Q:
What qualifications do you need to become a
doctor?
A: The first step is gaining acceptance to
medical school. Here are key attritibutes that greatly
improve the success of a candidate:
3.6+ college gpa, 30+ MCAT score, volunteer/research
experience, physician shadowing,
individuality/well-roundness, good interviewing skills
Each medical school will be looking for slightly
different characteristics to fill their class. However,
the process is more random than expected. Good grades
and test scores are simply not enough. Grades are likely
the deciding factor of whether a school will offer a
candidate an interview but an interview is far from
acceptance. The candidate must present him/herself as
unique in order to stand out among the sea of highly
qualified applicants.
Following acceptance, a future doctor must complete 4
years of immense course work which will include patient
interaction. The cost of a medical education ranges from
$120-300K. After 4 years, the title 'doctor' is granted.
However, before a doctor can actually specialize in a
field of medicine, 3-10 years of residency training are
required (which pays about $40-60K/year).
4 years of college, 4 years of med school, and a 3-10
year internship called residency. A 1-2 year fellowship
may also be required in order to specialize in a
particular area of medicine (such as
gastroenterology).
Q: What is the USMLE?A: In spite
of its resemblance to the words "U SMILE," it's not a happy thing. USMLE
stands for United States Medical Licensing Examination, and the website
may be found at <http://www.usmle.org>. There are three parts to it (the
first two parts consisting of a one-day, eight-hour exam and the third
part consisting of a two-day exam), and in virtually every state you
must pass the parts in order to get licensed. The examination is now
offered on computer at testing centers, and may be taken whenever the
student wishes. See the USMLE web site for more information. The parts
are: Step I, taken after your second year Step II, taken in your fourth
year Step III, taken at the end of your internship year
Q: What is a good USMLE score?A:
A good score is one that is (a) passing and (b) passing,
a fact that the USMLE apparently realized because rumor has it they are
going to make the exams pass/fail in the near future. For now, keep in
mind that the national average (which has been rising, probably through
artificial means) has been around 215 in 1997-98. The cut-off for a
"good" score once was 200 (when 200 was set as the statistical mean, or
50th percentile score). Now, though, "good" scores start around 215 and
go up from there. And yes, it is sad but true that some residency
programs use USMLE Step I scores as a preliminary cut-off point for
sending out secondary applications and/or interview requests. Generally
the programs that do this tend to be the more competitive ones -
surgery,
orthopedics, ENT,
neurosurgery, etc.
Q: What is AOA?A: Alpha Omega
Alpha, or "AOA," is a national medical honor society that was founded in
1902 to promote and recognize excellence in the medical profession.
Most, although not all medical schools have a chapter of AOA. Each
school's chapter selects a small group of students to join the society,
generally in their junior or senior years. "Junior AOA status," or being
selected as a junior, is considered superior to "senior AOA status." In
order to meet the minimum requirements of the national society, students
must be in the top 15% of their class academically, and possess
leadership and community service attributes. Academic activities such as
research, performance in clerkships and electives and extracurricular
program participation are generally included in the selection criteria.
Individual chapters may also elect to induct outstanding alumni, faculty
and house staff to AOA. Induction ceremonies are generally held just
before graduation and are highly specific to the individual chapters.
Having AOA on your curriculum vitae is considered an asset when applying
in the very competitive post-graduate programs such as
dermatology and
surgical subspecialties. Note: Stanford, the University of
Connecticut, and Harvard are the schools that do not have AOA
Q: What is a residency?A: Upon
graduation from medical school, you become a "doctor" having earned the
M.D. or D.O. degree. However, this isn't the end of formal medical
training in this country. Many moons ago, back when almost all
physicians were general practitioners, very few physicians completed
more than a year of post-graduate training. That first year of training
after medical school was called the "internship" and for most physicians
it constituted the whole of their formal training after medical school;
the rest was learned on the job. As medical science advanced and the
complexity of and demand for medical specialists increased, the time it
took to gain even a working knowledge of any of the specialties grew to
the point where it became necessary to continue formal medical training
for at least several years after medical school. This training period is
called a "residency," earning its moniker from the old days when the
young physicians actually lived in the hospital or on the hospital
grounds, thus "residing" in the hospital for the period of their
training.
During residency, you and your classmates practice under
the supervision of faculty physicians, generally in large medical
centers. Many primary care specialties, however, are based in smaller
medical centers. As you grow more experienced, you assume more
responsibilities and independence until you graduate from the residency,
and you are released to practice on your own upon an unsuspecting
populace. The length of residency programs varies considerably between
specialties and even a little within individual specialties. In general,
the surgical specialties require longer residencies, and the primary
care residencies the least time.
Lengths of Some Residencies:
All surgical specialties - 5+ years
Obstetrics and Gynecology - 4 years
Family medicine - 3 years
Pediatrics - 3 years
Emergency Medicine - 3-4 years
Psychiatry - 3 years
Recently a new type of residency has emerged, the
so-called "combined residency." These residencies train physicians in
two medical fields, such as internal medicine-pediatrics, or
psychiatry-neurology. As these types of residencies are new, they are
relatively few in number; they provide an opportunity for the physician
to become "double-boarded" and receive board certification in each of
the two specialties. Usually these residencies last one or two years
less than the total years that would be spent doing both residencies.
