Expert: Todd Johnson - 9/25/2008

Question
My son (15) is interested in studying medicine but I don't know what needs to be done.  He has very good grades but how good do they have to be?  How do we start to look for a college and what will he study?  Is it by cost (we don't have much money!)?  His grades?  Idiots guide please:)


Answer
Jenefer,

Thank you for writing. At this point you don't need to worry about medical school as such. That occurs after 4 years of college assuming your son gets in. The primary focus for getting into college is to do well academically in his high school courses. Also, take courses that challenge him academically. Normally, if someone is interested in going into medicine, they are quite smart and motivated. He should consider taking a course in each of the 5 academic areas each year in high school. Those are English, math, science, social studies and foreign language. The math and science courses in particular are important for someone considering medical school. The better he does in high school the better college he has a chance to attend.

Once he is in college he can major in anything that he has an interest in as medical schools don't care what a students major is in. In fact, some of the majors that do the best in admissions are the unusual ones like music. He will need to take some science and math courses in college that are required for admissions to the medical school and that help him prepare for the medical college admission test. As long as he takes the required courses he should major in something that interests him. At this point, that may be hard to say although as he gets older he will probably start to develop an interest in some broad areas, like math, chemistry, English.Again, the better grades he gets in college, the greater his likelihood of getting into a medical school.

To get a more thorough overview I would suggest that you go to the resources section of my website where I talk about what to look for in a college, what colleges are looking for in students and the basics of financial aid, i.e. how do you pay for college. Here is the link:

http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/resources/info-to-know/

It is great that you are getting started early because the earlier you get started the easier it is to deal with the whole process of finding the right college and getting admitted.

Good luck.