Becoming a doctor from student to specialist pdf

Just about all of us who teach introductory courses in chemistry have a significant fraction of our students who intend to apply to medical schools and attempt to become doctors. However, very few of my students have a good idea of what that career path looks like, beyond graduation with an undergraduate degree.

Not only do they not know what medical school is like, but they also do not have a good idea about the rigors and challenges of a life in medicine. This is true to a somewhat lesser degree of our students who want to become engineers; few of them really know what engineers do.

However, most of them are taking undergraduate courses in engineering subjects whereas medical school is a quantum leap into a different milieu. Shu said she grappled with ethical and legal issues every day. After all those years of training, Dr. Shu came to realize that when she signed on to medical school, she was signing up to become a student forever.

A teacher B scientist C doctor D lawyer 2. What does this passage describe? B It describes the legal issues that Marla Shu must grapple with every day. D It describes the process Marla Shu went through to become a doctor.

A Becoming a doctor is something a lot of people want to do. B Becoming a doctor takes a lot of time and effort. C Becoming a doctor is easier than becoming a policeman. D Becoming a doctor makes people unhappy for the rest of their lives. A boring but easy B challenging but satisfying C unusual and extremely dangerous D confusing and upsetting 5. What is this passage mainly about? Questions: Becoming a Doctor 6.

A an unusual ability that someone is born with B a back-up plan for a person who cannot find a job as a doctor C a place to live and work for many years D an area of study that a person focuses on 7.

Choose the answer that best completes the sentence below. A therefore B however C previously D instead 8. What areas of medicine did Marla Shu study during her clinical rotations?

Questions: Becoming a Doctor 9. As a resident and psychiatrist, what are some of the things Marla Shu did for her patients? How did studying to become a doctor prepare Marla Shu for her work as a resident and psychiatrist?

Give an example of something she learned before graduating from medical school that could help her as a resident and psychiatrist. Suggested answer: Multiple answers are acceptable, provided they are supported by information from the passage. Some students may draw subtler connections, such as that between her classroom study of the nervous system and treating mental illness as a psychiatrist. By Shahnawaz Mushtaq. In total, it takes seven and a half hours to complete the MCAT. The sections on the test include the following:.

Each section is scored on a range from to , with a median score of You'll receive an individual score for each section in addition to an overall score. Total scores range from to , with the average score sitting at about This scoring system is still relatively new since , so there isn't much historical data available we can use to predict what a good or "safe" MCAT score will be for med school admissions.

As such, the new MCAT encourages admissions officers to look favorably upon students who score around or above.

The MCAT is administered 30 times per year , so you have quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to scheduling the test. There are Fee Assistance Programs available for students who might not be able to shoulder these expenses. If you're adequately prepared the first time you take the MCAT, you could save yourself the cost of an extra registration fee. Plan on studying hours if you want to do well on the test. Since it's a seven-and-a-half-hour exam, you really don't want to have to take it twice.

The medical school application process is extremely long. If you want to start med school the fall after you graduate from college, you'll have to start your applications your junior year. The average student applies to about 13 schools to optimize their chances of getting in —I wouldn't recommend that you put together a list much smaller than that. As with any school or program, there are med school ranking lists. Because US medical schools' admissions criteria and curricula are so stringent and rigorous, though, admission to any school in the country should be considered an accomplishment.

If you end up in medical school and follow through with a residency at a good hospital, you'll have no trouble finding work as a doctor. Both types are fully licensed physicians and are often very similar in the way that they practice medicine—they just receive degrees from slightly different types of programs.

We're most used to hearing about doctors with MDs, so if you're not familiar with DOs, I encourage you to do more research on these types of programs. You can read more about osteopathic medicine on the American Osteopathic Association site. Allopathic or osteopathic: which type of med school is right for you?

You send in your primary application by June the year before your first year of med school. Start preparing these materials a few months before submission. This usually happens in July-August on a typical application timeline i. At this point, a school will either reject your primary application or ask you to complete its secondary application.

The secondary application will differ for each school you apply to. Sometimes, schools just ask you to submit an application fee to continue with the application process. Other times, though, schools send fairly extensive lists of essay prompts e.

If the medical school is happy with your primary and secondary applications, you'll move on to the next part. If a school definitely does or definitely does not want to interview you, you'll hear back from them pretty quickly. Some students are left in limbo for a while as schools deliberate over what to do with them.

Interviews are the final decision-making phase. Your interview will either make or break your application. Preparing for interviews is tough because each school and each interviewer will have its own priorities and questions. Overall, you want to come off 1 committed to the medical track, 2 confident in your abilities, 3 eager to learn, 4 warm and empathetic, and 5 grateful for the opportunity to be there. After fulfilling all the pre-med requirements and submitting all those applications, you finally arrive here: medical school.

You'll spend four years here , but that doesn't mean the experience will be very similar to that of your undergraduate education—there are more decisions to be made, more opportunities for hands-on experiences, and more professional licensing requirements to worry about. There are some other important steps along the way, such as board exams, that I'll address in this section as well. You won't have much say in what courses you'll take during your first two years of medical school.

Your education during this time will be an extension of your pre-med requirements —you'll take many advanced courses that will give you the important biological, anatomical, and chemical foundations you'll need to work as a physician. As such, it's important to keep your grades up—your future self will thank you! This test assesses your medical competency to see whether you should continue with your education and medical licensure another name for the USMLE exams is "Boards". At most med schools, you need to pass this exam in order to progress to your third year of school.

In your third year, you'll start working with patients in a medical setting under a supervisor within different medical specialties. This helps you gain hands-on experience as a physician, but, perhaps more importantly, you'll learn more about what sort of specialty you may be interested in. After the bulk of your rotations experiences in your third year, you'll have to decide what sort of medicine you'd like to pursue.

This decision will dictate what kinds of elective courses you'll take in your fourth and final year of med school, as well as how long you'll spend in your residency we give more information on this in the Residency section below.

Med school rotations are a bit more productive than the one the hamster's doing on this wheel. As you now know, your fourth year of med school is dedicated mainly to taking elective courses to prepare you for your preferred specialty and continuing gaining hands-on experience. You'll also take the USMLE Level 2 which is similar to the first examination, except that it simply tests more advanced knowledge ; this exam includes a clinical knowledge part and a clinical skills portion. Residencies, also known as internships, are supervised positions at teaching hospitals.

You'll be able to note your preferences, but you won't have ultimate decision-making power over your matches. Once the NRMP sets you up, you sort of have to take what you're given. You will spend at least three years in your residency program but may spend more time there depending on your specialty. In your first year, you'll be known as an intern and will be at the bottom of the totem pole—but not for long.

The third and final licensing exam is taken during the first year of your residency.