Am I to late?

Hi

I'm new on here and this is my first post and was not sure if I should post here or in the medicine section but I chose here,

Ok so I'm 27yrs old ( 28 in Oct) for most of my teenage years I was a carer to my mom as she suffered with pain all over her body, and I tried to juggle school and caring for my mom when GCSE came round I failed and got F and G grades which was really frustrating I was also at the time trying to comes to times of my father's passing as he died three months before my exams, the reason I was so upset with my grades and myself was because unlike some of my class mates I knew what I wanted to do I wanted to be a psychiatrist as my grandfather was one and he was amazing at his job and he got me hooked growing up and he often tested me on scenarios of made up patients and what would the diagnosis be or what would you need to do in this situation and I always got them right everyone and he told me that I would make a great psychiatrist, but you need to study medicine first and you need good grades so that's why I was so upset but after I got my results my mom had gone further downhill with her health so instead of retaking I put my dream of becoming a psychiatrist on hold to look after my mom as she needed me, I looked after her from when I finished school in 2006 until 2015 through all that time I was her full time carer and it took 9yrs for the drs to find out what was wrong and to get her to a stage were treatment helped improve her pain. We found out she suffers with fibromyalgia and it took years to get the right balance of medication, pain management and physiotherapy, since 2015 my mom has been in a much better place health wise and pain wise and does not need me to care for her anymore , in September 2015 I was finally able to continue with my dream of becoming a psychiatrist as I still have just as much passion now as I did then.

So in sept 2015 I studied my GCSE in maths, English and science, and could only retake three at college as that's all the offered. A year later my results were maths D, English B, science C which was not good enough for medicine degree let alone an access in Medicine so in sept 2016 I retook Maths and science last August when I opened my results I got a 6 ( equivalent to a B) in both maths and science, so I had the grades to get onto an access to science but when I applied in 2016 they said that I don't really have much hope as no uni will accept me for a place on a medicine course with only 3 good GCSE and said I would be better studying something else and then study medicine at graduate entry level. I then spoke with a few medicine lecturers who my grandfather knows and they agreeded that graduate level would be better but both are very competitive but if I show my passion and get a good grade in another subject degree like a 1st or 2:1 plus lots of experience I might get a better chance with graduate route.

My problem with this is I'm going to be in my 40's when I finish and can do my psychiatry training and I'm worried I would be to old for anyone to give me a job in psychiatry?

I already know what other degree I can do as the only other career I would be interested in would be child nursing as three cousins are nurses , both grandmother's were nurses and one of my aunties is a nurse so nursing runs in our blood and I've had experience of nursing and enjoyed it but I could only work in child nursing the reason is that I love kids so I would get more enjoyment out of it.

What I really want help with is if you could tell me is

1) If I would to old to get a CT or ST training place\job since I'll be in my 40's ( after medicine you do foundation training year 1 and 2 and then you go into your ST training or in psychiatry CT and then ST but I'm worried I'd be to old)

2) since graduate medicine is so competitive should I even bother or should I stick to child nursing? ( I know it's my dream but my family don't think I have a chance of getting a place and think I should focus on my second option , I really want you to be honest with me and not focus on the fact it's my dream as I'd prefer honesty, by the way child nursing is the only other career and only type of nursing that I would be able to be just as happy as I would a psychiatrist)

So what should I do? Or what would you do in my situation?

Also through 2016-2017 I was getting hands on experience in nursing as my cousins and auntie work in different fields and my favourite was the experience in the children's ward I loved it and sometimes inside not want to go home as the kids just make you laugh but I also got to see first hand the struggles of the job to and never once got put off and my cousin who is the children ward manger was impressed with me and said I had the right attitude and personality to be a nurse so that why I picked children nursing as it interested me the most and loved every minute there.

Hi

I'm new on here and this is my first post and was not sure if I should post here or in the medicine section but I chose here,

Ok so I'm 27yrs old ( 28 in Oct) for most of my teenage years I was a carer to my mom as she suffered with pain all over her body, and I tried to juggle school and caring for my mom when GCSE came round I failed and got F and G grades which was really frustrating I was also at the time trying to comes to times of my father's passing as he died three months before my exams, the reason I was so upset with my grades and myself was because unlike some of my class mates I knew what I wanted to do I wanted to be a psychiatrist as my grandfather was one and he was amazing at his job and he got me hooked growing up and he often tested me on scenarios of made up patients and what would the diagnosis be or what would you need to do in this situation and I always got them right everyone and he told me that I would make a great psychiatrist, but you need to study medicine first and you need good grades so that's why I was so upset but after I got my results my mom had gone further downhill with her health so instead of retaking I put my dream of becoming a psychiatrist on hold to look after my mom as she needed me, I looked after her from when I finished school in 2006 until 2015 through all that time I was her full time carer and it took 9yrs for the drs to find out what was wrong and to get her to a stage were treatment helped improve her pain. We found out she suffers with fibromyalgia and it took years to get the right balance of medication, pain management and physiotherapy, since 2015 my mom has been in a much better place health wise and pain wise and does not need me to care for her anymore , in September 2015 I was finally able to continue with my dream of becoming a psychiatrist as I still have just as much passion now as I did then.

So in sept 2015 I studied my GCSE in maths, English and science, and could only retake three at college as that's all the offered. A year later my results were maths D, English B, science C which was not good enough for medicine degree let alone an access in Medicine so in sept 2016 I retook Maths and science last August when I opened my results I got a 6 ( equivalent to a B) in both maths and science, so I had the grades to get onto an access to science but when I applied in 2016 they said that I don't really have much hope as no uni will accept me for a place on a medicine course with only 3 good GCSE and said I would be better studying something else and then study medicine at graduate entry level. I then spoke with a few medicine lecturers who my grandfather knows and they agreeded that graduate level would be better but both are very competitive but if I show my passion and get a good grade in another subject degree like a 1st or 2:1 plus lots of experience I might get a better chance with graduate route.

My problem with this is I'm going to be in my 40's when I finish and can do my psychiatry training and I'm worried I would be to old for anyone to give me a job in psychiatry?

I already know what other degree I can do as the only other career I would be interested in would be child nursing as three cousins are nurses , both grandmother's were nurses and one of my aunties is a nurse so nursing runs in our blood and I've had experience of nursing and enjoyed it but I could only work in child nursing the reason is that I love kids so I would get more enjoyment out of it.

What I really want help with is if you could tell me is

1) If I would to old to get a CT or ST training place\job since I'll be in my 40's ( after medicine you do foundation training year 1 and 2 and then you go into your ST training or in psychiatry CT and then ST but I'm worried I'd be to old)

2) since graduate medicine is so competitive should I even bother or should I stick to child nursing? ( I know it's my dream but my family don't think I have a chance of getting a place and think I should focus on my second option , I really want you to be honest with me and not focus on the fact it's my dream as I'd prefer honesty, by the way child nursing is the only other career and only type of nursing that I would be able to be just as happy as I would a psychiatrist)

So what should I do? Or what would you do in my situation?

Also through 2016-2017 I was getting hands on experience in nursing as my cousins and auntie work in different fields and my favourite was the experience in the children's ward I loved it and sometimes inside not want to go home as the kids just make you laugh but I also got to see first hand the struggles of the job to and never once got put off and my cousin who is the children ward manger was impressed with me and said I had the right attitude and personality to be a nurse so that why I picked children nursing as it interested me the most and loved every minute there.

First of all , welcome to tsr and thats great news that your mother is much better now.

Id like to say it is never too late to go to uni or choose a career. It shouldnt and doesnt make a difference if you will finish in your 40’S. As iv have read this post of yours you have expressed a great liking towards nursing and would therefore suggest child nursing

Thank you so very much for your reply, I chose children nursing because after being able to have experiencein children nursing I knew I would be equally as happy as a child nurse as I would a psychiatrist.

My family including the members who are nurses have said that I would be better choosing a career in children nursing instead of psychiatry the reasons they gave were that medicine is very competitive and I am unlikely to get on anyway due to only have 3 GCSE and that nursing is in demand as we don't have enough nurse in all 4 nursing fileds ( Child, adult,mental health, disability) and that I wont have any problems finding a job.

So you feel I should pursue a career in child nursing?

Medical school is so tough....at your age now i would avoid it tbh.

Im in a similar situation until my mom passed i cared for her and am 27 now...

she passed when i was 26...did a foundation course directly after. Recieved AAB
Now study Management at a Russell group.

Im finishing 1st year now and will be just turning 30 or already 30 (depending how u want to look at it) when i graduate....add my 30th year of life for a master, and then i will be 31 yr old when i begin working which is quite late.

If you did nursing, you would be around 32/33 which is similar... you wouldnt earn as much but you could look into working in the US as pay is far higher there.

I personally wouldnt have gone to medical school even if it was my dream, because simply it takes too long for truly mature student. Though we are quite young... that long in school and no guarantee of passing is a real risk.

I would go for a career that you can jump into quicjly that takes no longer then 4-5 yrs of study.

I personally think medicine is far too competitive and child nursing would be much better suited, as you already have experince in this field anyways and have a passion for it, i would personally recommend child nursing goodluck