high school

Hello, I am about to begin high school and I am interested in becoming a surgeon. Is there certain classes that I should be taking in high school to help my future career?

Hi @breannawest !

If your goal is to go to medical school, then you should take the most challenging science & mathematics coursework offered at your high school. AP/IB, if possible; honors if your school doesn’t do AP/IB classes. You’ll need at least one year each of biology, chemistry & physics to help prepare you to take those classes in college. You will need at a minimum pre-calc in high school, though AP calc AB or BC is preferable.

Lastly you’ll need to develop strong oral & written communication skills–so a maybe a class in public speaking, as well as taking the most challenging English track your school offers.

I’d also suggest that after you turn 16, you do some volunteering with medically needy people. If your local hospital won’t allow under-18 volunteers (and many won’t), try to volunteer at a local nursing home or at program for the mentally or physically disabled. (Summer camps for sick or autistic children, Special Olympics, even, if your school allows it, as a classroom aide in the Side-by-Side program for severely disabled children in your school district.)

A lot of students think they want to be doctor or surgeon because what they see on TV looks so cool or because they or a family member has had serious illnesses or a disability, but being a doctor in real life is very different than how it’s portrayed on TV or how it seems from the patient-side of things. You need to go into medicine with your eyes open. You will dealing with a very wide range of people who all have different backgrounds, beliefs & values on what is likely to be one of the very worst days of their lives. And you’ll see the very worst side of humanity on an almost daily basis. It’s a difficult job, not just intellectually and academically, but emotionally and often physically too…

(My older daughter texted me this during her recent shift as medical resident: “Things your guidance counselor never tells you. I just had patient spit into my mouth.”)