if everything goes as plans, i will graduate at 35 and then go on to be a surgeon.

[miguel_lwms]

Originally Posted by LoohooZooher

good thread this....miguel_lwms i'd be interested to hear more about what makes you feel that certain career paths are closed: is this because of problems/prejudices in the NHS which would prevent you from getting the job you want because of your age, or is it because of family/lifestyle issues that would make it impractical for you?

It's really a mixture of both.
On the one hand I have heard of more mature doctors being advised not to pursue a surgical career because of the length of time needed to reach consultant level. I've also heard that some competitive SHO rotations have upto 200 applicants per post. I really don't wnt to go into a specialty just because it's less competitive or easier to get an SpR job.

On the other hand, I'm in my med 30s and don't have a mortgage yet. Most of my non medic friends have settled down with mortgages children etc. My partner and I would love to start a family but I am aware that for certain specialties (read orthopaedics) you have to be prepared to move around a lot in the early phase of your career which means either me being a weekend dad or my partner having to move around with me.

Also if I'm honest I'm a bit uncertain about what the future holds. I've come from being a manager where I was good at my job and had good career prospects, to just another medical student with no distinctions or merits to make me stand out from the crowd .

I came into medicine because I wasn't fufilled in my job so I don't really want to do a specialty that has little interst for me, and I don't see myself working as a GP (which I did when I first started).

Mig

[pipedreamer]

Leaving aside all practicalities for a moment: if all medical career paths were equal and you could do/be anything you wanted, do you have any ideas as to what you'd then choose to do?

...to just another medical student with no distinctions or merits to make me stand out from the crowd.

Being a mature student will make you stand out. Is there any way you can use that +/- your management experience to work in your favour? I'm only a first year so I don't know much about how it all works but are there careers advisors in your med school who might be able to help? Or clinicians teaching you who might be willing to give you some advice as to whether their specialty is a realistic option for you?

~ Melanie