Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 8/27/2008

Question
I am currently a senior in high school and I have been thinking about becoming an anesthesiologist.  I have always had a GPA ranging from a 4.1 to a 4.3 on a weighted scale.  After graduation, I will have completed six science courses and four math courses.  The science courses I have completed are Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry and Physics.  I am working on Chemistry 2 and Anatomy/Physiology.  The math courses I have taken are geometry, Algebra 1 and Trigonometry.  

I am currently enrolled in Calculus in high school, but I am opting to take a math course from Johnson County Community College in Kansas.  I was wondering if Calculus is a course that needs to be taken for an anesthesiologist or will a college algebra course be sufficient.  I would much rather take a class in order to get the general math over with instead of taking an unnecessary advanced course of Calculus.

Also, after reading through many of the already asked questions, I have to ask this next question for financial problems.  I can go to any college I want to for the four years, but do I need to select a "major" in medicine during that.  Then after college enroll in a special medical school.  If I don't select medicine as my major in college will that affect my acceptance to a medical school?

Thanks for your help.

Answer
Calculus is required for medical school. You can major in anything in college (there is no medicine major). You just need to take the prerequsites for medical school. After college you can go to any medical school. Only after finishing medical school do you apply for anesthesiology.

Ronald Levy, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston