Becominq a pediatrician (questions for real pediatrician's)?

Question

im 13 years old and i want to be a pediatrician.I understand most thinqs that i need to do to achieve my qoal like, 11 years of traininq to become a pediatrician

- 4 years of colleqe

- 4 years of medical school

-1 year of an internship in pediatrics

-2 years of a pediatrician residency

but i have a few questions

1. How will you know what treatment the patient needs? Will they teach you in medical school?

2.Is medical school just like colleqe or is it harder?

3. Does it matter what hiqhschool or colleqe you qo to?

4. What courses should i take in colleqe?

5. Will not volunterinq at hospitals or sports in hiqhschool ot colleqe interfere in becominq a pediatrician?

6. What is suppose to be my major? What is a major actually?

7. Whats an internship in pediatrics and pediatric residency and why do we have to go to 1 year or 2 years?

8. What hiqhschool or colleqe would be qood for helpinq me become a pediatrian?

Answer 1

I am not a pediatrician but used to work in health care.  Let me see if I can answer your questions.

1.  During your last 2 years of medical school, you will take clinical courses.  These are courses where you actually see patients.  You will learn some about treating patients there.  When you do your internship you will learn more about treating patients.  When you actually do your residency in pediatrics, you will really learn there.

2.  Medical school is 4 years.  It is harder than college because of the amount you have to learn.  You are constantly reading and studying.

3.  It doesnt matter where you go to High School.  College, for the most part doesnt matter.  You just try and find one that has a good acceptance rate for its pre medical students.

4. You are going to have to take the following courses at a minimum to get into medical school:  2 courses in biology.  2 courses in inorganic chemistry. 2 courses in organic chemistry.  2 courses in english.  2 courses in physics.  1 course in calculus.  

5.  Doing volunteer work at a hospital or actually working at a hospital can be advantageous as you know more of what is going on.

6.  A major is what you are going to focus on to get your degree in.  I would highly recommend one of the sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), because you will have to get a letter of recommendation from the science faculty, and if you have been in several of their classes they know you.

7.  An internship is where you rotate through several specialities (i.e. anesthesiology, trauma center, radiology).  The residency is where you actually learn your speciality.  

8.  As I said earlier investigate the colleges and see which ones have high acceptance rates to medical schools.