so, i want to become a surgeon. i'm just a junior in high school. i'm currently debating between pediatric and cardiac surgeon. i know its too early, but i like to have what i want to do planned out.. dont want to be those kids not knowing what they want to major in and what they want to for a career.
OP, I feel you. I really do. I had my career path planned out for myself starting when I was 16 and so far I'm following through on it. However, this doesn't mean anything because 1) I have a long way to go and 2) whatever I end up doing will likely have 0 impact on what you end up doing. Let me offer you a bit of advice:
- You likely have no idea what it means to be a surgeon. I doubt you know what pediatric surgeons do on a daily basis or what cardiac surgeons do. Without knowing what these careers entail, you cannot possibly be informed enough to have your future planned out.
- It's great that you want to become a surgeon, but pay heed to what other members have said: it's a tough, long, and competitive path. Assuming you get into college, pass all your prereqs with high grades, score well on the MCAT, and get to the point where you actually submit your medical school application, you have about a 43% chance of being accepted to medical school (and that's a lot of assumptions). It's probably in reality a quarter of that or less at this stage. Focus on what's in front of you right now. First focus on getting into a decent college. Then figure out what you want to study (you can study literally anything and go to medical school) and take the premed prereqs (about 10-12 classes). After you've done that, come back and we'll talk more.
- Not knowing what you want to do for a career doesn't mean you're in a bad place. There are so many other careers out there that might make you happy. Not everyone (or even most people) would be happy being a doctor. You'll have to explore the career path during college to see if it's really for you.
1) Get into college first
2) Get into med school before thinking about a specialty
3) From Albany to Yale, John A Burns in Hawaii to Harvard, DO or MD, only about 5% of medical school graduates go into General Surgery, and even less for the more specialize subdisciplines.
~15,100 US MD students match each year.
(2014 Data from Charting Outcomes, NRMP)
871 matched into General Surgery
188 matched into Neurosurgery
648 matched into Orthopedic Surgery
277 matched into ENT
126 matched into Plastic Surgery
33 matched into Vascular Surgery
add ~200 for Urology (lowball estimate, 300 spots total)
add ~300 for Ophthalmology (lowball estimate, 450+ spots total)
~2643 applicants matched into a surgical field. That's around 17.5% of all physicians. Is it competitive? Yes. But it's not unobtainable. However, it's true that surgical fields are far and away the hardest to match into overall (except for General Surgery).
@Hospitalized ok, ill be asking questions and not writing statements.
@Goro and seriously? those stats scare me.. so you're saying not every med school graduate who wants to become a surgeon will not be one?
Yes, not everyone who wants to be a surgeon will become one. However, most people also don't want to become surgeons.
@Meeehai thanks, but i'm serious about becoming a surgeon and i know how long it takes. i will be dedicated and im not that young, college in 2 more years, which isnt a lot.
You are a junior in high school. You are young. I started medical school at 21. If I go into the field I am interested in, I will not be an independently practicing surgeon until I am 34 or 35 years old. That's more than twice your current age. You are very very young. That does not mean you cannot explore the field, but do not mistake the fact that there is an extremely long way to go and many hurdles to overcome.
Moving to hSDN as OP is in high school.
