High-school student wishing to becoming a Neurosurgeon

[temir31]

Hi, I'm a sophomore at my high school and I've recently decided I would like to devote my life into becoming a neurosurgeon and I just have a few questions.

I understand that many of you here are far more experienced than me and that most of you, if not all have already graduated from high school.

Just want to know what college/university you decided to attend once you decided on neurology and what I have to major in, or at least basic steps/template into becoming a neurosurgeon.

Also I want to know how much I should focus on the subjects I'm learning now. I took Biology last year, and it seemed to be fairly easy and I'm currently taking Chemistry, which isn't something I particularly am good at. I also have decided to take Microbiology/Anatomy next year as my elective instead of Psychology(might decide to take it in senior year). Also hopefully I do well in Physics next year, would also like to know how much of that plays out in Neuroscience.

Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[OasisMan]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/neurosurgery.126/

HS --> launching pad for college. do well enough to get to the university of your choice.
college ---> launching pad for med school. do well enough to get to the school of your choice.

as far as what classes to take in college, IMO, whatever you want as long as you take the pre-reqs for med school as well.

dont fixate on Nsurg at this age. while its good to have an end goal, like Nsurg, have an open mind in med school. you have a long way to go young padawan.

 

[Thama]

The first thing you need to decide is if you want to do something medical. Not just medical school, but something medical in general. That means involving yourself in the real world of medicine, possibly through volunteer work. Getting into medical school is hard. Getting into a neurosurgery residency is hard even for those who were successful enough to get into a good medical school. In general, it's a very bad idea to go into a field if you already know that only a small, very competitive part of that field would make you happy, and this especially applies to medical school given the enormous financial and time investment you have to make.

Oh yeah, and see the neurosurgery forum link in the previous post. Neurology =/= neurosurgery.

 

[TraumaMed]

You might get better responses in hSDN or pre-med forums.

Usually, high-school students don't get the best advice with this stuff. This is because you are so early in the process. So, this is just to put things in perspective. So, you are a Sophomore (15-16 years old). Neurosurgeon=2 more years of highschool + 4 years of college + 4 years of medical school + 6 years Neurosurgery Residency . So, you will be a neurosurgeon when you are about 32 if you go straight though and don't take a year off for any reason. However, I was your age when I decided I wanted to be a doctor and I'm in medical school now. Whenever we have high school students come to the med school for a field trip I tell them all the same things.

1. ACT/SAT are very important. It determines where you go to college and how much money you get.
2. Learn to be an excellent writer. It will make college much easier. You are going to be a leader in healthcare and leaders need to know how to write well.
3. Volunteer in a hospital. You need to be close enough to smell sick people to determine if medicine is right for you.
4. Get certified in CNA or EMT-B. It will give you great clinical experience and give you a way to make money in college.

If you want more advice, "Becoming a Physician" by Jennifer Danek is great and you can get it used for cheap.