From Artist to Neuroscientist - Is that even possible?

[Blue Kuru]

Hello neuroscientists and possibly, hopefully neurologists.
I am 35. I spent the last 20 years of my life on drugs. Before I fell down the rabbit hole I wanted to be a doctor, specifically a neurologist if not then a neuroscientist.
My question to you is: Is it crazy to consider going back to school (starting at square one) to eventually attend medical school or pursue a doctorate in neurosciences? Am I too old? I will be well into my forties finishing med school. I would be a 50 year old intern. I've done almost all the drugs out there except the new experimental ones you can find online. I know I could apply my empirical knowledge and bring something to the table as far as medical advances.
Should I just stick to being an author and use my drug experience in literature?
As an employer would you hire someone like me, old but fresh out of university?

 

[clubcard]

I think all of the truly great people in every field NEVER stop learning. I still send items to Daniel Lednicer cc opiates with a benzyl amine - VERY RARE.

Age isn't a problem if money isn't! You may even find work at the campus (this was frequent in the 18th & 19th centuries). You give lectures on YOUR specialist field and go to lectures in your new field. I hope it works out for you - knowledge is a drug, and I'm addicted!

 

[mb-909]

Well, you have to study a lot, but if this field is really that interesting for you than do it. You are never to old to learn something new. It is just a little bit easier if you are younger.

By the way I would keep your "experiences" a secret. You never know...

Where are you studying? I live in Germany and our system allows us to study for free (300 bucks per semester...). If you live in the states it costs you a lot. I would think about it depending on your income and location.

 

[Anamo7tram]

Your too old , you could become an MD but your atleast 17 years behind.
The real question is why you want to be an MD? It kinda sucks actually, it's very anti drugs and your knowledge of drugs count for little, even psychatrists are not very knowledgeable about drugs and the brain on a deep level.
Doctors are just mechanics for the human body, not explorers.

 

[serotonin2A]

I currently work in the neuroscience field, but in a clinical department, so I can give you useful info about both fields. First, you have to pick which one you are interested in. They are completely different fields, and require very different paths to complete your training. It isn't impossible to do what you are asking. But the main question I have is why would you want to spend the next 15 years making no money and paying tens of thousands of dollars per year in educational expenses? Did you make a lot of money as an artist? One other thing to consider is you may never get to apply the knowledge you gained about drugs to the field.
You have to really think about that possibility and decide whether it would still be rewarding to work in the field.

I would seriously recommend against going into neuroscience, at least in the USA. Training will take 4-5 years for undergraduate, 7 for graduate school, and then another 3-5 years as a post-doc. And after all that, you may not be able to find a job because grant funding rates are very low.

 

[manboychef]

It is never to late to learn a new field. I do have to agree with seotonin2a on this though. It may just turn into an extremely expensive hobby as grants and jobs are not guaranteed.

To a lesser extent this happens in the cooking field as well. We have so many people go through culinary school and end up getting jobs that they easily could have gotten if they had just spent those four years working in the field.

 

[adder]

I don't really want to cut your wings, but generally in science it is the best to start as early as possible, I am 25 and I basically had to start studying chemistry from scratch one year ago. In a lab where I work as a volunteer, there is a girl at my age and she's already started doctorate studies, which both motivates and depresses me. When I looked at job offers, they usually wanted people with MSc below 30 to train them in a more specialized field, it seems like hardly anyone wants to train people older than that. This means I might be seen as kind of too old as well when I graduate. I'm sure it's not really that much of a problem when you're really good at something, however, you then need a couple of people more experienced than you who would vouch for your expertise, I imagine. I personally love organic chemistry and I can't imagine myself doing anything else and feeling satisfied at the same time, that's why I stopped studying IT even though it meant 2 years lost more, I didn't want to end up as an average programmer. I'm trying to do everything I can to get better and better all the time even though I'm right at the beginning of the path, because I know how much time people usually need to spend doing a doctorate in organic chemistry (not to diminish anyone's work, but when you compare organic chemistry with theoretical or physical chemistry, they're like completely different fields requiring different amount of time to produce an article meeting some standards). I went to the department of organic chemistry at my university and I asked if I could work there simply to learn more, and I was very lucky to meet an assistant professor who is both a great man and a great organic chemist. What I'm saying is that if you decide to go for it being aware of the amount of time that you will need to spend getting the basics (that's how it is with science generally, getting the basics takes a long time before you can dive much deeper into it), you will have to devote a lot more energy to get better and better than an average student does to get advantage over younger people. If you're only as good as some person younger than you, you will expect your potential employee to hire them instead of you. This is simply the way this world is, I can imagine only a minority has a privilege of doing what they love, I don't think your age matters when you suddenly realize that you'd love to develop yourself in a field that is interesting to you, but unfortunately, it's all about the money you can produce for your employee when it comes to finding a job and your age matters for them a lot especially in a field like science when training takes a long time. Basically you need to have a very good plan how to carry it all out and survive.

 

[Blue Kuru]

Adder You're not cutting my wings at all. You are giving me straight forward answers which is what I need. My therapist says it is not too late but I disagree. It is interesting to see you point out how it ultimately is about the money you can make for your employer and I don't think, at least not in the US - instigator of the drug war, that I could make much for them other than scandal. I am for lifting the prohibition of all drugs and studying their therapeutic effects from acid to heroin. Money isn't an issue for me but my ultimate goal may ostracize me from the scientific community. I am however considering taking this to a European country such as Holland or Portugal.

 

[Blue Kuru]

It's not so much an MD general practitioner that I want to be but rather a psychiatrist who can administer ibogaine. I know it is illegal in the US but I am trilingual and can find a country that allows it. But, thank you for your candor. Everyone around me cheerleads me, saying it's not too late but come one, I would be starting from scratch.

 

[Blue Kuru]

mb-909 I have considered moving to Europe to study. But thanks for the advice on keeping things secret. I know people use stigmas against one for so many reasons. I just love medical knowledge. I watch medical tv shows just to point out how wrong they are. Currently I think my best option is to continue writing and advocate for the end of all drug prohibition. As a writer and an artist, there is some leeway in admitting drug use. It is tragically almost even glamorized.