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What are the necessary steps to becoming a Surgeon?

I'm still looking at careers, only being 13.
I've thought about being an EMT, but a surgeon is more appealing to me now.
I know that this will include a tremendous amount of work, studying, and devotion, but I'm fine with that. What are the recommended courses to take in High School? After High School, what needs to happen to become a surgeon?

Thanks.

Asked By: Gabriel - 1/4/2008
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Ok, you can do what I did and be ahead and be top student at your classes, and get a part-time job like as a MA like me.
You can do this by taking as many medical classes from ROP centers like i did talk to your counseler at school and tell them that you want to take some medical courses at ROP centers(but the thing is you have to be at least 15 years old to be eligible to attend ROP, but you can buy medical books or check them out of the library and read them and test yourself and teach yourself like i did) and you will get certificates of completion and gain so much knowledge so when you take Biochemistry, Anatomy, Phisiology, Biology, Chemistry, Math classes everything will seem much easier. And also by taking so many Medical Classes at ROP centers you can get a part-time job as a Medical Assistant(MA) like I did and have experience working in the medical field already so when you go to Medical school and take your tests you can pass them easy.
But heres the steps to be a surgeon
It will also depend what kind of surgeon you want to be too
Theres: General Surgeon, Neuro-Surgeon, Cardiovascular Surgeon, Plastic Surgeon, and many more. I myself am planning on doing Cardiovascular and General Surgeon and if possible also Neuro-Surgeon

Due to the medical demands of our society, we are constantly needing more medical personnel. Becoming a surgeon is a tough goal to achieve between the extensive schoolwork, difficult, thankless internships, and stressful work situations. You will have to be prepared to work through many days without sleep. You may have to tell a family member that their beloved died. You will have to operate on other humans beings. If you are up to it, however, you could leave a wiser, more caring person.
1 It s recommended that you take biology (as many as are offered), chemistry (again, as many as are offered because chem and bio are the main aspects of a pre-med major), physics, and math courses. if possible take a health class, human anatamy class, public disesases class, microbiology classes, or any other good science classes that your school offers.

2. apply to college- if you don't have good enough scores to get into a four-year college, then first apply to a two-year college (such as a community college) and from there transfer to a four-year college. once at your four-year college, in order to apply to medical school (which you do senior year of college), you must take a certain amount of science and math courses (including biology, chemistry up to organic chemistry, and some other core science courses). once you have completed these courses, you will begin the grueling process of applying to medical school. in order to apply to medical school, you must take the MCAT exam, which is a comprehensive exam over all of your science classes. your major has no effect on getting into medical school, however, most pre-med students major in either biology or chemistry if their school does not offer a "pre-med" major. not all pre-med students major in science though, because it is only important that you take the required courses and do well in the courses as well as your MCAT.

3. once you are in medical school, you will have two years of classroom teaching that includes gross anatomy (complete dissection of a cadaver), pathology, phramacology, and classes that will teach you how to use medical instruments and perform exams. note- over the course of your 4 years of medical school, you will sit for 2-3 exams, depending on your medical school. you must pass these exams to graduate from medical school. anyways, once you have completed your two years of classroom training, as a third year medical student, you will then begin to train in a hospital and rotate through several rotations (most of the time, they are 2-3 month rotations of pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry because those are the core of medicine). this is by far the hardest time because you are given horrible hours (count on little sleep and waking up early as well as being on call for many hours) and you are barely allowed to do any procedures because you have gone through such little training. you will do things such as rounds (where you round on all your patients, perform an exam on them, and write a note on their chart) and sutures, etc. however, you get more freedom as a fourth year medical student, where you choose an elective (or more than one if you wish) to kind of "try out" what specialty you might want to pursue in your residency. these can vary from surgery, to ob-gyn, to pediatrics, to anesthesia, etc, there are many options. once you have completed your four years of medical school and passed all of your exams, you are an M.D.

4. residency- as a fourth year med school student, you will begin your applications for a residency. a residency is further training in your chosen area of medicine, and can last from 3-5 years, depending on your career choice. this process is grueling as well, and can be as selective as 1000 applicants vying for 10 positions at a top rated hospital. once you are accepted into a residency program, the real training begins. you may have heard the term "internship" before on medical shows such as grey's anatomy, but the term is hardly used anymore. an internship is what people used to call the first year of residency. as a first-year resident, you will have slightly better hours and pay than before, especially thanks to an 80-hour work limit a week, but this is still the toughest year of residency. your hours will get better and your pay will increase every year, and as well as this, you will gradually be able to do more and more procedures and operations. once you finish with your residency, you sit for the board exams, which if you pass, you are an official board-certified physician. (no hospitals will take doctors who are only M.Ds and don't pass the board exams, so it is crucial to pass them- however, if you fail them, you can retake them until you pass them).

5. next, you must be certified by the state board. basically, you just need to have an M.D. and pass the board exam. this does not take as long as the medical school or residency application process
Answered By: Dr. Vargas - 1/4/2008
Additional Answers ()
Answered By: King$mity - 1/4/2008
Take challenging science courses in high school like AP biology or AP chemistry. This should prepare you for college, where you'll need to take more advanced science courses like organic chemistry and do very well. You'll also need to take the Medical College Aptitude Test (MCAT), and score well. If you get a good GPA and good MCAT score, you can go on to attend Medical school. That will take 4 years, during which time you'll need to get good grades, since surgery is a very competitive specialty. If you do get good grades, and manage to match into a surgical residency, you'll get to spend the next 5 years doing 100+ hour weeks and getting paid slightly less than minimum wage. If you can get through that, you'll finally be a surgeon.
Answered By: Freddie - 1/4/2008
Okay i'm going to guide you through everything:
i'm warning you-this is very long because it is a very long, grueling process to be a doctor, but hopefully this will answer all your questions
by the way, my mom's a doctor, and she explained it all to me and i just typed it up

1. high school- first of all, your grades/courses in high school will not matter when applying to medical school or residency, only college. it is recommended that you take biology (as many as are offered), chemistry (again, as many as are offered because chem and bio are the main aspects of a pre-med major), physics, and math courses. if possible take a health class, human anatamy class, public disesases class, microbiology classes, or any other good science classes that your school offers.

2. apply to college- if you don't have good enough scores to get into a four-year college, then first apply to a two-year college (such as a community college) and from there transfer to a four-year college. once at your four-year college, in order to apply to medical school (which you do senior year of college), you must take a certain amount of science and math courses (including biology, chemistry up to organic chemistry, and some other core science courses). once you have completed these courses, you will begin the grueling process of applying to medical school. in order to apply to medical school, you must take the MCAT exam, which is a comprehensive exam over all of your science classes. your major has no effect on getting into medical school, however, most pre-med students major in either biology or chemistry if their school does not offer a "pre-med" major. not all pre-med students major in science though, because it is only important that you take the required courses and do well in the courses as well as your MCAT.

3. once you are in medical school, you will have two years of classroom teaching that includes gross anatomy (complete dissection of a cadaver), pathology, phramacology, and classes that will teach you how to use medical instruments and perform exams. note- over the course of your 4 years of medical school, you will sit for 2-3 exams, depending on your medical school. you must pass these exams to graduate from medical school. anyways, once you have completed your two years of classroom training, as a third year medical student, you will then begin to train in a hospital and rotate through several rotations (most of the time, they are 2-3 month rotations of pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry because those are the core of medicine). this is by far the hardest time because you are given horrible hours (count on little sleep and waking up early as well as being on call for many hours) and you are barely allowed to do any procedures because you have gone through such little training. you will do things such as rounds (where you round on all your patients, perform an exam on them, and write a note on their chart) and sutures, etc. however, you get more freedom as a fourth year medical student, where you choose an elective (or more than one if you wish) to kind of "try out" what specialty you might want to pursue in your residency. these can vary from surgery, to ob-gyn, to pediatrics, to anesthesia, etc, there are many options. once you have completed your four years of medical school and passed all of your exams, you are an M.D.

4. residency- as a fourth year med school student, you will begin your applications for a residency. a residency is further training in your chosen area of medicine, and can last from 3-5 years, depending on your career choice. this process is grueling as well, and can be as selective as 1000 applicants vying for 10 positions at a top rated hospital. once you are accepted into a residency program, the real training begins. you may have heard the term "internship" before on medical shows such as grey's anatomy, but the term is hardly used anymore. an internship is what people used to call the first year of residency. as a first-year resident, you will have slightly better hours and pay than before, especially thanks to an 80-hour work limit a week, but this is still the toughest year of residency. your hours will get better and your pay will increase every year, and as well as this, you will gradually be able to do more and more procedures and operations. once you finish with your residency, you sit for the board exams, which if you pass, you are an official board-certified physician. (no hospitals will take doctors who are only M.Ds and don't pass the board exams, so it is crucial to pass them- however, if you fail them, you can retake them until you pass them).

5. this is an optional step- fellowship. a fellowship is further training (like a residency, only you get to do more stuff) in a sub-specialty of your specialty). for example, you said you wanted to do surgery- but if you decided to go into orthopedic surgery, you would do a residency in surgery, and then complete a fellowship in orthopedic surgery. if after this, you wanted to be a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, you would complete yet another fellowship. fellowships can range from 1 year to 3 years typically. in fact, many surgeries are performed by fellows, and supervised by an experienced surgeon who has already completed his/her training (called an attending). there are also fellowships in research if you wish to pursue research in your desired area of expertise. NOTE: it may seem like the more specialized you are, the longer you have to wait to finish with your trainign, but once you finish, you will, most of the time, have an income that is MUCH higher than those who did not complete a fellowship.

6. next, you must be certified by the state board. basically, you just need to have an M.D. and pass the board exam. this does not take as long as the medical school or residency application process

7.that's it- you are now an attending! you can either set up a private practice or you can work in a hospital or teach at a university medical school setting.

best of luck!
Source(s):
my mom's a doctor and i'm interested in the field as well
Answered By: xxlalaxx - 1/4/2008
Well, as my surgical mentor told me, a good surgeon needs 3 things: a strong back, a weak mind and a good set of reliable bowels.
Answered By: Lorenzo Steed - 1/4/2008
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