Answers from the Experts

Career Path to Become a Doctor

"I am a soon to be Sophomore. I am interested in becoming a pediatrician or other related doctor but am unsure of the classes I should take. I want to start preparing now while in High School. Do you know what courses I should take? Can you give me a list? I have already taken Geometry, English honors, Biology honors and World Geography honors-What now? Also I am curious on how to graduate from high school a year early. Do you know anything about that? Or how I can graduate high school with my associate’s degree? I would really like to get ahead start but don't know where to start. Thanks for listening and giving my any feedback you have, I appreciate it a lot! Thanks again!"

Responses were sent from:
Northern Arizona University, Brandeis University, The University of Vermont, and Juniata College.

Member Institution and Association Answers:

From Northern Arizona University:

Not even college "prepares" you to become a physician. This all happens in medical school. The important thing is to get a strong and diverse background. In high school, you should be concentrating on those classes that will get you into the best college you can. In college, you should take rigorous science such as biology, chemistry and even advanced classes such as genetics, etc. However, it is also important to write well, be an analytical thinker, etc., so non-science classes are also very important. Also, community service is a definite plus when applying to medical school. Nothing you can take in high school or college will prepare you to be a doctor, it will only prepare you to study to become a doctor in medical school.

James E. Casebeer
Assistant Director
Office of Enrollment Services
Northern Arizona University
928-523-6080
james.casebeer@nau.edu

From Brandeis University:

Greetings from Brandeis! My biggest advice from your question is to complete four years of high school. If you have completed all the advanced courses in your school look to see if you can take your senior year at a local community college. Talk to your guidance counselor about making this work. Just because you can graduate a year early doesn't mean you are ready to jump into college. Make sure you are working with your family and counselors to see if this is the best track for you. In the meantime, my suggestion is to continue to challenge yourself in the best way possible with a variety of honors or advance placement course if offered at your school.

Robert W. Andrews
Assistant Director of Admissions
Brandeis University
(781) 736-3500
andrews@brandeis.edu

From The University of Vermont:

Its wonderful that you would like to become a pediatrician. It is also wonderful that you are willing to prepare yourself so early in your academic career to become a pediatrician. The best way you can prepare yourself to become a pediatrician while in high school is to concentrate on the courses that you are taking now. You have a great course load, but taking anything in addition to that is not recommended. What makes a good pediatrician is a strong foundation in the core realms of academics. Doing really well in classes like Geometry, English honors, Biology honors, and World Geography honors will prepare you for a career in health care. You should also be taking a mathematics course. Your high school course load has been set by your guidance counselors so that you become knowledgeable in these subjects for a very important reason. You must take your high school curriculum and do well in it before you can move on to more challenging studies. I am not aware of any method to graduate from high school early. I would not recommend graduating high school any earlier than the end of your senior year (typically year 4). High school is four years long because that is the appropriate amount of time for a student to adequately complete their high school course load. Prematurely graduating from high school may work as a disadvantage to you by cramming too much school work in a period of time that is too short. But if you are truly set on graduating early, discuss this with your guidance counselor. Best wishes.

Devin Harmon
Assistant Director of Admissions
The University of Vermont
194 South Prospect Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: (802) 656-4624
Fax: (802) 656-4663
E-mail: Devin.Harmon@uvm.edu
web: http://www.uvm.edu

From Juniata College:

You are on the right track so far! Taking advanced/honors classes is a good way to prepare yourself for any college program. You should take the most challenging program offered by your high school, and because of your interest in medicine, you should incorporate as many science courses as you can. If you are interested in earning college credit while still in school, you can achieve that in several ways: Take classes at a local community college during the summer. If your college offers AP or IB classes, or College-in-High school classes, you should take them and complete whatever exams are necessary to earn college credit. In some cities, there are high schools that incorporate college classes into the curriculum and allow students to graduate with an associates degree, or to start college one year early (for example: Bard High School Early College in New York, Clarkson Academy of Clarkson University, Baltimore City College), if there is an opportunity of that nature open to you, I would certainly encourage you to take advantage of it! Later, you can ask the colleges you are interested in about their requirements for transferring college credits.

Heather Doyle
Admission Counselor
Multicultural Recruitment
Juniata College
Huntingdon, PA
(814)641-3430
doyleh@juniata.edu