HypoCarboCrasho

Sounds like you had a real peach. I lost points for being unprofessional due to my poor posture while doing notes. But, I get to move on while she lives life confined by her own pettiness. Hopefully you did, too. The negativity can be tenacious. Students are vulnerable and I don't understand instructors who find punching down to be more rewarding than lifting up. Apart from subjectively terrible teachers, I think system is objectively discriminatory - like if you mapped the placements, older students seem to wind up on the periphery. There sure does not seem to be recognition that setting up obstacles that affect a specific group is hardly equal opportunity, much less equitable. I hear you on playing the game though. I know the importance of networking towards a job where people enjoy their work more than politics. Also of keeping my head down since I have a number that makes me stand out among newbies.

I decided to go to school in my 40s and recently graduated from a large public university. My cohort, overwhelmingly women in their 20s, was friendly and the workload was ghastly when stacked on top of single parenting and hands-on caregiving for a disabled parent. Since graduating I have learned that older students in my program, myself included, were much more likely to wind up with the least desirable clinical rotations. Regardless of family responsibilities - long commutes, weekend schedules, mediocre facilities, and preceptors with a history of mistreating students. This is not so with the younger students who seemed to have priority - local, reputable facilities and quality preceptors. I was shocked to hear one describe the all the support she had in getting through a tough rotation. When I sought help, I got a professor who basically said "suck it up, buttercup," then complained about herself getting old. I'm older than she is. Professors in my program often self-referenced their age in negative ways that added nothing to lectures. What I am wondering is whether I should say something about what seems like age discrimination in clinical assignments? I've thought about submitting something to the school's bias response people or the Office of Civil Rights, but have also thought maybe I'm just not seeing things right. I know there are four of us - how many makes a pattern, anyhow? Now that I've graduated, the smart thing is to move on. Let it go. But I can not stop thinking about the indifference towards older students and the extra load they already carry. I still feel sad when my kids talk about all the weekends they spent alone. I regret pawning off caregiving for my parent in an unfair way since I had to spend so much time commuting. I am not sure school was worth the personal cost.