I want to go to Medical School . . and I have questions! ?

Question

I am currently a freshmen at a community college. I am getting my associates in science then transferring to a university in my area. I am smart and very dedicated. My question is concerning Medical School. I know that it's 4 years but I would like to specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology. How long would I have to be in residency in order to start working?

Is it that hard? Would I be able to have a family during Medical School? My hubby wants kids.

Thanks.

Answer 1

It's usually a 4 year program. Residency is work, except you work 80 hours a week and make about 40,000 a year. Once you pass your board exam and finish your residency you can start working.

Hard? That depends on you. There is a lot to learn and you need to be good at budgetting your time. I do not recommend starting a family in medical school, it will put a strain on your studies and on your relationship.

Requirements for medical school are usually:

Calculus, general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biochemistry, genetics, biology.

Expect to be in class about 30 hours a week minimum plus spending 40-60  hours a week catching up on reading and spending extra time in the cadaver lab on weeknights and weekends.

Most of medical school is just rote memorization: memorize diseases, drugs, symptoms, names of body parts etc etc. It's a lot to learn and you only have 2 years to learn it all in. The next two years you will spend in the hospitals/clinics showing the doctors all that you learned.

If you can, talk to your OB-GYN about spending a day at his/her office and seeing the life of a doctor.

Answer 2

Many community college courses do not satisfy a university's Major requirements, so you need to double check with your university about your courses.  Never accept the community college's word for it.  Most universities require you to transfer a minimum of 30 semester hours.

The details of any residency program in any state can be researched at FREIDA On line:  http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category...

Many people enter medical school thinking they want to practice one specialty only to change their mind after being exposed to another specialty.  Hopefully, you'll keep your enthusiasm for the field as many obstetricians are quitting it.

Starting a family while in medical school or residency is not a good move.  The time you miss while delivering and recovering from that delivery may knock you out of your program.  It will also place a tremendous amount of stress on you to not only care for the infant but to leave that infant to tend to your studies/duties.  All good intentions aside, not too many young men can step up to the plate and be the primary care giver to a newborn--a sexist statement, to be sure, but nonetheless true.  Both medical school and residency are very hard on relationships.  Adding a pregnancy on top of that isn't a good idea.  All of that said, it's been done and done successfully, so only you can make the final call.