The academic path to becoming a doctor is a difficult endeavor whose completion is worthy of acclaim in and of itself. It is not for those who value free time and an academic experience free of competition and stress. For those – there are still plenty of liberal arts majors available! But to become a physician, you have to be ready to go through a very rigorous learning and training process that will weed out the unqualified and determine who is ready to meet that noble calling of practicing medicine. I am not asking the reader to take this on faith – instead just read the rest of the article and see what is involved academically in becoming a physician.

High School: Believe it or not, it all starts at high school. No, no patients are going to ask their doctor what grade they received on their ninth grade biology test. But students who perform well in high school get into better colleges, on average. In turn, students from better colleges have an easier time to make it into medical school. That is not to say students who perform poorly in high school have no chance of becoming doctors – there are certainly plenty of examples of successful physicians who were terrible high school students to offer as an exception -but the better students certainly can parlay that into an early leg up in a system where advantages are tough to come by.

College: Undergraduate years are crucial in determining which medical school the student can get into, or rather if they can at all. This is done via obtaining a solid grade point average, taking the right classes, and fulfilling other aspects that look good on a medical school application. In terms of classes, students should take all the science courses they can fit into the schedule. Contrary to popular belief, not every future student need be a biology major, but understanding scientific ideology, terminology, and methodology can prove crucial in getting into and being successful at medical school. Meanwhile, having a solid GPA and volunteering in extracurricular organizations operate on a sliding scale for getting into medical school. The better you perform in these areas, the less you need in other spots of your application, and vice versa.

Medical School: This, as they say, is where we separate the men from the boys (or the women from the girls). Medical school is a four year grind. The first two years are heavy in classroom learning. This includes somewhere around a dozen science courses – biology, anatomy, chemistry, etc. The tests are far more difficult than anything the undergraduate world prepared you for. The last two years are spent in clinical training. Here, you learn on actual people and patients. The stakes just got significantly higher. But for those who can endure the program, the rewards of a successful career as a physician await.

Although, here is one last thing about learning to become a doctor: you are never done. Medicine changes every day and if you are not evolving with it, you are falling behind.

Our friends:
US News Education Section
Requirements for Medical School at AUA
UMich Admissions

Our friends:
http://www.usnews.com/education
http://www.auamed.org/medical-school-academic-requirements
http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/admissions/

Author Bio: Our friends:
US News Education Section
Requirements for Medical School at AUA
UMich Admissions

Category: Education
Keywords: Medical school, college, academics, doctors