A doctor’s education
| Niisanchan |
A doctor’s education
|
    0 / 50,000 Official Participant
Joined: Oct 25, 2010
Location: Finland
Posts: 19
Posted on:
Oct 26, 2010 – 03 20 |
Hello! I’d like to ask about how the education of a doctor goes in the USA. For example, when does med school start, and when does it end? When does internship begin, and how long does it last? Basically, I want to know age estimates.
———- |
age varies…some folks start college as early as 17, others wait until they are in their 30s before they start – between 19 to 25 is the average age most would start -
if your character started college at 19, he would get his Bachelor at 23, his Masters at 25, his Post Masters at 27 and start Med School at 28, than depending on the Doctorate he was trying for he would become a doctor at either the age of 30 (nurse or general practitioner or M.D.), 32 (psychiatrist/mental health Psy.M.D.), or 34 (surgeon or other specialized M.D. field)
they start out with 4 years of undergraduate studies to get a Bachelor of Science – their major would be Psychology or Mental Health Nursing or Social Work or similar – this may or may not include a 6 month internship depending on the college, if it does it will be something like being an assistant to a professor at the college
next they move on to 2 years of graduate studies to get a Masters in Science – their major would be a more advanced form of their Bachelor and may or may not be a pre-med course – this would often include a 6 month internship as a secretary or office/desk clerk at either a hospital or doctor’s office – again this depends on the college
for most students the road ends here as very few get grades high enough to advance on to actual Med School
(note – it is very, very, very hard to get into medical school, your grades have to be way above and beyond average – many who would like to go to med school do not make the cut and are thus forced to go to nursing school instead – which is another 2 year Masters)
if their Masters was not a pre-med course (and it rarely is) they will take a 2 year Post Masters Pre-Med course, this time at a Medical School, providing they made it into med school at all – an internship here would usually be working at a desk in a hospital
now after being in college for 8 years, they are FINALLY allowed to actual start their medical training
their medical training or Doctorate will last from 2 to 8 years depending on the type of doctor they are looking to become, and most of their studies will be “hands-on” with them working as a “student doctor” along side a “real” doctor in an “Osteopathic Hospital” (a hospital that trains medical students) – their medical internship (called a residency) starts when the doctor they are training under feels they are ready to have a go at it on their own and usually lasts for 2 years AFTER the first 2 – 8 years of medical training.
I know all of this because I myself am working towards a Psy.M.D. (Psychiatrist) and this is the course of study I will have to take to get there. My goal is to get into Harvard Medical School, http://hms.harvard.edu/hms/home.asp but they only take 150 students at any given time (often less) and only 1 out of every 1,000 who apply are able to pass their entry exams, and only a small handful of the few who pass are actually accepted into the college – it is very, very, very hard to get into med school, your IQ has to be through the roof and your grades have to have been near perfect scores your entire 6 first years of non-med school.
I am right now 35, I started school late, I won’t be a Psy.M.D. until I am at least 43
Need help with NaNoWriMo?
Check out these:
The 13 Step Method
The Top 5 NaNoWriMo Tools
Creating Character Profiles
Voodoo Dolls for Writers
Those super soft extra fluffy scarfs I wear to Write-Ins
Want to network with me?
http://www.keen.com/EelKat
http://twitter.com/EelKat
http://www.facebook.com/EelKat
http://eknano.blogspot.com
http://eelkat.wordpress.com
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/132659
http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/user/132659
This blog is part of:
