I’m a High School student. How Do I Become a Doctor or a Surgeon?

Becoming a doctor or a surgeon is an honorable goal, but it is a long and challenging process, beginning with pursuing a bachelor's degree. It is important to note that medicine, and especially surgery, is not a career you can enter quickly. It takes a great deal of diligence and motivation to finish the training as it takes many years of study to practice independently.

The path to being a doctor typically takes a minimum of 12 years AFTER high school, specialties with extensive training periods can take five or more years. Non-surgical specialties can often be completed in less time. A family practice or internal medicine physician completes four years of medical school followed by 3 years of residency.

The Road to Medical School Begins in High School

The path to being a doctor typically starts in high school or early in your college career. Good grades are necessary and science classes are required for medical school. During high school biology, chemistry, math, physics and other college preparatory classes are ideal choices.

Medicine as a Second Career

Do not be concerned if you did not know in high school that you wanted to become a doctor, or even in college. There is a trend of medical students and residents being older than the traditional 23 year old first year medical student. Some medical students are starting a second or third career and have families and experience in another field.  Some admissions teams look very favorably on older and more mature candidates. Older candidates may have an advantage during the interviewing process for medical school, as they have had more opportunities to hone this skill.

Preparing For Medical School During Your Bachelor's Degree

During the bachelor's degree portion of your education you will need to take a year of organic chemistry, general chemistry, biology and physics. Microbiology and biochemistry are also helpful. The higher your grades in these core required classes, the better, as they will be scrutinized closely by the admissions team at each medical school to which you apply.  It is highly advisable that you work or volunteer in a healthcare setting, to show that you have a reasonable idea what a physician does during their day. Most successful applicants to medical school have a GPA of 3.3 or higher. The grades obtained in the core science classes will be considered the most important in your application to medical school.

During your last year of school, or once you have completed the required classes, you will take the MCAT, the entrance exam for medical school.

Applying to Medical School

Once you have MCAT scores, you may begin the application process. This process requires multiple letters of reference, interviews with each medical school that decides to consider you, and essays. Each application also has a fee, which may limit the number of schools to which you apply.

In addition to interviews, essays, and grades, the admissions team will also be observing your behavior. Do you seem mature enough to handle medical school? Are you self-motivated and able to complete the program? Do you present yourself in a professional manner? Are you clean and neat?  The year when prospective medical students interview with the schools to which they have applied is often called the "year off". This is because the bachelor's degree has been completed, but they have yet to be accepted by a medical school, which leaves them in educational limbo. Some go directly from bachelor's degree to medical school, others choose to travel, work, or pursue additional classes to improve their application. You can also use this time to choose between an MD or a DO program.

The Medical School Years

Once accepted to medical school, there are four years of education, including gross anatomy (the study of cadavers), normal and abnormal physiology and pharmacology, and hands-on learning that takes place in clinics, hospitals and various rotations throughout different specialties of medicine.

The Match Run For Surgery Residencies

During medical school you will be expected to decide what areas of medicine you are interested in. You will participate in the residency "match" in your fourth and last year of medical school. During the match you will interview with different residency programs that you are interested in, in one or more specialties, if you are accepted as a candidate.

Once you have completed your interview, you will rank the programs based on your interest. The program you most prefer would be first, the next favorite program would be second, and so forth.

The residency programs will also rank the candidates who interviewed in much the same way. Once the data is compiled, the "match run" generates the match, determining which resident will be trained where. The vast majority of residency placements are performed this way, with a small minority being placed "off match" for a variety of reasons, including a failure to match during the initial match run.

Residency

Once your place of residency is determined, you will enter your residency program in June of the year following the completion of medical school. Your first year of residency is called the intern year, or PGY1. It can be a difficult time, making the transition from medical student to sleepless doctor in training. Typically, an additional two to four years (PGY2-PGY5) of training follows the intern year, at the minimum. There are tests taken during residency as well, to monitor the progress of the resident.

For surgeons, the training after medical school may last as long as 8 or 9 years, if additional training after residency is required.

After residency, fellowships in a high specialized area can be done, lasting 2-3 years. These fellowships are available for both medical and surgical specialties.

After the completion of residency, or in some cases residency plus a fellowship, a physician is considered fully trained in their specialty. To be board certified in a specialty, a final test is taken to determine eligibility for certification.


Source: surgery.about.com/od/questionsanswers/qt/BecomeDoctor.htm