Stages to becoming a practicing physician

[SharpieMarker]

I was wondering if someone could give me a breakdown of all these terms I hear about what happens during and after med school. Meaning, what are the different stages of the board exams? When do you take them? What happens after you graduate from med school? What's an intern v. a resident? Why do people get fellowships and what are they? How does Match work? I don't expect anyone to answer all these in a single post (although if you did, it would be awesome) but answers to some of the questions? Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Megalofyia]

Four years of college- MCAT in that time .. Usually Jr or senior year.
4 Years of med school - after second year do Step I, Step II has various time on when people take it. Some take it before they apply to residencies some wait till after they apply to residencies. Some schools say you need it to graduate others dont. Summer/fall of senior year apply to residencies and do the interview stuff... fairly reminisent of applying to med school.

Start your residency in June... note do not EVER get sick on the first day of June.
An intern is the first year after you graduate that your a resident. It's the year when the rest of the world laughs and mocks you.
Fellowships are done after residencies. Or further down your career if you so wish. They are just extra training in something. So someone could become a pediatrician and then do a fellowship to become a developmental pediatrician.


The match works like the application system to the Texas schools does. You go for an interview at various locations. Then you rank how well you liked each interview. The schools rank how well they liked each applicant. It gets sent to a big computer which arranges it so that the the highest school that you ranked that also liked you is where you get to go.

 

[ClearDay]

I also want to add a little about Fellowship. If you want to get into academic medicine, doing a fellowship is highly recommended.

When do people take Step III?

 

[Turkeyman]

Four years of college- MCAT in that time .. Usually Jr or senior year.
4 Years of med school - after second year do Step I, Step II has various time on when people take it. Some take it before they apply to residencies some wait till after they apply to residencies. Some schools say you need it to graduate others dont. Summer/fall of senior year apply to residencies and do the interview stuff... fairly reminisent of applying to med school.

Start your residency in June... note do not EVER get sick on the first day of June.
An intern is the first year after you graduate that your a resident. It's the year when the rest of the world laughs and mocks you.
Fellowships are done after residencies. Or further down your career if you so wish. They are just extra training in something. So someone could become a pediatrician and then do a fellowship to become a developmental pediatrician.


The match works like the application system to the Texas schools does. You go for an interview at various locations. Then you rank how well you liked each interview. The schools rank how well they liked each applicant. It gets sent to a big computer which arranges it so that the the highest school that you ranked that also liked you is where you get to go.

A brief, yet excellent and informative post .

 

[erin682]

People take step III during their intern year. Also interns are 1st year residents. Its just another term that means 1st year resident. Fellowships are optional and come after residency. They are used for becoming more specialized in a specific field. An example would be doing and internal medicine residency and then doing and infectious disease fellowship.

 

[Turkeyman]

Ooh also, I like calling the USMLE's you-smiles. YOU-SMILE STEP X! There's some inside info for ya .

 

[BaylorGuy]

Ooh also, I like calling the USMLE's you-smiles. YOU-SMILE STEP X! There's some inside info for ya .

Oh Turkey....i don't if i will ever use that, but everytime i hear about it, I'll think about you.

Step II can be taken anytime after Step I. I know students who have taken it at the end of 3rd year because their Step I score wasn't the greatest....or they wanted to improve on their overall score in order to bag a better residency. I think there is going to be more of an emphasis on Step II because of the Clinical skills portion of it and I think residencies may place more weight on it as time passes. Currently, you only need Step I scores in order to apply to residencies, but need to eventually take Step II before matriculating at a residency.

Step III is taken during residency....anytime during residency. Its kind of a broad test that covers some major topics. Some take it during their intern year so they don't forget what they learned in med school instead of later due to specializing and so forth.

 

[ShyRem]

don't forget board exams after or at the end of residency.

 

[Gut Shot]

Start your residency in June... note do not EVER get sick on the first day of June.

Actually it's July. Getting sick in June is ideal, since the interns are almost done with the year and have probably finished most of their ritual killings.

 

[Megalofyia]

Actually it's July. Getting sick in June is ideal, since the interns are almost done with the year and have probably finished most of their ritual killings.

Good to know I'll have an extra month at the end then
July suits me better anyways.

BTW excellent avatar!

 

[little_late_MD]

This article explains all the steps involved in becoming a doctor:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/becoming-a-doctor.htm

 

[BaylorGuy]

This article explains all the steps involved in becoming a doctor:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/becoming-a-doctor.htm

You are commended for linking a howstuffworks site. That website has everything.