I’m from Chile and I can’t understand when people here talk about PreMed, M1, M2, R1, and stuff like that. Since leaving Highschool what are the steps you have to take to become a doctor in USA? And how long is that?
In: Biology
Graduate from high school. Go to college and get a Bachelor’s degree. While you’re there, take the [pre-requisite coursework](www.reddit.com/r/premed/wiki/index) required by many medical schools. It doesn’t matter what your undergrad degree is in as long as you take the pre-requisite coursework at some point; however, many people major in a science because that helps prepare them better for the MCAT. At some point before you apply, build a nice resume that contains clinical experience, physician shadowing, non-clinical volunteering, research, hobbies, etc. Then take the MCAT and apply to medical school.
Medical school is four years long. The first two years are pre-clinical which means you are studying and taking exams. The second two years are clinical which means you’re in hospitals and clinics taking care of patients. At some point in medical school, you need to take two boards exams: USMLE Step 1 and Step 2. The traditional way to do this is to take Step 1 after your pre-clinical years and Step 2 after your third-year. During fourth year, you apply to residency in the specialty you want to go into. You have to go to residency if you want to practice medicine in the US. The shortest residencies are 3 years long (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, many Emergency Medicine programs), and the longest is 7 years (neurosurgery). After residency, you can either get a job as a practicing physician or you can do a fellowship (usually 1-2 more years) in order to further sub-specialize. For example, if you want to be a cardiologist, you have to do a three-year-long internal medicine residency and then do a cardiology fellowship after that.
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