I have a question for people currently in the medical field?

Question

I want to become either an anesthesiologist or a neurologist but it says to become one I have to get 8 years of schooling.

And that seems really long, I want to live my life -_-

So anyone who has done it before did you get to well, "party" and be a normal person in your 20s? Or did you just have to study all the time. How was it with you during medical school?

Answer 1

work your way up to that degree. start off as a medical assistant or nursing assistant, maybe up to an RN. then go for your anesthesiologist or whatever. if you get a good job, chances are theyll have tuition reimbursement.

i say find something in the field to make sure you can make that commitment of going to school for so long.

and yeah, youre gonna have a really tough time partying and going for medical related education. you need to focus on it!

i wouldnt want some nurse or someone putting me under that was worried about partying through schooling, thank you very much.

Answer 2

party and medical degree doesnt really go together!!!  

Answer 3

Medical school is hard and being a physician is a huge time and life commitment. If you're doing it to make money, there are easier ways of doing it.

I tell this to anyone who is interested in becoming a doctor. If you can see yourself doing anything else with your life, then do it. However, if you truly love the practice of medicine, then go for it.

Here is what to expect if you go to decide to become a doctor:

You must first complete an undergraduate program (usually 4 years) during which you will apply for medical school, which is another 4 years. However, you will need to have a good undergraduate GPA (at least 3.5 to be safe), take your pre-med requirement courses (inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology, english, and math), and good MCAT scores (standardized exam that tests your reading comprehenion, writing skills, and knowledge of physical and biological sciences) to even be considered for medical school.

During medical school, you will take courses in the core curriculum with numerous exams during the 1st two years covering different areas of basic science, pharmacology, physiology, and anatomy. You will also have to take two more big standardized exams during medical school. During your last two years, you will be doing clinical clerkships in the different fields of medicine.  Then during your last year in medical school you will apply for residency training in whatever field you are interested (internal medicine, surgery, radiology, etc.), which can range from 3-5 years of additional training.

During medical school, you will eat, sleep, and study. You will learn to love living in the library (Startbucks, Barnes and Noble, etc.) studying for the endless exams.  You will have time to go out Friday or Saturday night once in a while, but partying every weekend is out of the question unless you want to fail med school.

Unless you have financial support from your parents or you're independently wealthy, you will need to take out student loans or get scholarships for both undergrad and medical school. However, you will get paid during your residency but it is a meager salary ($42,000 - $54,000 depending on geographic location and years of training) for the large amount of work and stress (60-80 hours per week).

After completing residency, then you can practice as a doctor. However, if you want to subspecialize further in whatever field, you need to apply for fellowship and complete an additional ~1-3 years trainng.

So basically, becoming a doctor is hard and a huge committment. Most people will finish their residency training by 28-30 years old at the earliest (if you go straight to college after high school and then to medical school without any breaks in between) with about ~$100,000-200,000 debt in student loans.

In short, for anethesiology you will need to spend at least 8 years of med school and residency after graduating from college.  I can guarantee that it will be the hardest thing you will ever do in your life.  It's better that you know this now before you decide to enter the field.