Becoming a Doctor

[VCheetah]

Hello everybody, I have searched the internet to find a forum like this to help me decide for my future studies.

I have recently decided to become a surgeon for humans, after I had aspired to become a veterinarian since I was 4 and I have been working in a vet clinic for 4 months. About 3 days ago after saving a dog from a massive attack, I realized that I would like to help humans, not animals.

I currently rank 5 in my class with a 4.0 GPA, I am a Junior in high school, and I need advice on what the life of a premedical student is, graduate student, and lastly the life of a certified surgeon?

Thank you all very much.

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[Winged Scapula]

Moving to hSDN...

 

[investing101]

You don't decide what specialty you are going to take on. You do have a chance at surgery with good STEP scores though!

 

[iforget2]

Well I'm only a pre-medical student right now, so I can really only answer that part. Mostly, it's like high school- taking classes, making sure your GPA is competitive for medical school, preparing for the MCAT (mostly done in junior year), finding volunteering/ research/ and shadowing opportunities while you're doing these things

 

[BB8730]

I need advice on... the life of a certified surgeon

I have a few friends who are surgeons so I'll chime in on this one. Their life is very busy... VERY busy. They're at the hospital every day for weeks at a time and they rotate call shifts at night. They also get lots of phone calls 24/7 from the floors. Sometimes it's quiet and they get a good night's sleep; other times they're up for days in a row and living at the hospital (more often the latter, it seems). As a surgeon, don't expect to hit up the cabin every weekend or make all of your kid's soccer games. You can have somewhat of a life outside of work, but not a huge one. However, if you like the challenges and complexity that surgeons face, and you can tolerate the negative aspects, surgery can be a very rewarding field.

I should also note that surgeon's schedules are different everywhere. Some hospitals work surgeons to death while others have a relatively laid back schedule for surgeons.

 

[genius19971995]

Hello everybody, I have searched the internet to find a forum like this to help me decide for my future studies.

I have recently decided to become a surgeon for humans, after I had aspired to become a veterinarian since I was 4 and I have been working in a vet clinic for 4 months. About 3 days ago after saving a dog from a massive attack, I realized that I would like to help humans, not animals.

I currently rank 5 in my class with a 4.0 GPA, I am a Junior in high school, and I need advice on what the life of a premedical student is, graduate student, and lastly the life of a certified surgeon?

Thank you all very much.

First of all, I am convinced that my calling is Neurosurgery, but none of us can nor will we be sure until we do the rotations in medical school. Life is not extremely grueling as a pre-med student, but it depends on where you want to attend. The University of Alaska and Harvard University are two very different places. At Harvard, however, we have GPA inflation which makes us look like we are doing better than we actually are.

Medical school can be a challenge. You probably will not have loads of time looking for a girl friend, so if you ever want to get married, make one in college.

A surgical residency can be very grueling depending on where you do it. I will personally guarantee you will work at minimum eighty-hours per week. Despite the cap of eighty-hours that was put forth by the AMA, many residents often surpass this. You do usually get four-weeks off.

Life as an attending is not all that bad, but it depends on several factors: What is your specialty? Academic or Private Practice? How many other surgeons in your particular field are there? How large is your trauma center?

What type of surgery are you interested in? Here is a list of the most common:

General Surgery
Neurosurgery
Orthopedic Surgery
Cardio-vascular Surgery
Cardio-thoracic Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Surgical Oncology
Transplant surgeons -- many types most require a residency in general surgery. If you desire to become a heart transplant surgeon. You have a general surgery residency, a cardio-thoracic fellowship, then a transplant fellowship.

Practically every doctor ending with a -ologist performs some kind of surgery other than neurologists.

So what type of surgeon do you want to be? What about the body are you so compassionate about?

 

[DOC PENGUIN]

I have a few friends who are surgeons so I'll chime in on this one. Their life is very busy... VERY busy. They're at the hospital every day for weeks at a time and they rotate call shifts at night. They also get lots of phone calls 24/7 from the floors. Sometimes it's quiet and they get a good night's sleep; other times they're up for days in a row and living at the hospital (more often the latter, it seems). As a surgeon, don't expect to hit up the cabin every weekend or make all of your kid's soccer games. You can have somewhat of a life outside of work, but not a huge one. However, if you like the challenges and complexity that surgeons face, and you can tolerate the negative aspects, surgery can be a very rewarding field.

I should also note that surgeon's schedules are different everywhere. Some hospitals work surgeons to death while others have a relatively laid back schedule for surgeons.

Do you recommend anyone psychiatry? Everybody seems to hate it.

 

[BB8730]

Do you recommend anyone psychiatry? Everybody seems to hate it.

Psychiatry is a tough field. Mental health systems are terrible and underfunded in lots of places. I have met psychiatrists who love their job, though. It's all about finding what's right for you.

 

[VCheetah]

I know that this path is tough, but I am really passionate about becoming a cardio-thoracic or cardio-vascular surgeon someday. I live in New Mexico. Does anybody know how competitive the University of New Mexico is in the Medical field?

 

[nysegop]

You don't decide what specialty you are going to take on. You do have a chance at surgery with good STEP scores though!

Ummm yes you do. You might not get accepted to residency specialty of your choice but it's not like someone will be told they will have to go into nephrology if they don't want to. You choose desired specialties for the residency match. Your STEP scores affect the likelihood of being accepted for certain specialties.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Step is not in capital letters. "Step" refers to which part (step) of the USMLE you are taking. So step 1 , 2 CS, 2CK, and 3.

 

[davidbm95]

You don't decide what specialty you are going to take on. You do have a chance at surgery with good STEP scores though!

No It's mostly your decision. It all depends on your USMLE scores and your successes through out medical school. The better the scores the better the chance you will get the specialty you want.

 

[davidbm95]

Go read medical practice books such as Confession of a Surgeon. Volunteer at a hospital and not in places like mailroom, try to request departments like ICU. Watch Boston Med, Hopkins Med, and NY Med (those shows can give some good insight into medicine. Also a must watch is Harvard Diaries, it's on Netflix, it's a documentary that follows students all through medical school to residency.

You can also learn a lot by exploring SDN. Best of luck, PM me if you need help with anything.

 

[EvenStevens]

I'm in the same boat as OP, i want to become a surgeon but I'm not limiting myself to that. Being an MD at all is my real goal.
Glad to see im not the only high schooler looking towards the future

 

[Courtjester8]

Way too early to be asking those questions in my humble opinion. However, if you want to know the prerequisites for medical school they are Physics, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Biology. You'll take those in college, but getting some exposure in high school will help.

For now, your only concern should be developing into a well rounded, interesting scholar athlete. Get some cool hobbies, write some crappy poetry, and just generally explore.

When you get accepted to college, call your college's premed adviser and he/she will walk you through the rest.

-cj8

 

[davidbm95]

Glad to see im not the only high schooler looking towards the future

You'd be surprised.

 

[iforget2]

Go read medical practice books such as Confession of a Surgeon. Volunteer at a hospital and not in places like mailroom, try to request departments like ICU. Watch Boston Med, Hopkins Med, and NY Med (those shows can give some good insight into medicine. Also a must watch is Harvard Diaries, it's on Netflix, it's a documentary that follows students all through medical school to residency.

You can also learn a lot by exploring SDN. Best of luck, PM me if you need help with anything.

Are these shows on instant watch? Couldn't find them

 

[davidbm95]

Are these shows on instant watch? Couldn't find them

Harvard Diaries is on Netflix. Boston Med is on hulu for free (all 8 episodes). NY med is still on TV you can get the last 3 or so episodes online. Hopkins Med is $8 on iTunes. Also if you have Netflix watch the English Surgeon.

 

[thecgrblue]

Practically every doctor ending with a -ologist performs some kind of surgery other than neurologists.

So what type of surgeon do you want to be? What about the body are you so compassionate about?

Not true. Hematologist, pulmonologist, radiologist, anesthesiologist, paleontologist, orinthologist, zoologist, herpetologist, etc., etc.

Ancient Greek is your friend.

 

[davidbm95]

Not true. Hematologist, pulmonologist, radiologist, anesthesiologist, paleontologist, orinthologist, zoologist, herpetologist, etc., etc.

Ancient Greek is your friend.

Ye it's the complete opposite. Almost every specialty ending in -ologist doesn't perform surgery. Specialties that practice surgery are specialties that end in -surgeon...

 

[thecgrblue]

Harvard Diaries is on Netflix.

Lest you get frustrated in your search, it is actually called "Doctors' Diaries".

Also, if you want a piece of literature that gives a good peek try search for "White Coats" you can find the articles that were published in the Cleveland City magazine and it has recently become published (book signing is actually today).

 

[EvenStevens]

Are these shows on instant watch? Couldn't find them

Boston Med is on Hulu or the ABC website
NY Med is on tv now
Hopkins and Boston are on Youtube.

 

[davidbm95]

Lest you get frustrated in your search, it is actually called "Doctors' Diaries".

Oops

 

[Valadi]

The road to becoming a doctor:

HS - Study
Premed - Study
Medschool, years 1/2 - Study
Medschool, years 3/4 - Work in the hospital and study
Residency - Work in the hospital and study
(Possible fellowship here)
New Attending - Build your practice and study for specialty boards
Board-certified attending - Now you're a "real" doctor.