Guide 1 of 4
High school
Nothing you do before undergrad decides whether you become a physician. What high school can do is tell you whether you actually want the thing, before it costs you anything.
How long the path actually is
Counted from starting undergrad, for someone who does not stop.
- 4 yearsUndergraduate degreeAny major. Plus the pre-med course requirements and the MCAT.
- 0–2 yearsGap year(s)Now the norm rather than the exception. Most matriculants are not 22.
- 4 yearsMedical schoolMD or DO. Two years mostly classroom, two mostly hospital.
- 3–7 yearsResidencyPaid, but modestly, and the hours are the hardest of the whole path. Length depends entirely on specialty.
- 0–3 yearsFellowshipOptional, and required for many subspecialties.
What is worth doing now
- Get in a room where care happens. Volunteering, scribing, an EMT or CNA certification after you turn 18. The point is not the line on an application — it is finding out how you feel about sick people, bodily fluids and night shifts while the answer is still free.
- Take science seriously, but not as a monk. Grades matter from undergrad onward, not from sophomore year of high school.
- Talk to a resident, not an attending. An attending remembers the path fondly. A second-year resident remembers it accurately.
- Learn what it costs. Not just tuition — the years of income you do not earn while everyone you graduated with does.
Things people will tell you that are not true
- “You need to major in biology.” You need to pass the pre-med requirements. Your major is close to irrelevant, and a subject you enjoy usually produces a better GPA than one you endure.
- “Go to the most prestigious undergrad you get into.” For medical school admissions, your GPA and MCAT do far more work than the name on the diploma — and debt from undergrad compounds into a decade of training.
- “Decide now.” Plenty of physicians decided during or after undergrad. Almost nobody who decided at fifteen did so on good information.
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Pre-med