Well, I am one and a half years through college, and have no idea what to do. I was a computer science major, but now that has gone down the crapshoot. Was thinking Biology. Was also thinking Architecture. Was also thinking Sociology. Was also thinking Chemistry. Was also thinking… well, you get the picture.
I tend to lean towards scientific disciplines though, and I love to work with people. I want to end up with a job that people respect. I want it to be interesting, and I want to be able to utilize my creativity. Money doesn’t matter, and I like school. I’m reasonably smart, and I’m always up for a challenge, so I was thinking that med school would be good for me.
What do you guys and gals think? If so, should I go pre-med, or biology, or what for my undergrad? Any M.D.s here? What were your experiences like? If I major in pre-med, but don’t make it in med school, what happens to me? Do all people who attempt med school make it? If not, what of the ones who don’t? How long is med school?
Truth is, I really know jack squat about it, and would like some general information, without having to wade through pages and pages of uselessness to find it. How long does it take. How much does it cost? How successful are most people. How stressful is it? Etc, etc…
Usually pre-med is not a major in itself, it is a bunch of courses that are typically required for admission to med school. You can make a major out of it by taking some extra classes. Biology (and all the majors related to it, like microbiology and zoology) is the official major of many pre-med students.
You can major in any discipline you want, as long as you complete the pre-med courses. If you don’t get to med school, at least you have a major you can use to get a job. Also…do you really want to be a doctor (physician)? Reasons like “It’s a job people respect” are not necessarily the best.
Since you lean towards the sciences, have you thought about grad school? You can get to use your creativity and it will challenge you.
Med school (basic, simple, no specialization) lasts four years as a full-time student (and most if not all schools require all students to be full-timers). You get the summers free, unless you are doing research or working concurrently with a master’s or PhD. program.
Not all students that enter med school finish it. I suppose they might go to work in other areas, perhaps health related.
You may want to check the websites of different med schools, they offer some information about their programs.
Liking to work with people is certainly important if you’re considering a career in medicine, so that’s good. Physicians are respected - but not more so than many other professions. While medicine is certainly interesting and challenging, I wouldn’t call it a field that uses a lot of creativity (unless you choose to go the academic/research route).
First, I think you should talk to a good career counselor. You should also consider doing some volunteer work in a hospital - largely to see if you actually enjoy being around sick people. (Medical schools also like to see such experiences on applications, so it’s worthwhile from that standpoint as well).
As the previous posters have already said, there’s really no such thing as a “pre-med” major - just a set of required courses you must take. These vary a bit between schools, but in general consist of one year of math (generally calculus), 2 years of chemistry (general chemistry with a lab, followed by organic chemistry with a lab), at least one year of biology (the course for majors, with a lab), and one year of physics (again, with a lab). Major in whatever you enjoy - just be sure that you know the prerequisites required by the med schools you are considering applying to, and have met them before you apply.
If you “major in pre-med” and don’t make it into medical school, you’ll have several choices: apply again (probably after taking some additional coursework or doing other things to strengthen your application), apply to an overseas medical school, or do something else with your life (teaching, grad school, becoming an allied health care professional such as a physician’s assistant, getting a science-related job, whatever). About 50% of the people who apply to medical school are rejected, so there’s no guarentees that you’ll get in, regardless of how well-prepared and motivated you are.
Medical school itself takes four years - but before you can practice, you’ll need to complete residency training, which (depending on the specialty) runs from 3 to 5+ years; many physicians also do additional training after their residency is completed. It’s a long time before you are actually earning much money, although you CAN live (but not handsomely) on what you’re paid during residency training. You’ll also have to pass a series of examinations (in medical school, and after completing your residency) to obtain a medical license and to become board-certified in your field.
Cost depends entirely on the school you go to, and the financial aid package you receive (mostly loans, these days). Figure at least $60,000; quite a few students go more than $100,000 into debt to finance their medical school education.
Most people (about 98%) who are accepted into medical school successfully complete the course of study. A significant percentage, though, come to find the practice of medicine less than enchanting - and this is most likely to happen to those who apply without really understanding exactly what they’re getting into.
Stress - medical school itself is not (in my opinion) significantly more stressful than any other advanced course of study, although you’ll have to spend long hours studying, and you’re free time will be limited. Residency, on the other hand is very stressful - the responsibility is great, the work load is heavy, and the hours range from merely bad (60+ hours per week in the ‘easier’ fields) to absolutely horrendous (up to 120 hours per week in many of the surgical specialties). Most practicing physicians routinely work at least 50 hours per week, and they have to take evening, wekend and holiday call on a regular basis. If you want lots of free time, medicine is the wrong career to choose. Physicians are also required to obtain continuing medical education as a requirement for keeping their license to practice - and many specialties now require their diplomates to pass a re-certifying examination every 10 years or so, so your education’s not over once you’ve graduated!
Hope this quick summary was helpful - and feel free to ask more questions if you come up with ones I haven’t covered.
Actually, in US 60% of those who apply are accepted to med school, so it’s a bit on your favor. It is hard to get to the top med schools, but all accredited med schools basically teach the same thing, so it’s not that big of a difference in terms of learning. Top schools are more research-oriented, though, and specialize in areas than others don’t.
The exact percentages tend to fluctuate a bit with the economy - when things are booming, the acceptance rate can climb as high as 2/3s of the total applicant pool (which generally shrinks, as more people opt to quit their education with a B.A or B.S and jump right in to the hot job market). When the economy sours, the applicant pool for medical school generally increases, and the overall acceptance rate drops accordingly; I haven’t seen the figures for this year’s applicant pool, but I’d expect it to be closer to 50% than 60% this year, with the economy’s state what it is. Over longer time periods, these fluctuations do even out to about a 60% average acceptance rate - slightly in the applicant’s favor, but definitely not a sure thing. When I applied, it was during an economic boom - and I sometimes wonder what would have happened to me if my application had been made just two or three years earlier, when the country was slowly recovering from a recession and the applicant pool was larger.
Unless you want to do academic reasearch for your career, I’d say it makes no difference at all - in fact, you might get a better general medical education at one of the “less prestigious” schools, which might place more emphasis on primary care and on teaching good patient interaction skills. All medical schools will teach what you need to know to pass Step I and Step II of the USMLE Exam. U.S. medical schools structure their curricula in very different ways, with some still sticking to the traditional “first two years preclinical/ last two years clinical” approach, while others have attempted more integration across the 4 year curriculum, and many are trying various “problem-based learning” approaches - so the class size and the design of the curriculum is definitely something any prospective medical student should investigate before applying to a particular school. Different approaches suit different students!
If you wish to apply to med school, take any undergrad major you want, just make sure to take all the required courses for medical school admission, whatever they are these days. I had my most fun in college academically taking Russian History from a Professor from the Naval Academy, who was visiting.
Should you be a doctor? Do you have the willingness to put up with a lot of long hours and hard studying? It only lasts for a few (well, at least 5) years, then you can choose to train in the specialty of your choice. Not every doc must be a Cardio-Thoracic surgeon. We also need our blood bank pathologists, child psychiatrists, and dermatologists, which are also intellectually challenging, rewarding, and don’t require unbearable sacrifices of one’s personal life.
As a civil servant and primary care physician, I work 40 hours per week, M-F only, daytime only, with 4 weeks out of the year I have to be available by phone at all times to answer questions and give orders. Frankly, the salary and benefits are better than a lot of my friends working 60 hours a week and taking call out in the private sector.
It was hard work getting here, but I enjoy what I’m doing. And I’m glad I followed that path. I’m not gung-ho into medicine like some of my friends. “Physician” is my job description, it’s not who I am.
BTW, I am NOT encouraging either of my kids to become physicians. But I’m not discouraging them either.
IANNAD, but I would like to second what artemis said about doing some volunteer work to get a feel for a career in medicine.
All it took was candy striper orientation to convince me that I would never have a career in the health field. OTOH, it was a brief internship in the Connecticut state legislature that lead me to major in Government and got me started toward a career in politics (which eventually lead me to a different field entirely, but that’s another story).
All of this first-hand advice and information is good, but it’s no substitute for being in a hospital or patient care setting and seeing for yourself what it’s like.
If you REALLY want a challenge and have a passion for medicine, go to vet school. That’s where I am right now. I’m currently finishing up my last year. Hallejiuah!
Vet medicine is a tough field for several reasons, but if you like working with people and you enjoy being in the company of animals, then there are few professions that are as rewarding. It is commonly said that it is harder to get into vet school than it is to get into med school (mainly because there are only 27 vet schools in the country), so don’t expect to be able to just mosey in without putting a lot of effort into your academics and experiences. The curriculum is also hard as hell because instead of dealing with just one species you have to juggle about seven, which is no mean feat. [I’m studying for my board exam right now and my brain cells are about to burst. Oy.] But unlike in the human medicine realm, after your four years are up in vet school (and you take your licensing exams, of course) you’re free to practice. Residencies and internships are not required.