<p>I was wondering in order to become a peditrician do you first have to be a nurse? Iam signing up for the nursing science program but im not sure if that a good start in begining my journey to becoming a pediatrician.</p>
<p>No. If anything, it best NOT to be a nurse first. You’re best off completing a liberal arts degree (BA/BS) and applying from there. Health sciences (incl. nursing) students tend to do very poorly in admissions and on the MCAT.</p>
<p>^Agree. One suggestion - check out U of Cinci. Col of Medicine - #3 in pediatrics, but first you need to complete UG.</p>
<p>I have to first get the liberal arts degree, but like can i take any classes that relate to pediatrics in university then get my degree in pediatrics and apply to medical school? does it have to be liberal arts? or anything else?</p>
<p>You can’t get “a degree in pediatrics.” No such thing. It wouldn’t be a good idea even if there were…</p>
<p>Okay…</p>
<p>As a pediatrics resident, I’m without a doubt the most qualified to answer this question.</p>
<p>To the OP: to become a pediatrician, you must first become a medical doctor. You need to go to a 4 year university, complete the pre-med requirements, major in ANYTHING (though academic fields are preferred over vocational fields - nursing would be vocational - pediatrics is not a major either). You’ll need to take the MCAT, and get accepted into medical school. As a medical student you’ll receive the education necessary to make you a doctor, then after graduation, you’ll enter a 3 year residency in pediatrics (which is the point I’m at right now - about half way done right now). As a resident you’ll get a wide variety of training from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to the Adolescent and Sports Medicine Clinics, from the Peds ER to the Developmental Pediatrics Clinic, in order to learn how to take care of kids of all ages and with all sorts of problems. After finishing the three years you’ll be eligible to take the Boards Exam in Pediatrics to become a Board Certified Pediatrician. After residency you can pursue further training to become a specialist (ie a Pediatric Cardiologist or Neonatalogist) or go out and be a general pediatrician in a clinic.</p>
<p>Alternatively, if you think you would prefer to be a nurse instead of a doctor (which is a completely worthwhile choice) then you can complete either a 2 year or 4 year degree to become a nurse, and then could be hired by a children’s hospital or a pediatric clinic and you would be a pediatric nurse.</p>
<p>as an aside to MiamiDAP…Your post is worthless. While U of Cincinnati is an exceptional peds department/residency with a very strong set of pediatric subspecialties and fellowships, going to medical school there is not going to be associated with making a person a better pediatrician vs. someone who went to a medical school with a poor quality pediatrics department. Even for someone looking at RESIDENCY in pediatrics going to the best “name” is neither necessary nor sufficient to make you a phenomenal pediatrician. Certainly a good residency program is important but if the educational fit is not there, it may cause significant problems.</p>
<p>thank you bigredmed you really did help a lot thanks but what is the difference between vocational and academic fields.</p>