What should I major in college if I want to be a Dermatologist (Doctor)?

Question

What should I major in college if I want to be a Dermatologist (Doctor)?

And if i change my mind after i get my bachelors degree can i be a physician assistant?

P.S= how much money does a dermatologist make?

Answer 1

I just found out that to be in any medical position you can major in anything as long as you have the classes that are required to get into Med School. You can look up medical school requirement (heres a link to one http://www.studentdoc.com/medical-school...  and it'll give you a list or if you have a school in mind you can go to the schools website and check their requirement. As for how much they make, I'm not sure,

Answer 2

Pre Med

Answer 3

biology

Answer 4

1st you have to know that after you get your bachelors degree which will take you 4 years you have about 4 MORE years of medical school to do. AND then you have about 2 more years of school to do if you specialize in a different field of medicine.

But if you really want to do this i would major in biology or chemistry. Your university might tell you to go pre-med though

Answer 5

if you are gonna be one u need to pay a tenion in your classes cuse some arent good like my i want a new on but is a dermatolgist a skin doctor(idk im only 13) i have one

Answer 6

Pre-Med, lots of money. You can look up estimated salaries for your area on the US Department of Labor website.

Answer 7

Electric Engineering

Answer 8

you should first major in the sciences.  

Answer 9

Medication, and biology.

dermatologist make a good amount for a treatment.

Answer 10

The obvious answer would be to do your undergrad in Pre-Med.  However, that may not be the best idea.

I was looking to enroll in Med school about 3 years ago when I was 30.  I did my undergrad in Electrical Engineering and I was concerned about my undergrad choice having a negative impact on my chances of getting into Med School.

I called two Medical schools and talked with their admissions departments.  Once of the things that I found out that really shocked me is that both of the schools I spoke with make it a point to go out of their way and recruit some students who were not Pre-Med majors.  They do this to ensure a class of students with a diverse educational background, thus having a student body where people think differently.  The schools still seeked students with undergrad majors from science fields, so having an EE degree met their requirements.

I was told that one of the most important factors in determining admission was a prospective students performance on the MCATs.

Personally, I'd pick about 5 medical schools you think you'd like to attend and call them.  Find out what the admissions board looks for in their incoming student body.  Based on what you find out, decide on a major that you enjoy and will find you good paying work in the event you don't make it in Med School or you change your mind.  If you study Pre-Med and decide Med School isn't for you, what job prospects do you have?  Maybe a 4 year BS degree in Nursing might get you into Med School yet at the same time offer a great safety net if you change your mind.

In terms of getting a PA degree, a PA degree is a Master's program where a MD/DO is a Doctorate degree.  You can get a PA degree in about 24 to 30 months if you go full time (whereas a MD/DO is 4 years of schooling, up to several years for your specialty training,  plus several years as a resident where you get worked to death for $40K a year).

The money for being a doctor isn't as great as one might think.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean wage for a Physician with no seperate classification (dermatologist isn't classified seperately) is about $155K per year.  http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291069...

Another thing you might want to do is if you have a decent relationship with your family doctor or even if s/he seems like a nice person, call their office up and offer to take them to lunch to talk about their career choice.  You can also bring up what they though of medical school the next time you go to the doctor.  I asked my Primiary Care Physician when I was thinking about going to medical school.  My doc is a DO and he said that if he were to do it all over again, he would have gone through a PA program rather than going through the entire medical program.

Best of luck to you!