Expert: Bruce - 5/13/2008

Question
QUESTION: I AM 17 AND A JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL AND I WANT TO MAJOR IN PEDIATRICS, BUT I WANT TO FIND A COLLEGE THAT WILL OFFER PEDIATRIC TRAINING AND RESIDENCY TRAINING. AND ALL OF MY COLLEGE REQUIRED COURSES, BUT I ALSO WANT TO BE DONE WITH SCHOOL AND MY RESIDENCY TRAINING BE BEFORE I'M 30 YEARS OF AGE. THANK YOU

ANSWER: Brittanee,

Thanks for your question.

Your path to a pediatric career will look like this:

4 years in college for the bachelors degre

3 years medical school

2-3 years Pediatric Residency

You could probably be done by your late 20s.

Are you saying that you want to attend the same college for all of your training? If so, you need to find a college with a med school attached or afiliated. Some of these include:

Syracuse
Rutgers
Univ of Rochester
Univ of Bufalo

Are you looking on a particular region?

Bruce

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: SO WHAT KIND OF CLASSES WOULD I BE TAKING IN COLLEGE, AND HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT WILL TAKE FOR ME TO PAY BACK MY STUDENT LOANS....

ANSWER: If you want to be a medical doctor your college coursework will include a heavy dose of science - biology and chemistry especially - along with some math. This will continue into your medical training.

Do you enjoy studying science?

If you are concerned about being in school so long you could check out careers as a nurse or physicians assistant. Both have great job outlooks and offer lots of patient contact.

As far as loans go, student loans typically have a 10-15 year payback period.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Well yes i do love studying science i'm just worried that i may begin college and get lost or not understand the material well enough...maybe i'm just thinking to hard on it.. but i really thank you for your help.

<Brittanee>

Answer
Brittanee,

These are normal fears for a high schooler to have. From afar, college can seem kind of daunting. If you pay attention and develop good work & study habits in high school, you'll be ready for it. So don't lose sleep over this!

I think if you keep enjoying science as you take more of it, that's a good sign. Is there a summer program or community college class you can take to give you an extra dose of it, to test this? If your school offers an AP science class, it would be good to take it.

If you are unsure about committing the time to med school, be sure to look at physician asst programs, or even nursing. Both offer great opportunity these days. But is beign an MD is your dream, go for it!

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

Bruce