What if I'm too old and dumb for med school

blossom
Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:53:33 +0000

I know you don’t want to hear this- but with a BA in a social science– and strong quant skills- you could finish a Master’s in Epidemiology by the time you are ready to APPLY to med school. The work is fascinating- why heal one patient at a time when you can be healing entire populations? And if you are good at it- it’s a solid professionally paying career.

I’ve posted before about my neighbor with “just” a BS/RN who now recruits patients and manages clinical trials for oncology patients at a large, famous academic medical center. Heads of state come from all over the world to be treated there. Her patients (and their families) tell her that she is the MOST important and skilled professional out of the dozens and dozens of professionals they see during the course of their treatment. She is the canary in the coal mine for the very famous doctors who work at her hospital. She is the person who identifies a raspy throat as a side effect and not just “maybe I’m getting a cold”. She is the person who helps the family member figure out the right combination of sweet and salty to get a patient to eat, when they are taking a new, never tested on humans chemo compound who can’t taste ANYTHING.

She makes a lot more money than a bedside nurse- even at her own hospital which is known to pay top rate for oncology nurses.

But I’m not knocking med school. If that’s what you want, ignore your age. Put pedal to the metal and just get it done. Finish your courses, find a hospice or homeless shelter that will take you on as a volunteer, start to study for the MCAT’s.

But in my experience, if you set yourself up in life with no Plan B or an “All or nothing” attitude, you need to be prepared to end up unhappy with the outcome. The best laid plans and all that.

And yes, there are people in med school now, and in prestigious fellowships, and completing desirable residencies, who got a C in organic chemistry. But then they knocked it out of the park with everything else. And the ones I know- when it came time to interview and they were asked “why do you want to be a doctor?” the answer was NOT “because it’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted and I can’t stand the thought of being an underpaid PA or NP or clinical psychologist”. That’s not the way you get into med school.