| Part 1 Here | Featured Image Here | Salary Data Here |
Volunteering (17-22 y/o) and internships (19-21 y/o)
Volunteering or job shadowing in a hospital would be helpful experience. If possible, volunteering for an outreach NGO would give you an excellent niche during the interview process. Internships in a health or research seeing would also be valuable to near guarantee admission.
The MCAT (20 y/o)
Your MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) score is one of the most vital factors that make or break med school acceptance. This is what is considered complete MCAT preparation:
[number of semesters] | Course
2 | Inorganic Chemistry
2 | Organic Chemistry
2 | Introductory Biology
1 | Genetics
1 | Physiology
1-2 | Biochemistry
2 | Introductory Physics
1-2 | Psychology/English
Do you have to take all of the above courses? No. You actually don’t even have to major in something biology related at all. Just a major that wouldn’t burn you out (must you have hobbies, during undergrad is your best chance to pursue them).
Applying to medical school (22 y/o)
Prepare for the interview process by having stories in mind about your volunteering experience, undergraduate studies, your passion, etc. This is the final step to acceptance. You will have one more year to relax before med school lest you get accepted 🙂
Med school (23-26~ y/o)
For the University of Calgary:
1st year of med school, you will be tackling what doctors do in general. 2nd year will be more specific studies. Normal school days for medical students last, in the U of C, from 8:30-5:30 so be prepared for that.
3rd year will be a bit different, you will be put under clinical rotations. You will experience different responsibilities and procedures in different areas of Medicine.
Most other schools:
Most other schools take four years for the MD degree, which thus would make your degree have a more spread out course load.
The Family Doctor Path (26-27~ y/o)
If you would like become a family doctor (pay), you would have to apply to a 2 year residency program after med school. You’ll unfortunately make meagre pay (~$50k/year) during those two years. You will, however, make $139,197/year as a fully fledged family doctor.
Family doctors can either operate their own clinic or be part of a clinic with other doctors. This will mean requiring some business knowledge and networking.
The Specialist Doctor Path (27-32~ y/o)
**I will be referring to Myers-Briggs personality types in this section.
While the biggest medical “specialty” is family Medicine, others elect to pursue other specialities. The programs for specialty doctors consists of around 5 years of study and residency minimum. Here are some options to specialize on:
Psychiatry – This specialty takes a more holistic and academic approach to health and is suited for personality types that do not really suited for other specialties (NPs in the Myers Briggs test)*. Psychiatrists prescribe treatments to psychological conditions and focuses extensively on diagnosis. This is the most popular specialty albeit one of the lower paid ($182,646).
Anesthesiology – if you’ve heard of this specialty, you probably also heard that they make a lot of money($193,906 [this is actual a low figure because you’d be making meagre pay until you become a full fledged anesthesiologist]). Anesthesiologists prepare the anesthetic cocktail during surgeries and monitor the vital signs of their patients. While the liability might be stressful, these doctors don’t often have to work full time to get past 300k. If you are considering this degree, be prepared to be finished school when you are around 35 y/o.
Surgery – this specialty is also often dominated by certain personality types (SJs). Surgeons($154,563 – general surgery | $250,252 – neurosurgery) often help out with both the planning stage of an operation and conducting the operation. Surgeons are often in demand in the forces and doctors without borders type organizations. These are often general surgeons but specializing on certain surgeries often mean more pay (orthopaedic, cardiac, etc).
Other Specialties – you’ll learn more about different specialities in medicine during medical school, and it would be near impossible for me to list all possibilities. A big guideline for choosing would be to choose the specialty that you enjoy doing the work the most rather than the learning, unless you are aiming for a professor position.
Prepare for a taste of my medicine!
