I know it may seem a bit pre-mature to some for a freshmen to be thinking about their future career, but I want to have a set-in-stone plan that I can follow through High School so I’m not blindly doing anything.
I’ve always wanted to be an anesthesiologist, but I have absolutely no idea how to become an one:
Are there any specific courses in High School that I should take?
How high is the competition?
Pre-med college?
What’s the education needed to become an anesthesiologist?
What should I be focusing on the most in high school?
etc.etc.
Any advice regarding this topic or answers for any of the questions please please let me know
Also will Math even be important to me? I’ve already skipped Geometry and taking Alg 2 in freshmen year, so, will I need to put more emphasis on Math or is it not necessary?
I already know I’m going to struggle with GPA a lot, so how can I keep it high? Will taking regular classes affect it a lot or does it not matter? I’m taking orchestra and another electives, any suggestions? Should I skip any classes?
Sorry! I probably sound like a total noob, but I’d really appreciate any help! Thanks!
First off, how did you skip Geometry? Did you take it over the summer? You can’t just skip Geometry because you will need it later.
As for your set-in-stone plan- have a plan, but don’t have a set in stone plan. Actually practicing as an anesthesiologist is about twelve years away after high school, and a lot can change in twelve years, so don’t dictate your entire high school career solely on that.
For your questions about being an anesthesiologist: Google is great and can provide all these answers. Great skills to learn for high school.
As for high school courses: math and science. Of course you should take humanities and find a nice balance, but math and science are huge. You want to take a year of Chemistry, Biology, and Physics and then a fourth year. Taking the “regular” (not Honors/AP) courses will determine where you go to college. Virtually every college can provide pre-med prerequisites, though, so that won’t be a problem.
I agree-- whoever advised you to skip geometry made a big mistake, unless you’re planning to take it after Algebra II (which many people in education would consider a mistake to begin with-- all of trig is based on similar triangles, and the big trig values – the ones you’ll memorize-- are based on either the unit circle or the two Special Triangles you learn about in Geometry. There’s a reason that so many people who know their stuff recommend the usual sequence.)
And let’s not even go into the importance of Geometry on the SAT.
Anyway, look now into volunteer work. You may not be old enough to be a candy striper at your local hospital, but look into it.
Honestly consider emailing a few local hospitals, specifically the director of anesthesiology, with your questions. Ask about the best path to becoming a member of his/her department.
I am also interested in medicine and like to plan for the future!
To become an anesthesiologist, you will first need to graduate from high school, go to and graduate from college with a bachelors degree (or above), go to and graduate medical school, and complete a residency in anesthesiology. It is great that you are thinking about your future career, but don’t stress about having a solid plan yet (I know it is hard though!!). You really don’t start narrowing down on studying medicine or even biological science in general until medical school.
In high school, your main goal should really just be getting into a good college for undergrad, as that is the first step in the process. Take as hard of courses as you can handle while still getting good grades in all subjects (including math). AP/IB courses as especially good to take as they show you can handle hard work as well as give you college credits if you do well which may allow you to skip intro level courses in your freshman year of high school. You need to find a balance between challenging yourself with hard classes but making sure you are not in over your head (your guidance counselor should be able to help you with this). SAT or ACT scores are also an important part of getting into a good college. However, it is still important to have extra curriculars and volunteer work to set you apart. Again this is a balancing act. Honestly, what everyone will tell you to do to become successful in any field is what you need to set yourself up for success in medicine.
For undergraduate education, you can be pre med at pretty much any college. Some schools may offer some special programs such as pre med advising and research opportunities and you can take that into account when choosing a college. Most colleges do not offer a ‘pre med’ degree, but you will need to complete a set of pre med requirements, which are mostly basic courses in math and sciences. Students chose whatever major they are interested in (I know a doctor who majored in French), but many major in sciences as it is easier to do pre med courses with these degrees because the required courses overlap. You will still need to study humanities and partake in extracurricular and volunteer work like in high school to show you are well-rounded. You will also take a test called the MCAT, which is pretty much like the SAT for medical school.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘competitiveness’. Some undergraduate colleges will be competitive, some will not. Medical school, however, is competitive! I think the residencies and field of anesthesiology is pretty competitive in relationship to the other medical fields.
I hope that helped clear thing up a bit and I am happy to answer any more questions!
You need to have all 5 core classes each year (English, Math, Science, Social science, foreign language,) plus 163 "fun"c lasses, 5 of which per year need to be Honors of AP. For math, if you reach calculus ahead of time, taking the next level (ie., BC in HS => Calc 2 or 3, discrete math, linear algebra…?) as a dual enrolled student. For foreign language, they mean level reached so if you have level 4 or 5you’re good.
For premed, a good pick is a college that’s a good fit, which you can afford with no/minimal debt, and where you’re in the top 25% students (roughly).
Premed is not a major, it’s just an orientation you choose. It’s a set of classes including 2 semesters each of English, biology, chemistry, physics, + 1 semester each of calculus, statistics, biochemistry, organic chemistry, psychology, sociology, a diversity-focused class and, preferably, a language spoken by immigrant groups (beside Spanish, which many applicants will have, look into Creole French, Russian, Arabic, Hmong, Somali…)
(Note that this IS NOT all science. In fact, non biology majors who completed their premed core with high grades do better on the MCAT.)
LACs may not be as weed out as large classes at a large public university.
@Giovuhnni Bumping up old threads is usually frowned upon and its prefered that you start your own new thread, but its already happened so I’ll answer your question.
In the vast majority of cases (that being traditional path to med school) being intrested in medicine shouldn’t effect which AP classes you take as you are just trying to get into undergrad so then you can get into med school. (Even med schools don’t really care what you do the majority of your undergrad studies in as long as you’ve done and done well in the prerequisites)
Now if your seriously thinking about apply BS/MD, then it might help some to take more STEM courses if you are forced to pick. STEM APs consist of Bio, Chem, Calc AB, Calc BC, Physics I, Physics II, Physics C: E & M, and Physics C:M. However schools still want to see students who can handle the highest rigor no matter the class and have high GPA and be well rounded as well.
@Madeline25 I was looking at the BS/MD program for about a month now, are there any significant benefits to this? program versus the regular pre-med to med school route? I’ve also been wanting to go into TAMS, A 2 year program I’ll go into junior/senior year at UNT. Do you think TAMS then BS/MD is a good path to follow or do you recommend anything else
@Nitare6679 Benefits to going BS/MD is security of knowing you have a spot reserved for you and flexibility since you don’t have to jump through as many hoops to get admitted once your in undergrad such as the MCAT in some cases. However some complaints are that accelerated ones don’t really allow you to pursue electives, cut short your ‘college experience’ and depending on whether your program in binding or not, lock you into a specific med school. I think a lot of it really depends on the specific program. There’s a world’s difference between an 8 year program that allows you to pretty much do your own thing in undergrad and apply out if you wish then a highly structured 6 year one where you are bound to a specific med school. There is a lot more info (and opnions) on the pros and cons if you search around here, specifically combined degree programs fourm, and the Student Doctor Website I would think too.
Does TAMS give you college credit for all the classes you take there, meaning you would be considered a transfer student to undergrad when you finished the program? I looked on their website and couldn’t find an answer. If you will have junior college standing after finishing, you probably won’t be able to do BS/MD. I personally haven’t seen a BS/MD program that accepts transfers, but I haven’t looked closely at all of them. I just took a quick look at Brown’s and Northwestern’s for a reference and they both do not allow transfers. There are some programs that undergrad colleges offer (Georgetown and Northwestern come to mind) that you can apply for early med school assurance once you are in undergrad and you could probably do once of those if that’s the case with the credit. However if you don’t get college credit or not enough to be considered a transfer you won’t run into that problem. In that case, I think TAMS then BS/MD would be great if you descide that both programs for you well.
TAMS gives you college credit. Its like dual credit and you graduate with both a high school diploma and about 60hrs of college credit, but most Ivies and medical programs don’t accept it. However, most state universities, especially Texas/UT will take almost all of the credit, so you could graduate actual college in just 2 years if you wanted to.
^a premed SHOULD NOT (absolutely, under no circumstance) try to graduate in 2 years. Also, those DE grades WILL count for your med school GPA so you HAVE to rank in the top 10-20% among the college students even if you’re still a HS junioif you already have the premed basics.
If you have A’s in your DE classes, you should use the freedom during your 4 years to take as many advanced/graduate classes in the sciences as possible, study abroad (does the college offer the opportunity of volunteering at a clinic in a developing country where you’d learn the language? That’d be ideal for med school), and do research. Getting into med school is not jumping through hoops as fast as you can.
