Is this a realistic plan?

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hs2013

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Would you guys consider this a realistic plan?
1) 4 years undergrad
-3.7 or better gpa
-have a fun social life while maintaining that gpa
-score great on the MCAT while having a good social life and maintaining that gpa

2) 4 years med school
-do well in school
-not study all the time

3) Get into a derm residency and finish in 4 years

4) Get a job as a dermatologist and enjoy life

WOW being 30 at that point. If you want to do good in Med School and Under grad is your social life gone? Seems as if you waste your 20's dug up in the books. Even though in the end you have 40/50 years of making good money, living luxurious, and having an awesome job it is a fricking long journey...
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hs2013 said:
Would you guys consider this a realistic plan?
1) 4 years undergrad
-3.7 or better gpa
-have a fun social life while maintaining that gpa
-score great on the MCAT while having a good social life and maintaining that gpa

2) 4 years med school
-do well in school
-not study all the time

3) Get into a derm residency and finish in 4 years

4) Get a job as a dermatologist and enjoy life

WOW being 30 at that point. If you want to do good in Med School and Under grad is your social life gone? Seems as if you waste your 20's dug up in the books. Even though in the end you have 40/50 years of making good money, living luxurious, and having an awesome job it is a fricking long journey...
Click to expand...

First off, if ur just in it for the money, I doubt u'll succeed. Furthermore, I really am curious why u don't plan to study all the time, it requires hard work and many sacrifices. Lastly, ur social life wouldn't disappear because well u still need to have that balance. Your plan seems to be the standard but then again a lot of things happen along the way and they sometimes alter ur plans. However, just stay focused and work hard and soon enough, ur on ur way. Good luck!
 
hs2013 said:
Would you guys consider this a realistic plan?
1) 4 years undergrad
-3.7 or better gpa
-have a fun social life while maintaining that gpa
-score great on the MCAT while having a good social life and maintaining that gpa

2) 4 years med school
-do well in school
-not study all the time

3) Get into a derm residency and finish in 4 years

4) Get a job as a dermatologist and enjoy life

WOW being 30 at that point. If you want to do good in Med School and Under grad is your social life gone? Seems as if you waste your 20's dug up in the books. Even though in the end you have 40/50 years of making good money, living luxurious, and having an awesome job it is a fricking long journey...
Click to expand...

Easier said then done..

Also, it depends on how well you do in med school which ultimately determines your specialization. Some specialties are very competitive.

Also, don't set your mind on one specialization, keep an open mind, because you will do rotations to decide which one REALLY interests you.

oh and...who cares about a social life, not necessary.
 
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hs2013 said:
Would you guys consider this a realistic plan?
1) 4 years undergrad
-3.7 or better gpa
-have a fun social life while maintaining that gpa
-score great on the MCAT while having a good social life and maintaining that gpa

2) 4 years med school
-do well in school
-not study all the time

3) Get into a derm residency and finish in 4 years

4) Get a job as a dermatologist and enjoy life

WOW being 30 at that point. If you want to do good in Med School and Under grad is your social life gone? Seems as if you waste your 20's dug up in the books. Even though in the end you have 40/50 years of making good money, living luxurious, and having an awesome job it is a fricking long journey...
Click to expand...

Realistically, yeah, you lose most of your 20s to medical education and training. And most of us put ourselves well into debt to do this. And the ultra-cush residencies that you seem so interested in are generally hard to come by -- derm, for example, is consistently among the most competitive fields for precisely that reason. And it should be a long journey, honestly.

If your #1 priority is money and lifestyle, that's perfectly fine, but I'd argue that you might be happier finding it outside of medicine when you don't have to deal with what medicine entails, but still make a decent living.

You can do everything you just said, provided you get into med school and are enough of a rockstar in med school -- easy to say, harder to do when you're actually there -- to get into a plush specialty, but I'd advise making sure you really want to do this. You've got plenty of time, so let's not put on horse blinders just yet.
 
k12123 said:
hahaha, true that! there'll be plenty of time for that after med school hahaha.
Click to expand...

Meh, if you can't have a social life as a pre med you wont have one after medical school. Enjoy life along the way, you don't get a refund as an attending.
 
Rabolisk said:
This isn't a plan. It's a wish list.
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That is exactly what I said. Do you know how difficult it is to land a dermatology specialty!!! Many people in my high school are also very dillusional about this as well. If you want to be very successful, you must have the drive and committment to working hard...or else, you are gone.

Good Luck, though.
 
350 spots in the country for Derm. You're in high school and have done basically nothing towards becoming a doctor, much less matching into dermatology.

Talk to us in about 7 years after Step 1.. If you have over a 240 we'll have a realistic talk about your goal there. Until then, it's nothing more than a fancy wish list, of which you have little chance of ever completing.

Sad but true.
 
You plan to match into derm by only studying occasionally? Good luck with that.
 
fahimaz7 said:
350 spots in the country for Derm. You're in high school and have done basically nothing towards becoming a doctor, much less matching into dermatology.

Talk to us in about 7 years after Step 1.. If you have over a 240 we'll have a realistic talk about your goal there. Until then, it's nothing more than a fancy wish list, of which you have little chance of ever completing.

Sad but true.
Click to expand...
To the bolded-why?
 
hs2013 said:
To the bolded-why?
Click to expand...

Why is it unlikely that a high school student will become a dermatologists? Are you serious? There are about 100 hoops and benchmarks that he/she is going to have to make before they ever have an opportunity to even apply for that position.

Lets look at it this way.

If 200,000 people start undergrad thinking they are going to be doctors...

40,000 apply to medical school

18,000 are accepted to a medical school, all of which are very bright, educated, and competitive... not to mention they are all generally at the top of their class, with ambitions of matching into very competitive residencies

9,000 of the above will score <220 on Step 1, eliminating every chance of getting that Derm spot.

For the 9,000 remaining, maybe 1500 have high enough board scores and grades to ever get an interview for a derm position, many of which will decide to pursue surgery, radiology, etc instead of derm.

~450 will apply for a derm position and 330 will eventually match into it.

Do the math. It's not likely that a star-gazed HS student will match into one of the most competitive residencies in the country.
 
Last edited:
fahimaz7 said:
Why is it unlikely that a high school student will become a dermatologists? Are you serious? There are about 100 hoops and benchmarks that he/she is going to have to make before they ever have an opportunity to even apply for that position.

Lets look at it this way.

If 200,000 people start undergrad thinking they are going to be doctors...

40,000 apply to medical school

18,000 are accepted to a medical school, all of which are very bright, educated, and competitive... not to mention they are all generally at the top of their class, with ambitions of matching into very competitive residencies

9,000 of the above will score <220 on Step 1, eliminating every chance of getting that Derm spot.

For the 9,000 remaining, maybe 1500 have high enough board scores and grades to ever get an interview for a derm position, many of which will decide to pursue surgery, radiology, etc instead of derm.

~450 will apply for a derm position and 330 will eventually match into it.

Do the math. It's not likely that a star-gazed HS student will match into one of the most competitive residencies in the country.
Click to expand...

So True.
 
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No, that is not a realistic plan. If you want to match into derm, you will unfortunately have to study "all the time" in medical school because you will have to be in the top 25% of your class and have high step 1 and step 2 scores.

Your plan for college is pretty realistic, though. I would aim for higher than a 3.7 but you can certainly do that without studying all the time; college is pretty easy.

Good luck. I'll warn you though that it takes a special person to actually like derm so if you're only going into it for the lifestyle/money you'll probably hate your life even if you end up filthy rich. Once you hit a certain monetary threshold, additional income will certainly not make you any happier. You're better off doing something you actually like.

Ryan
 
yeah. you'll have to study a ****ton to have even a shot at Derm.
 
fahimaz7 said:
Why is it unlikely that a high school student will become a dermatologists? Are you serious? There are about 100 hoops and benchmarks that he/she is going to have to make before they ever have an opportunity to even apply for that position.

Lets look at it this way.

If 200,000 people start undergrad thinking they are going to be doctors...

40,000 apply to medical school

18,000 are accepted to a medical school, all of which are very bright, educated, and competitive... not to mention they are all generally at the top of their class, with ambitions of matching into very competitive residencies

9,000 of the above will score <220 on Step 1, eliminating every chance of getting that Derm spot.

For the 9,000 remaining, maybe 1500 have high enough board scores and grades to ever get an interview for a derm position, many of which will decide to pursue surgery, radiology, etc instead of derm.

~450 will apply for a derm position and 330 will eventually match into it.

Do the math. It's not likely that a star-gazed HS student will match into one of the most competitive residencies in the country.
Click to expand...

So you're saying theres a chance? :)
 
Geneticist said:
There's no realistic chance. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Sure is.. If step 1 goes as planned this summer, there's even a chance for me to end up there, and I had a 3.3 in undergrad and a 3.1 in high school.
 
penguin24 said:
I think that was a 'Dumb & Dumber' reference, hilarious.
Click to expand...
:thumbup:

OP: What are my chances?
Me: Not good.
OP: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Me: I'd say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
OP: So you're telling me there's a chance... *YEAH!*
 
Another hSDN thread full of win.

I seriously love these, they make my day. :D
 
hs2013 said:
2) 4 years med school
-do well in school
-not study all the time

3) Get into a derm residency and finish in 4 years
Click to expand...
No, this is not realistic. Derm is extremely competitive. You won't get it unless you study all the time.
 
fahimaz7 said:
Why is it unlikely that a high school student will become a dermatologists? Are you serious? There are about 100 hoops and benchmarks that he/she is going to have to make before they ever have an opportunity to even apply for that position.

Lets look at it this way.

If 200,000 people start undergrad thinking they are going to be doctors...

40,000 apply to medical school

18,000 are accepted to a medical school, all of which are very bright, educated, and competitive... not to mention they are all generally at the top of their class, with ambitions of matching into very competitive residencies

9,000 of the above will score <220 on Step 1, eliminating every chance of getting that Derm spot.

For the 9,000 remaining, maybe 1500 have high enough board scores and grades to ever get an interview for a derm position, many of which will decide to pursue surgery, radiology, etc instead of derm.

~450 will apply for a derm position and 330 will eventually match into it.

Do the math. It's not likely that a star-gazed HS student will match into one of the most competitive residencies in the country.
Click to expand...
pwnt
 
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