How hard is medical school?
410059
Yes it is.  It is very challenging and very hard academically to get into.  You have to have very, very good grades in very hard subjects, and if you get in, there are very, very smart people with you and the coursework is quite rigorous and requires total committment and hard work.  And it is not just the first 2 years.
178955
you don't necessarily have to go to a prestigous university, however u should get into a decent university. Remmber med shool is a totally different ball game. Its very competetive. Where ever u go, make sure you have AT LEAST A 3.7 GPA, and good MCAT. \nIf you really want to be doctor, then go to a communnity college. (2years) Get a 3.8 GPA. then transfer as a junior to a semi-prestigous university, ie. UCLA, Penn State, SUNY, or any state universtiy. Finish with a 3.7. Apply to Med School\nAlso, while in college pre-med, have a back-up major, ie biomedical engineering, nursing, doctor assisant, teaching. Also have tons of community services, ie. volenteer at the hospital. Oh a good thing to do is become an EMT while doing pre-med. Have great refrences, and make sure u STUDY. No joke. more than 50% of pre-med applicants don't get admisstion. Also you might want to even consdireding getting a masters before u get into med school. thats 6 year of PRE-med. then another 4 years of med school, then another 3 years of resedency then a few more years of internship. Be realistic (Can you handle all that, no offense, just trying to help)
800836
Check this out - just make sure to take all the pre-reqs for med school. You'll be home free\n\nhttp://www.temple.edu/healthadvising/medman.html#CONSIDERING
908982
not sure bout statistics... but im a nursing student... its bloody hard
109485
It depends.  If you choose the low cost but not that high standard med school but if your grades are very high that will matter more than getting average or low grades in a high cost high standard med school.  Experience and grades I believe matter more than how prestigious the med school is.
664115
The only way to answer this question is through experience.  I recommend volunteering with your family doctor or at a local emergency room.  Becoming a physician is very hard, and takes years and years of committment, blood, sweat and tears in addition to money.  \n\nGetting into medical school is difficult, requiring an individual to excel in many science courses and do well on a very difficult exam - the MCAT.  Many of one's college friends will be having fun while the student must study.\n\nMedical school itself is also very difficult, requiring a great deal of studying and personal sacrifice.  The exams are rigorous and the pace is fast during the first two years.  During the last two years one must go through a blinding array of rotations to learn the basics on the fly.\n\nBut the most difficult part follows medical school.  Residency is specialized training lasting from 3-7 years where one may find themself working days on end without a break.  Residents can put in up to 80 hours - or more - in a week and teeter on the brink of exhaustion, with no break in sight for YEARS.\n\nEven once one is a true, board certified physician, the fun doesn't end.  One must repay debts of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars while struggling to pay skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums and receiving less and less for their services due to managed care.\n\nOh, yeah, and imagine trying to do all this stuff while trying to foster a marraige and raise a family.\n\nBut, if it is your calling, saving and improving the lives of people is the most rewarding endeavor one can undertake.  The only way one can find out is to see it firsthand.
1024722
Yes, you CAN attend and finish medical school. The most important thing you must have is determination. \n\nGood luck, future Doctor:-)
452418
you will need to go to med school for like 10 yrs first..and you have to get really good grades..come on, you'd be dealing with peoples lives!! It's very intense studing..you think you're up for it??
738898
I am an MD. Yes, there is an enormous amount of memorization in med school and afterward. But the others are correct, you must also be good at understanding concepts. I was told that Medical school is like trying to take a drink from a firehose. I agree with this.
667882
Majors that help when you get into Med school are biology, pre-med and chemistry. You can literally major in anything and get accepted into Med school but those 3 majors are decided advantage in Med school. Pharmacology and the biochemistry areas are the most difficult areas for most medical students. \n\nAs for what school, you can be in any accredited collage but the better known schools will be a slight advantage. Going to Ivy league will help. \n\nIt is very important for you to get good grades. Your MCAT is the MOST important aspect. Start studying possibly in your freshman year. If there is ever one test in your entire life that is truely important it is your MCATs if you really want to be a doctor. Pediatrics is a competitive field to get into, not as bad as trying to be an Orthopod or a surgeon. Still be prepared to be family practice as an alterntive. You still work with kids and are still a Doc. Making it through med school is hard enough. Not sure how hard it is to switch to pediatrics afterwards but I suspect it is quite possible. The key things are getting into med school and making it through it. I'm going to paste some tips on becoming a Doc from a previous answer into this one. I have seen the whole thing first hand with my ex. Her struggle to go from Blue collar family to Doc was informitive and inspiring. \n\nFirst keep your record spotless. No memberships in political or crimanal orgizations. No reference to drugs at all. Stay away from anything contraversial. Do not join anything that is ethnic or political in nature. You might get away with membership in a political parties org but thats taking an unnecessary risk. Not matter how innocent it might seem to you it is possibly contraversial and could hurt you in interviews. Join all the clubs you want after you become a Doc.\n\nGenerally pharmacists do extremely well in Med school. I would recomend this route to anybody who is not brilliant in school. It means taking longer to become a Doc but it will be a huge help down the road. Both in deciding if you really want to become a Doc and in getting to that goal.\n\nGet into a decent college. It helps if your major is Pre-med or biology. Chemistry is not a bad major either. There is no requirement so technically you can major in Phys Ed and still be eligible. What you major in WILL affect your interviews. So it is important to either have a major that will help you in Med school or be very good in interviewing to get around the damage done by a major not associated with medical students. Every year hundreds or thousands make it into med school with majors like Law, English lit, etc. You may want to do this to bulk up your grades if you are extremely well suited to another major.\n\nAfter doing very well through your bachelors. Just gettting yoru degree will not be enough. You do not have to be a strait A student either. The better your grades the easier it will be to be accepted into medical school. Involvement in certain organizations can help as well. Anything medical, intellectual or that strikes a chord with the interviewer is good. Avoid anything contraversial. If if the interviewer agrees with you politically Doctors are supposed to be objective.\n\nStart studying for your MCATs as a freshman in college. If you do not make at least a certain score on them and these are very difficult exams you are not going to get into Med school in the US. The better you do the easier it will be to be accepted. If you are female, a minority or have a special story you can make it with respectable MCAT scores possibly. Depends on how many of your exception are appying that given year and what their scores are like. There is a program or at least was several years ago that allowed certain minorities to get extra help and acceptance of minorities with less than minium scores. The program gave them extra time on tests, sliding scales on exam scores and other help to promote diversity among doctors. Still nobody glides thr
139246
That of course depends on the person. For me it was the intellectual challege, and knowing that I can have a true impact on people, and families. \n\nIn terms of the schooling, you have to love science and people, bottom line. I would not say that the material is difficult as compared to propulsion physics, but it is the volume of material that they throw at you that is difficult.\n\nSome others here mentioned, shadowing a physician. That is a great idea, and ask lots of questions. Plus, there are lots of great resources on the web.
100375
First you need to go to college and get your Medical School Requirements met. These usually include:  8 hours of General Biology (including labs); 8 hours of General Chemistry (again, including labs); 6 hours of Organic Chemistry (usually three is only an Orgo 2 lab-not a lab for orgo 1); 8 hours of Physics (including labs); Calculus I (only 3 med schools require Calc 2); Statistics I is suggested by many Medical schools; 4 hours Biochemistry (including lab); and then depending upon what Medical School you wish to get into, there are usually other science courses, usually some genetics and microbiology that Medical Schools look for. Upon completeing the required college classes you must take a standardized test called the MCAT, which is an admission test for Medical Schools that tests on the courses listed above. It is much like the SAT is for college and university admission.\n\nMost medical schools accept about 24-28ish MCAT scores and a 3.5 GPA from the collgee level work. In addition, they look for people that genuinely care for their community and show it with volunteer activities and dedication. Getting into Med School alone is very tricky.\n\nOnce in Medical School, you complete 2 years of book learning, and then do rotations with doctors in a hospital in many different medical areas. While you may be sure that you want to go into pediatrics, you must complete these rounds with satisfactory grades from the Doctors to proceed to your Internship. In your internship, you will begin to specialize within your field of medicine. If you did not recieve good enough grades from the pediatrician you rounded with, you will not be allowed to go into that field of medicine. You are an Intern for about a year, and then you are a resident for a number of years following that, until you have learned enough to be on your own.\n\nIt's a long path, but if you are determined and focused enough, it's very rewarding. Best of Luck!
728074
Very few schools offer PRE-MED.  Get a degree in biology or any science like that.  Make  good grades.  Takes lots of math. Med school will count your GPA in college, the interview and the PSAT's score. GL and congrats on your surviving cancier.
31541
not enough.  med school is tough
662353
Becoming a doctor in the United States is very difficult yes.  You must attend a four-year college and take pre-requisite classes.  Some medical schools don't require that you graduate but all prefer that you do.  If your GPA drops below 3.0 you won't stand a shot and to be competitive, you should carry a 3.5+.\n\nThen you have to take the entrance exam, or MCAT (medical college admissions test) to be admitted.  Last set of statistics I saw was that 60,000 people take it yearly for 17,000 spots.\n\nIf you're lucky enough to get in, you have 2 years of very intense studying, followed by the first in a line of three exams.  This test is called the USMLE (united states medical licensing exam).  This may be the hardest test ever devised by man.  the next two years are clinical rotations that will definitely test your mettle.\n\nwhen you finish the 4 years of medical school (and the other stages of the USMLE (some people call this test the Boards), you are a doctor, but still not ready to practice on your own.  now you have anywhere from 5-10 years (depending on your area of interest) of internship and residency and perhaps even more depending on specialty.\n\nall of this takes a lot of studying and some brains.  if you just want to get into medicine, then you can become a lab technician pretty easily.  most technical schools hand those diplomas out as if it were toilet paper.
581939
Well.. I am in med school- I did it the "traditional" way--- took all my science courses, majored in chemistry, blablabla.  But some of my best friends in medical school have been sociology majors, english majors, psychology majors, and I am sure there might be a philosophy major in there somewhere (but can't think of any off hand).  As far as scores go, there really isn't any difference in who does the best on the tests based on college area of study--- it just depends on how hard you study.  That's it.  Your undergrad classes don't predict nor do they fully prepare you for how hard medical school science courses will be.  Therefore, if you have a passion such as philosophy, I say, pursue it.  Once you begin medical school and pracitice medicine, it will consume your life and you will have little time for those passions.\n\nI also believe a good doctor is more than the some of his parts or the grades she made on exams.  You must be able to relate to people, treat the patient and not just the disease.  Empathy, sympathy, and understanding cannot be taught.  If you want to go to medical shcool, great.  Make good grades in college, be sure to take AT LEAST the minimal amount of science courses needed (ask your advisor or med school if you're unsure) and do really  well in those classes (all your classes really-- and the MCAT).  But major in wahtever you want, whatever makes you happy and whole.  Whether your passion is philosophy, astrophysics or molecular biology.  Study it and study the heck out of it.  Get involved in your community and the medical field early on.\n\nWill studying philosophy make you a better doctor?  No, not necessarily.  But if it's something you're passionate about and you pursue your passion while also completing the basic requirements, I think you will be better for it.  By studying something that interests you outside of science/medicine you iwll become more well-rounded and learn to look at htings in different ways. So go for it. You'll never get another chance like the persent to do so.\nHowever, if you have no desire to study philosophy then, it probably won't make you any better- so don't waste your time, find something else instead.
875078
There are certain classes that everyone has to take to get into medical school and it is really important to do well in these classes.  Take as much biology, chemistry, and physics as you can.  The more you have in high school, the easier it will be in college.  Most med schools also require that you take calculus.  It doesn't matter what you major in, but you will have to take these courses eventually.