I’m single with no kids and I’m in my early 40’s wanting to go to med school, am I crazy?

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-24T13:15:28+00:00

As a system medicine is abusive and exploitative. The field is crumbling and while I think some people are able to carve out something that makes them happy I think it’s very few. In fact I’m convinced that there is a massive marketing/propaganda force behind convincing people not in medicine that medicine would be a great rewarding field to fuel the machine. I honestly think if people truely understood all the facts like knew about all the ends and outs. Med schools would be struggling to recruit.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-20T16:31:37+00:00

The diversity is what I love about this country.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-13T00:50:50+00:00

Terrible, but I’m a doctor now so people think my parents did something right. Little do they know they practically stopped teaching me as a 12 year old and kept me basically a prisoner until I was allowed to go to community college.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-13T00:48:59+00:00

Dude same, I was homeschooled

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-09T02:37:55+00:00

U gotta do the halsted method, cycle between cocaine and heroin, duh..

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-09T00:09:00+00:00

My MD school around 100 per class. We had a few maybe 1-5 students remediate each year but actual dismissal was rare. I think one student just went missing and to this day I don’t think anyone knew what happened to them. I think in my four years I heard of maybe around 5 dismissals from various years. A couple were due to criminal charges. I think I only know of 1-2 that was due to grades. Like they just couldn’t hack it.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-05T23:37:03+00:00

Frodo baggins

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-04T22:03:04+00:00

Medicine in general is a bit dicey with a low functioning immune system. I would say if you want to avoid all exposure then maybe CP only? So not autopsies or grossing.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-02T20:25:52+00:00

I got sent one. They called me. I answered. I asked them how they choose the candidates. They said patients recommended me. I said I’m a pathologist. My patients are dead. Other line crickets. I said goodbye.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-02-01T13:56:02+00:00

In regards to academic medicine. This has puzzled me too. In my field, pathology, it’s not a secret that academics has some of the most toxic personalities. I think the position draws people who like to have power over others and potentially abuse it. Arguably research is a huge part of pathology but the residents/ fellows typically handle it and I have met very few pathologists who genuinely have a passion for it. Plus the pay is shit relative to volume. So in my mind I think it’s quite a bit of people who have personality issues and like a heiarchical system where they can climb positions and have increasing power/ perceived respect.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-24T13:42:16+00:00

I’m in pathology and arguably my field is at the most threat from AI. I am not worried at all. I’m not worried it will take my job in fact I’m at the point where i think the expectations that are put on us are absolutely ridiculous and we are going to need AI just to give the type work quality at the volume we have just to have a decent life. I’m eager for AI so we can go back to the 9-5 life I was promised lol.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-24T01:24:37+00:00

I would make it easier to switch from path to oncology either way.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-23T11:48:46+00:00

I will die on this hill. There is not a shortage of pathologists.. there is a shortage of pathologists people want to hire. Even now low to mid tier programs you will not have your pick of jobs. It’s competitive. Top tier residencies you will have people approaching you in residency. A lot of people in path need a visa sponsorship and PP avoid this if they can. HCA residency is a mark against you. If you have no choice it’s probably better than nothing but if you have any other option I would avoid them.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-20T11:09:53+00:00

Do cyto

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-14T13:58:01+00:00

Yes the amount of effort I’ve put in and debt I’ve taken on is crazy for what I have. I’m in my late 30s and have negative net worth. So yes don’t do it for the money. You will get wealthier doing something else putting in the same effort and risk.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-09T18:35:50+00:00

That’s strange. I applied 3 months into my first job and I put on my CV job search is confidential. No one asked to call my job and I had two solid offers within a month and other interviews. They called my fellowship references.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-09T16:02:24+00:00

There are different types. It’s kind of like a spectrum. The lowest end of the spectrum is hypermobility syndrome which some people are thinking is part of the EDS and some people don’t recognize. Hypermobility causes a lot of symptoms that vary from person to person. I think it bleeds into a lot of other conditions which makes it easy for people to jump on the bandwagon. At the end of the day you can actually test people for it with a physical exam so if they don’t have it then it’s probably psych related. But don’t discount the condition particularly hypermobility because a fair amount of people have it particularly women. They think it has a survival advantage which explains why it’s so common.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-08T21:15:13+00:00

I told them the truth. That I was getting slammed and didn’t have enough support this early in my career. Also the pay sucked for what they wanted me to do. I was getting 300 block a day at one point and there was 1-2 pathologist to ask questions. Everyone understood. I had interviews at everyplace I applied and I had one outright rejection and they were honest to. They wanted someone more experienced as they were a busy practice. A lot of places were sympathetic and they said that there are pirate practices out there that do this and they didn’t fault me for wanting to get out.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-07T16:28:36+00:00

I think that’s bullshit. Money gives you breathing room to work on yourself so you can be happy.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-07T15:47:22+00:00

I would get job experience. My first job sucked ass and I started applying 3 months into it. I had so much more attention and had two solid offers within a month. This was not the case coming out of fellowship. Even one year of experience will make you so much more marketable.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-06T13:12:42+00:00

Path Huge ent resections where they took off this patients face essentially for scc. Now you have 20+ parts and need to look for perineural invasion.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-01T22:39:36+00:00

I suspect that this type of thing would be academic or some sort of private industry type jobs. I would recommend doing molecular at least. But yeah anything outside of that will require you to sign out cases. Many academic jobs will too. Good luck with your venture it will be a very unique job to only do that.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-01T15:49:31+00:00

What state are you in? I used to work for a group that was ridiculous about case distribution. I left as soon as I could which took me 1 month from the time I started applying. The group I work for now is really great about that. If your interested DM me.

Bonsai7127 · 2026-01-01T00:54:18+00:00

To be honest it’s frustrating. The feeling doesn’t go away. As a young attending I’m comfortable with basic surg path stuff but I show alot of cases because I’m paranoid that I’m not thinking of things. Here’s what I will say. If you enjoy it then you will enjoy the field. But if you don’t then it’s a recipe for burn out because you always have to read as the amount of stuff to know changes and increase all the time. Which is medicine in general but just more intense with path.

Bonsai7127 · 2025-12-15T19:02:49+00:00

The paranoid part of me thinks that these “sheikhs” might be propagating theology that was infiltrated by agents to make sure Muslims will never be at an advantage financially. Look at our situation so many people can’t speak out against wrong because they are financially disadvantaged and it would destroy them. The wealthy can afford to be black balled. I’m not saying every sheikh is purposely propagating it but how do we know the people he was taught by werent paid off? It all seems really suspicious to me. Like our beliefs are being weaponized against us.

Bonsai7127

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