Recently, we’ve been receiving a lot of questions and enquiries about whether it’s possible to study medicine in Europe after the age 40 or even 30. The quick answer to this question is YES, without any doubt! However, in this article, I will explain why this is so and why you shouldn’t ever be scared about pursuing your dreams.

We’ve had several students who want to train to be a doctor at 40 and regularly have candidates who are around 30 years of age. Some of these applicants had no experience in healthcare whatsoever. They had regular jobs, but apparently, they dreamed of becoming medical doctors or dentists. We’ve also had cases where applicants were well prepared since they had jobs like nursing, physiotherapy, science in general or even pharmacy.

No matter which graph you fall in, we have a place for you in one of 100+ top medical schools in Europe. Here at Medlink Students, we believe it’s never too late for anything, and age becomes just a number when you have the enthusiasm and the proper mindset. It’s never too late to change your life and become who you’ve always wanted to be. There have been many success stories of people who have had a career change to medicine at 30 or even 40.

Let me tell you about my experience with older medical students since I am a doctor and have had such colleagues. In fact, one of them was in my own group, and I’m not sure about his age, but it was around 45. I’ve always had immense respect for this person, not just for his age but for his absolute dedication, motivation and never-ending ambition to become a doctor. He was absolutely the best medical student I’ve ever seen. When we first met and started studying medicine together, I thought he had some medical background because of his knowledge and thorough preparation in every subject, but it turned out that he was a lawyer by profession. He was simply doing what he had longed for throughout his whole life.

Throughout the years, when I started teaching too, I met a couple of more students around the age of 30, and I’ve never seen even one of them coming unprepared to a seminar.

So what’s the lesson? Age can actually be an advantage in some cases.

Some of the applicants feel anxious about how the other students would perceive them if they were older but from my experience, all of my colleagues, myself included, had huge respect and admiration for these students. This is absolutely the last thing you should ever worry about, and I think you would actually feel praised instead of being looked down on.

I believe that if you’ve decided to pursue and study medicine in Europe, nothing is stopping you. I know that you probably have a family and are well established in your home country with a secured job and everything, but at the end of the day, is there a single thing more important than achieving our dreams? I’m sure that your family will support you 100% in this because it’s for your best. We’ve also had cases when the whole family moves to live in the designated country with the student so they can all be together. Medlink Students can help your spouse to find an appropriate job, as we’ve done before.

After all, after 6 years of medical education, you can go back home and work or specialise as a fully fulfilled and certified doctor. What’s more, during your studies, we can help you apply for different exchange programs (e.g. Erasmus) that can let you complete a whole year back in your country.

Moreover, if you already have a degree in anything related to healthcare, you might be eligible for our 4-year graduate medicine in Europe program. You'll be able to complete your medical degree faster and cheaper and be a few steps closer to achieving your dream!

So whether you want to start your medical education immediately, or you want to train to become a doctor at 40 it doesn't make much of a difference. You can confidently dedicate yourself to becoming a doctor later in life in the UK or anywhere else in the world by joining a high-quality European medical school.

With that being said, I hope I’ve given you the hope you needed, and you’ve gotten rid of all your fears and worries about the option to study medicine in Europe.