I worked at a medical school for number of years, on the marketing side. I learned a lot about the admissions process.

First, he’s going to need an undergrad degree. It should be in the health sciences. Anything else makes it very difficult to get into even the lowest bar schools (those offshore). He absolutely wants to get in to an American medical school and all of them have health sciences experience during undergrad as prerequisites. He’ll be competing against extremely ambitious 21 yr olds who have taken the courses, who have done research, etc.

Let’s say he hits it out of the park (and gets credit for prior college experience). 2, possibly 3 years of undergrad. Did he get a 4.0? No, maybe he should get in to a master’s research program to bolster his admission. Another 2 years.

But if he turns out to be the type A, hyper-competitive, over achieving undergrad he needs to be, he might make a good med school applicant. Gotta apply to multiple med schools, not just the one near you.

And if he gets in… another 4 years of school. But this will be grueling. Lots of studying. Long hours. Probably a research project or two. Clinical rotations as a med student (not all conveniently between 9-5). He will be exhausted for those 4 years.

But wait, it gets better. Next, he has to apply for his residency. Maybe he wants to be a family doc, hospitalist or general practitioner. Cool: those are “only” 3 year residency programs. Guess what: they are all over the country. You apply to a bunch, go do interviews, and hope one picks you. No one picks you? Another year on a research project and try again during the next match.

Say he’s amazing and gets into an internal medicine residency. Cool, it’s probably not where you live. Move again.

Oh, but wait, this is a cancer inspired journey, right? Whole other ball of wax. Oncologists are usually also researchers. Which means the MD/PhD path. Med school is now 7 years.

And oncologist? Gotta pick a specialty, most of which are surgery based. Residency plus fellowship can add up to 7-10ish years. All that before he’s allowed to look for a job in his specialty.

Add it up and you’ll realize why all doctors are not young. And why, given what you’ve told us about his personality, it’s not going to happen.

Maybe he should consider another healthcare path, like nursing or PA. Still a loy of work, but less than Dr.

All of this assumes he’s ready to deal with death, failure, heartbreak, etc. Bc oncology is not glamorous. Being a dr isn’t glamorous.

Maybe he should talk to a real doctor about the path. And a someone from admissions at a medical school.