Thinking about a career in anesthesiology...

[RoxyJune]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey everyone I just want to get other people's opinions on this.
So I'm a 16 y.o. still in high school and I've decided I want to become an anesthesiologist but I'm freaking out that this may only be for like valedictorians and the such. Currently I'm finishing sophomore year and I'm in a level higher math class than my fellow sophomores because I did well on the incoming tests. This may sound good but I've had an A- and recently it went down to a B because being in a class full of juniors I tend not to speak up nor ask questions (I'm shy) and My chemistry grade is an A- as well (which is just because I'm lazy). For my junior year I'll be taking AP Chem and Pre-Calc and I'm going to really make myself do my homework and speak up when I don't understand something. I'm in a lot of after school activities (which I'll need to cut down on next year) and I'm in the top 15 of the sophomore class (hopefully I'll stay there after this semester finished up) and I just want to know is there hope for me to become an anesthesiologist?

 

[fireflygirl]

So first off, breeeathe and don't think too hard about whether you'll be able to get into a anesthesiology residency at least 10 years before it happens!!

Medical schools are really not going to care about what happens in high school and so while I hope that you continue to do well, no residency program is going to be paying attention to your high school grades. And even though you think you know what want to do now, you may change your mind 10 times before your residency application is due. I know I had a set idea of what I thought I would do when I first came into medical school and ended up doing something I never thought I would. The best thing you can do for yourself now is do well in high school, get into the college that you want, explore what medicine is about by talking to med students or residents about what medical school is really like, volunteer in a variety of medical fields, and HAVE FUN! College is a great time to explore what you want to do and if medicine is it then that's where you'll end up, but take some time explore other areas so that when you do decide to go to medical school, you know you're doing it for the right reasons!

 

[Ogmora]

You've got PLENTY of time. Relax. First, enjoy high school. Then, enjoy college. As long as your primary focus is on learning (and not just the numbers) you will have more success than you can even imagine. Make sure you take the time to shadow doctors in the field and definitely focus on shadowing specialties outside of anesthesiology so you can get a picture of what it's like to work in medicine. I think, and I think many would agree, that the best and most passionate physicians also have a great understanding of the roles of other individuals in the healthcare field, so it would beseech you to shadow some of the non-physician professionals (nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, etc.) who all play a critical part in the way we care for patients, not to mention each of the ones I referenced will work in conjunction with an anesthesiologist or even do some of the same things as an anesthesiologist.

I've said this to my brother who is a graduating high school senior, 8th in his class, and I feel like you would benefit from it too:

-I know a good number of people who had similar aspirations but worked themselves so hard that they burned out in college, some even in high school. Working hard in high school is undoubtedly important in building foundations for your future studying, but if you're stressing over things in high school, you will have an exponentially increased amount of stress in college.

-Medical schools don't care where you went to high school or where you got your bachelors degree, they want to see someone who has proven that they know how to learn and who will be a competent physician. Get good grades by focusing on learning the material and committing it to long term memory. Too many college kids learn what they need in order get the grades they want, but will then will forget everything after the exams. You will use every single thing that you learn at least once again in your life, try your best remember it all for your own sake.

-Learn about alternative career paths. It's always good to have a backup plan. It doesn't hurt to do some research and the worst case scenario of looking into other professions is that you may wind up finding something else you are even more passionate about. It's better to know what options you have with your life than to be doing something you despise when you're 40 and feeling like there is no way out.

Best of Luck!

 

[Stagg737]

As Firefly and Ogmora said, you have a ton of time before you even need to be thinking about how to be an anesthesiologist. Since you seem interested here's a general timeline to becoming a physician:

Junior in hs: Take ACT/SAT start looking at colleges. Maybe visit a few.
Senior in hs: Visit and apply to colleges (start in the end of summer). Get accepted and attend a school that you will enjoy and succeed at. Don't just go to Harvard for the prestige, go somewhere that you will truly enjoy (once med school hits things will change quickly).
Overall hs goals: Have fun, do well enough in class/tests to go to your desired college.

Freshman: Adjust to being independent/self-reliant. Make new friends and have fun. Explore various majors and clubs/teams/organizations. Learn the best way for you to study.
Sophomore: Continue with freshman goals. Declare a major and start taking classes for it. Continue developing your study goals. Look into volunteering/shadowing/research.
Junior: Continue previous goals. Continue with major classes and volunteering and/or research. Begin shadowing. Start seriously preparing for the MCAT in winter. Take the MCAT in the spring or summer right afterwards. Start researching medical schools and begin preparing applications in the spring. Find people to write letters of rec if school does not have a committee.
Senior year: Submit medical school applications in the summer or early fall (should have secondaries submitted complete by September at the latest). Continue volunteering and shadowing if necessary. Interview and get accepted to medical schools.
Overall goals: Become a mature and self-sufficient individual, develop strong study skills, get the grades and test scores to get accepted to any med school (preferably a school you choose), and ENJOY LIFE!! This will be the last time that you will be able to spend more time having fun doing whatever you want than doing work/studying. This is also the best chance you'll get to travel and really explore the world before you are tied down with studying and career obligations, take advantage of this if you can.

(This is where I am, so past this is speculation/advice I have received from others)
MS-1: Survive! Adjust to learning massive volumes of material in short periods of time. Look into and possibly begin research. Enjoy your last summer vacation.
MS-2: Keep working hard. Start thinking about specialties and studying seriously for Step 1 of the boards (this will consume your life from what I've heard). Take step 1 of the boards during the summer and dominate them.
MS-3: Start your clinical rotations and continue/begin research. Start seriously exploring what specialty/field of medicine you hope to enter.
MS-4: Study/take step 2 at some point. Do your audition rotations (electives at locations where you may want to do your residency). Apply to residency programs and the match. Match into a residency program (hopefully the one you want). Enjoy the end of your clinical rotations. While it's still hard work, it is nothing compared to residency.

Residency year one (internship): Understand you're basically a child and pass your final board exam.
Rest of residency: Learn how to be a doctor in whatever field you're pursuing. Finish your residency. Possibly do a fellowship.

Last step: You're now a licensed physician. You win. Go save lives or something.


Obviously this is not the path everyone takes, nor is it mandatory by any means. There are dozens of paths to becoming a physician, and there are great doctors who took vastly different paths. If you end up going into anesthesiology, you won't even be done with med school in the next 10 years. At this point, I'll give you advice that I wish someone gave me in high school. Take one step at a time, and enjoy every step you take as much as possible. Long term goals are great, but you'll never get there if you don't live in the here and now. Enjoy high school (no matter how hard that can sometimes be). Focus on the classes you are taking now, and when the time comes make sure you're ready to dominate the tests needed to make it to the next step. If you can take care of what needs to get done now and in the near future, then you'll be ready for the next step when the time comes.

 

[circulus vitios]

Paging @Consigliere

 

[DermViser]

Hey everyone I just want to get other people's opinions on this.
So I'm a 16 y.o. still in high school and I've decided I want to become an anesthesiologist but I'm freaking out that this may only be for like valedictorians and the such. Currently I'm finishing sophomore year and I'm in a level higher math class than my fellow sophomores because I did well on the incoming tests. This may sound good but I've had an A- and recently it went down to a B because being in a class full of juniors I tend not to speak up nor ask questions (I'm shy) and My chemistry grade is an A- as well (which is just because I'm lazy). For my junior year I'll be taking AP Chem and Pre-Calc and I'm going to really make myself do my homework and speak up when I don't understand something. I'm in a lot of after school activities (which I'll need to cut down on next year) and I'm in the top 15 of the sophomore class (hopefully I'll stay there after this semester finished up) and I just want to know is there hope for me to become an anesthesiologist?

I guarantee you, medical school, much less an anesthesiologist, is not only for valedictorians. I think it's great you're thinking ahead but don't use high school grades as a crystal ball to getting into med school. There's already enough stress in the system as it is.

 

[Consigliere]

Don't do it.

 

[moisne]

Hey everyone I just want to get other people's opinions on this.
So I'm a 16 y.o. still in high school and I've decided I want to become an anesthesiologist but I'm freaking out that this may only be for like valedictorians and the such. Currently I'm finishing sophomore year and I'm in a level higher math class than my fellow sophomores because I did well on the incoming tests. This may sound good but I've had an A- and recently it went down to a B because being in a class full of juniors I tend not to speak up nor ask questions (I'm shy) and My chemistry grade is an A- as well (which is just because I'm lazy). For my junior year I'll be taking AP Chem and Pre-Calc and I'm going to really make myself do my homework and speak up when I don't understand something. I'm in a lot of after school activities (which I'll need to cut down on next year) and I'm in the top 15 of the sophomore class (hopefully I'll stay there after this semester finished up) and I just want to know is there hope for me to become an anesthesiologist?

Your aim right now is to be well prepared for college and be successful - you shouldn't stress the speciality - especially not at age 16.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

WHY DOES EVERYONE'S MOTHER TELL THEIR KID TO DO GAS?

 

[superpom_7]

First, medical school is not just for valedictorians and I don't know why you would even think that. Second, your high school grades and how you did in high school doesn't matter whatsoever and no one is going to care what you did in high school. Stop stressing out. Do good in undergrad. Volunteer, shadow, get LOR's, get a good MCAT, keep your GPA high, and just do your best. Everything that you said about your grades and your EC's, don't matter because medical schools don't look at your high school grades and once you get to college it's all about undergrad. Your high school performance does not determine the rest of your academic career, or your life. There's hope if you have hope and believe that you can do it and want to become a doctor. If you work hard, are determined, and aren't pessimistic about things, you can do it.

 

[sonofva]

Anesthesiology is cool. You have to know a lot about pharmacology and physiology. You also will have to be comfortable with procedures such as nerve blocks, intubations, and spinal needle insertions. Also, you have to be ok with the fact that you will have no long term follow up with your patients.


Posted using SDN Mobile

 

[RoxyJune]

Thank you everyone for all the replies. This has truly helped relive some of my stress. My mom is really big on grades and how if you get low grades you won't aspire to much. And I guess after hearing it for all the years the words had gotten to me so much I started to believe them.
This really helped take a load off my chest.

 

[cincincyreds]

Thank you everyone for all the replies. This has truly helped relive some of my stress. My mom is really big on grades and how if you get low grades you won't aspire to much. And I guess after hearing it for all the years the words had gotten to me so much I started to believe them.
This really helped take a load off my chest.

If you have any questions about being an Anesthesiologist, please feel free to message me as i am one. And I wasn't the valedictorian at my high school.

 

[DermViser]

Thank you everyone for all the replies. This has truly helped relive some of my stress. My mom is really big on grades and how if you get low grades you won't aspire to much. And I guess after hearing it for all the years the words had gotten to me so much I started to believe them.
This really helped take a load off my chest.

I think it's important to get good grades. It's just important to know that high school is not looked at in med school apps. I think as a whole premeds tend to be conscientious students who study hard and try to learn the material. But all of us definitely aren't valedictorians. The physician pathway isn't the only pathway (there is also NP and PA) that can also lead to a similar destination. Anesthesiologists (MD) also work in a team as leader but also with CRNAs under them, so that specialty has 2 similar pathways.

 

[bonedoc82]

What you can do now to set you up for success:
1. Volunteer
2. Shadow a Anesthesia doc
3. Get involved with research

Things that may hurt you (subsequently hurt your chances of college admission then med school admission)
1. Getting into trouble (DUI, drinking under age, any arrests)
2. Poor grades

In all honestly, I would say its too early to know that. About 60% of my classmates didnt decide what they wanted to specialize in until end of 4th year of med school.

Good luck!


================
www.fiverr.com/awebbster_1982
facebook.com/awebbmd
Instagram @overcomingtheoddsbook