Does age matter ?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by levieuxnegre, Sep 30, 2004.

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  1. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    No! One of his consulting clients hadn't finished up his first try at a PhD in 1910. I think he was in his 90s when he finished his doctorate.
     
  2. buckwheat3

    buckwheat3 Master of the Obvious

    Trying not to hijack here, but Ted, I've seen John Bear on TV, I'm just poking a little fun...best to everyone
    Gavin
     
  3. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    Makes ya' live longer!

    It's just an opinion mind you...

    ...but I say a person who's 70 and only 10 years out of having gone back to school; and who is, therefore, 10 years into a new and interesting second career, will live far, far longer than a 70-year-old who's five years into retirement after 30 or 40 years in a job that s/he was already sick to death of back when s/he was 45. That is, unless s/he steps in front of a bus.

    It's never too late. Never.
     
  4. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Re: Makes ya' live longer!

    Just kidding, DesElms! Look at my signature line and I think it'll become quite readily obvious that I'm an old geezer myself.
     
  5. james_lankford

    james_lankford New Member

    instead of medical school, you might want to consider physician assistant school.

    school is shorter and cheaper, afterwards you'll pay less in malpractice insurance

    you can really do anything an MD can do except open you're own practice. I have a friend who is a PA and his specialty is assisting with brain surgery

    and he doesn't just pass the instruments, he does actual surgery

    the first two years are classroom lectures, the next two years are clinical rotations

    here are a couple of schools and their training schedules

    http://www.svcmc.org/pa/curriculum.asp

    http://www.downstate.edu/pa/curriculum.html
     
  6. GUNSMOKE

    GUNSMOKE New Member

    Thirty years ago when I was an undergrad, I had some classes with a 67 year-old retired Dentist who was taking a few liberal arts courses to prepare himself for Law school. At the age of 72, he became (at that time at least) the oldest person admitted to the Bar in Louisiana. He served of counsel at a very prestigious law firm for 14 years until his death.




    Good luck and all of God's blessings for whatever choices you make!!!!!!!!!!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 29, 2005
  7. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

    Awesome!


    Thats awesome! Congrats.


    Abner :)
     
  8. glimeber

    glimeber New Member

    James_Lankford said...."you can really do anything an MD can do except open you're own practice". Seriously friends - this isn't even close to true. If you PA friend is telling you that he is truly doing brain surgery he either has a reeeeeeally long nose or is practicing illegally. Wonder what the physician with whom he is practicing under would say about his claim? James....check your state's scope of practice standards to see the difference.
     
  9. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    In Bears' Guide, we tell the story of the man who wrote to me some years ago, saying he had been thrown out of the Columbia University Ph.D. program in 1912 or 1913, and wondered if there was a place he could go to complete the Ph.D.

    I pointed out the apparent typo in his letter, and he replied that he was, in fact, 95 (my recollection; I don't have a Bears' Guide nearby); his wife of 70+ years had died, and he was bored stiff.

    I approached Columbia on his behalf, thinking it would be tremendous PR, but they said no. However another RA school, that did not want publicity, accepted him, and he completed the Ph.D. at 98 or 99.

    His original proposed topic at Columbia related to his belief there was going to be a world war. The political science department felt that was so outrageous, they would not allow him to do the work.

    In my series of six little "Birthday Books" for Price/Stern/Sloan 30 years ago, I list achievements of people at all ages from 1 to 107. The oldest academic was a man who was an active Trustee of Princeton University at 104.
     
  10. hikergirl

    hikergirl New Member

    I'm a RN and have worked with multiple physicians who started medical school "later" in life. There are many people who don't start until their 30's, but one woman comes to mind who began her MD program at 40 and is VERY well-respected by her colleagues. Don't ever let anything hold you back from reaching your goals. I'm 35 right now, am starting a master's program with a goal of continuing on to a higher degree program (closer to 40) that will take me another 1.5 years to complete. As far as I can tell, that gives me about 25 good years of working in the field I've always desired. Oh, and as far as I can tell, it's not a requirement at most schools to tell your age... I believe there is a discrimination law that protects you. I could be wrong, but look into that.

    Best of luck to you.
     
  11. ybfjax

    ybfjax New Member

    Where can I get a copy of this work?

    Dr. Bear,

    Did he keep his original proposed topic at whereever he graduated from? Is there any way to get a copy of his dissertation?

    Just curious.
     
  12. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    John B. Bear, Ph.D. & Mariah P. Bear, M.A., _Bears' Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning_, 14th edn. (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2001), p. 13: "One of John's favorite consulting clients wrote to him some years ago that his doctoral dissertation had been rejected by Columbia University in 1910, and now he'd like to finish the degree. John wrote back offering suggestions, and mentioned what he thought was an amusing typographical error in the letter; he'd said 1910. No, the man wrote back, that's correct. He was 96 years old, and these events had happened 70 years earlier. He was accepted by a good nontraditional external program, and completed his Ph.D. shortly before his 100th birthday."
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Re: Where can I get a copy of this work?

    You might get the guy's name from Columbia. Then, look him up in University Microfilms International. His year of graduation must have been about 1984 (original events happened 1910 ... seventy years ago ... he was 96 years old ... graduated shortly before his 100th birthday). Tell us what you find out.
     
  14. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    I expect to fail out of London at 52...that leaves plenty of time to study something at the local University!
     
  15. Tireman44

    Tireman44 member

    Young Nosborne,

    Buck up. You are supposed to be an example for those who are not that far behind you. ( I am 40). We need you to stand up tall and finish dadgummit.
     
  16. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Actually, I had a long talk with my wife of twelve years (also a lawyer) last night. I was wigging out big time over the huge amount of unread material I have to get through, analyse, and UNDERSTAND before August.

    She said, "I wish you were doing this for the pleasure of learning and not for the damned degree. You're a lawyer with a good career and your cat loves you. It doesn't MATTER what happens with exams."

    Well, that brought me up short. I have learned a great deal about something I knew nothing about and I have greatly enjoyed learning it. Heck, even last night I read something very enlightening in Dworkin's "Taking Rights Seriously" but it would have completely passed me by had I not spent the last few months reading Hart and Austin. I DO enjoy the intellectual stimulation but I wouldn't have pursued a systematic reading program had I not signed up. At least, I never did in 18 years of being a lawyer.

    The moral is, it really DOESN'T matter. I have three more years after this August; if I really don't feel prepared to be examined, I can withdraw at the last minute without penalty (but losing the entry fees) or I can take the exams and fail but still have a second chance next year and have two years to master the second set of subjects. There's really no hurry.

    Wigging out is simply unnecessary!

    I mean shoot, little fauss, with a B/V rating I don't need to prove anything to anyone, right?? ;)
     
  17. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    The cat hasn't had twelve years of you. :)

    Any other programs out there to keep you busy and stimulated?
     
  18. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Well, let's see...I got the cat as a spayed, declawed adult at the Pound in...1996. 9 human years...she's been with me 63 cat years!

    No, I am sticking to the London program. I am just going to relax a bit more and remember that the DIPLOMA isn't the point; the LEARNING is.

    My wife, BTW, has more native intellegence than anyone I've ever known. She's also a very good lawyer.
     

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