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what do I need in order to be a doctor?
#doctor #medicine #surgeon
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Vickie’s Answer
Hi Kiara!
This is a great question. There are many steps to becoming a physician - it can be a long but very rewarding pathway to take. Here the basics of what needs to be completed in order to become a physician.
After graduating high school, you'll need to attend college and receive a bachelor's degree. During this time, you also complete what are called pre-medical requirements. This is a set of courses (chemistry, math, physics, biology, psychology, etc.) that you need to complete in order to be eligible to apply to medical school. Because many of the pre-medical courses tend to over lap with courses required for science majors, that is why many physicians have bachelor's degrees in the sciences like biology or biochemistry for example. However, keep in mind you may choose whatever major you'd like to study to obtain a bachelor's degree in, as long as you complete the pre-medical coursework in addition to your major! I know many of my medical school friends who are engineers or music majors.
Another requirement of medical school is the completion of a standardized exam called the Medical College Admissions Test, the MCAT. This is a 8 hour exam that you will need to complete in order to apply to medical school. You can take this exam during college if you wish to attend medical school as soon as you graduate college. It is also very common for people to wait to take this exam if they plan on taking gap years to work or gain life experience for a few years before deciding to attending medical school.
Once you are in medical school, you have 4 years to learn about diseases processes, how to recognize and treat disease, and how to interact and take care of patients. The most common model of medical school is the first 2 years being "classroom years" where you take classes to build a foundation of basic sciences, pathophysiology of disease and basic clinical knowledge. Your last 2 years are the "clerkship years" where you are in the hospital or doctor's offices seeing patients under the supervision of attending physicians and resident physicians.
During your last year of medical school, you will have to apply to a residency program. A residency program is where you train to be a specific type of physician (family physician, emergency physician, surgeon, pediatrician, etc. the list goes on and on!). Residency training typically takes 3-7 years. After residency you may decide to becoming a fully licensed and board certified physician, where you are finally able to practice on your own. Some choose to continue more training and complete a fellowship, this is where people can get even more specialized and become an expert in a very specific area of their field - these can take anywhere from 1-3 years.
Depending where you are in your education now, my biggest piece of advice to you now is to get involved! Volunteer in your community and try to shadow some physicians. See if becoming a physician is what you truly want and can see yourself doing. It is a big decision to make to pursue this path. Additionally, as important it is to begin building good study habits, it is equally important to learn about how to take care of yourself (cooking, laundry, handling money, working out ). Medical school takes up most of your time when you are in it so knowing some basic life skills will help you tremendously in the long run.
https://www.aamc.org/system/files/2020-11/aamc-road-to-becoming-doctor-2020.pdf
This is a great question. There are many steps to becoming a physician - it can be a long but very rewarding pathway to take. Here the basics of what needs to be completed in order to become a physician.
After graduating high school, you'll need to attend college and receive a bachelor's degree. During this time, you also complete what are called pre-medical requirements. This is a set of courses (chemistry, math, physics, biology, psychology, etc.) that you need to complete in order to be eligible to apply to medical school. Because many of the pre-medical courses tend to over lap with courses required for science majors, that is why many physicians have bachelor's degrees in the sciences like biology or biochemistry for example. However, keep in mind you may choose whatever major you'd like to study to obtain a bachelor's degree in, as long as you complete the pre-medical coursework in addition to your major! I know many of my medical school friends who are engineers or music majors.
Another requirement of medical school is the completion of a standardized exam called the Medical College Admissions Test, the MCAT. This is a 8 hour exam that you will need to complete in order to apply to medical school. You can take this exam during college if you wish to attend medical school as soon as you graduate college. It is also very common for people to wait to take this exam if they plan on taking gap years to work or gain life experience for a few years before deciding to attending medical school.
Once you are in medical school, you have 4 years to learn about diseases processes, how to recognize and treat disease, and how to interact and take care of patients. The most common model of medical school is the first 2 years being "classroom years" where you take classes to build a foundation of basic sciences, pathophysiology of disease and basic clinical knowledge. Your last 2 years are the "clerkship years" where you are in the hospital or doctor's offices seeing patients under the supervision of attending physicians and resident physicians.
During your last year of medical school, you will have to apply to a residency program. A residency program is where you train to be a specific type of physician (family physician, emergency physician, surgeon, pediatrician, etc. the list goes on and on!). Residency training typically takes 3-7 years. After residency you may decide to becoming a fully licensed and board certified physician, where you are finally able to practice on your own. Some choose to continue more training and complete a fellowship, this is where people can get even more specialized and become an expert in a very specific area of their field - these can take anywhere from 1-3 years.
Depending where you are in your education now, my biggest piece of advice to you now is to get involved! Volunteer in your community and try to shadow some physicians. See if becoming a physician is what you truly want and can see yourself doing. It is a big decision to make to pursue this path. Additionally, as important it is to begin building good study habits, it is equally important to learn about how to take care of yourself (cooking, laundry, handling money, working out ). Medical school takes up most of your time when you are in it so knowing some basic life skills will help you tremendously in the long run.
Vickie recommends the following next steps:
thank you sm
kiara
Updated
Elizabeth’s Answer
The answer will depend on the kind of doctor. I am assuming you Mean to become a physician or an MD or DO. After High School you will need a four-year degree. You will have to take an entrance exam called the MCAT. There are about 8 classes that need to be taken to give you the background for this test. The subjects include biology chemistry organic chemistry and physics. To help prepare you better for these college classes I would recommend taking as many classes as you can within biology chemistry organic chemistry and physics in high school. After getting a four-year degree in college and going to a 4-year medical school you will do residency. The Residency that you do will be specific to the kind of specialty that you want to go into. For example if you want to be a plastic surgeon you will go into a plastic surgery residency or if you want should be a cardiologist you go into Cardiology residency. After residency you will most likely have at least 12 years of education After High School. It sounds like a lot but actually in my experience within Dentistry because it is more specialized it becomes more interesting. Residencies also do provide some income so at that point you are no longer paying tuition.