Only 54% of doctors would choose a career in medicine again, only 11% feel "rich"

[magical thyme]

71. I went back at 55...and I regret it

because as much as I loved the general sciences, the clinical sciences were a big, fat bore. Piles and piles and piles of rote memorization. The work I do is also a bore, the environment is a pink ghetto, the pay 25% less than what HR at a nearby hospital told me before I entered the program. And now, after a whole year of work, the local work is disappearing and I can't sell my house to move to the west coast where they are begging for MLTs.

Genetics is comparatively easy, as are micro and anatomy. For MLT, our general sciences were pre-med level. Chemistry would have been fun in the pace hadn't been so breakneck. The math is pretty much algebra II, but it's like playing chess. You're given 2 pieces of data, you've memorized 50 or so formulas. You need to pick the right set of formulas to lead you down a path to the requested piece of data. It's timed, though, so if you go too far down the wrong path, you'll run out of time. There may be 5 or 10 problems like that, plus a pile of multiple choice. At our sister school there is a 50% failure rate in General Chemistry. Our failure rate was lower, but the professor did that by loading us down with graded homework to help out the students who don't test well. I went into most of my final exams with anywhere from 99 - 100+% average, finished about the same (except micro, where I was so burned out I simply didn't study for the final, but still finished with 4.0) and graduated summa cum laude.

At 52, you'd face an uphill battle getting into med school, although no problem getting into pre-med. You'll need to pretty much be 4.0 all the way through, and especially in organic chemistry. Our science coordinator says they want 4.0 in organic because it's a matter of seeing patterns. They'll promise you the world in pre-med to boost enrollment. But the competition to get into med school is fierce and along with your grades, which *must* be 4.0 -- they'll be looking at your age for practical reasons. There is a doctor shortage and they're going to prefer somebody young who has many years of practice ahead of them.

By the time I graduated MLT, there was a 2 year waiting list to get in. Same with nursing. Probably similar with med school. Once you're in, you run yourself into the ground to stay in because if you withdraw for any reason, you'll be back at the end of the line.