Path to becoming a doctor?

Question

Can someone tell me the exact path toward becoming a doctor starting from after High School?
I am in the 11th grade with a 3.6 Gpa.
What are the best schools?

Answer 1

The school does not matter so much (just as long as you have a degree from an accredited four year institution).

Also there is no medical school major. Only about two years of required science courses (MCAT required courses). Also usually in your junior year after taking all the MCAT required courses, you then take the MCAT.
These two things (your GPA from required science courses and MCAT) are what decides more than anything else whether you will get into medical school.

So again there is no best school. You have just as good a chance getting into Harvard Med if you graduated from your small town local college as you would if you went to Harvard undergrad. Sound strange but its true. It is all about GPA and standardized tests (MCAT). Also admissions boards like unique people, especially unique doctors. They don't like the applicants all coming from the same school, e.g. Harvard. Also Ivy League schools have been know to inflate grades. That being said Harvard is great and I was just making my point that school choice is inconsequential when put up against the backdrop of medical school admissions requirements.

Assuming you are going to a four year college the best path is as follows.
Use the first year to adjust and get in contact with pre-med groups on campus. Do not load you schedule with MCAT courses the first semester. Bad idea.
Second year take more MCAT course and get involved with study groups. Even if you understand concepts completely, you can always help someone else. In turn you can learn it better yourself and improve communication skills (all will help on MCAT)
Third year/Four year. you will need to take MCAT. Think about taking a review course like Princeton review or Kaplan review. Study Study Study.

There are other things you can do to make yourself a more appealing applicant like research or volunteering. But these efforts will be futile if you do not do well in your classes and then the MCAT. Admissions boards usually give GPA and MCAT equal weight as far as importance. However you cannot do well on the MCAT without having a strong GPA because you must learn certain science concepts thoroughly to score well.

Good Luck

Answer 2

For becoming a doctor you have to:
1. Complete high school
2. Get a 4-year university degree
3. No matter what you major in, you have to take some courses in physics, inorganic & organic chemistry, biology & biochemistry. This is prerequisite for all med schools in the US.
4. You take the MCAT & apply to med schools via the website www.amcas.org in your late junior year or early senior year
5. After the initial screening, based on your application & MCAT score, the med school may ask for addition information about you (you will have to write essays on why you wish to become a doctor etc.)
6. If the med school is still interested in you, they will invite you for an interview. Depending on the school, you have a telephone interview before are interviewed in person. Some schools have one interview, some two. Sometimes the interviewed is a doctor, sometimes a professor, and sometimes even a med student!

Here is the URL for the official website that explains the process of getting into med school.

http://www.aamc.org/students/considering/

As far as the question about best schools, it depends on what you are looking for. Usually it is the easiest to get admission in a med school at a state university in your home state (not easy, but easier compared to out-of-state & private). If you are interested in research, the AMCAS website has figures for how much NIH aid each school was awarded for the last couple of years.

Answer 3

First of all, it doesn't matter what your GPA is in high school, when it comes time for applying to med school. It depends on your college GPA, MCAT score, school/community involvement, extracurricular activities, experience working in a healthcare setting, your letters of recommendation, your personal statement, and how do at the interview.

The first step is to take the required prerequisites for med school. Some schools require more or less classes than others, but generally, they ALL require 1 year Biology (with lab), 1 year General Chemistry (with lab), 1 year Organic Chemistry (with lab), 1 year Physics (with lab), 1 semester Calculus, and often 1 semester Biochemistry. Some schools will also require maybe Microbiology or a certain number of social or humanities classes.

Start volunteering early on in your college career, such as at a hospital or in a clinic. Any activity where you can actually work/help with patients. Med schools also like if you've shadowed a physician before or have participated in any type of research. For example, your undergrad professors will usually be doing some type of research during the year, and they usually have undergrads assisting them. Become involved.

Also become involved with your college's Pre-professional Health Committee early on, because those are the folks who write your committee letter of recommendation.

I suggest taking the MCAT AS SOON AS you finish the prereqs. The MCAT consists of questions about Bio, Chem, O.Chem, and Physics. I recommend taking it the summer after your junior year. That way if you don't do well, you have plenty of time to take it again before applying.

You should apply the summer before you plan on attending med school. For example, if you wanted to go to med school in Fall 2008, you would apply during the summer 2007. The first step in the app process is submitting the AMCAS. Then come secondary applications, then interviews.

Hope this helps & good luck.

Answer 4

Becoming a health care provider includes years of large schooling and coaching. Depending on whether or not you intend to paintings as a standard health care professional or as one more sort of health care provider, coaching can take among 11 and 16 years. Most medical professionals entire a minimum of 4 years of undergraduate university, adopted by means of 4 years of clinical university after which 3-to-8 years of residency systems. Fellowships can final one other one-to-3 years.

Answer 5

I'm sure your school has a guidance counsellor who is trained and paid to advise you on this subject. There are hundreds of good schools, and where you might best go depends on where you live, what you can afford, what subjects you are strongest in, where you are likely to be accepted, and what kind of college environment you will do best in (large university vs. smaller college community). So talk to a guidance counsellor about all of this. It will help you more than listening to strangers on here.