How do you become a Doctor?

I often get asked by patients, friends, and family members - How do you become a doctor? How long do you have to go to school? I had similar questions before I entered the medical field and thought I would break down the numbers first.

 1. 4 years of college. Your major actually does not matter as long as you take prerequisite courses that all medical school hopefuls take (i.e. 1 year of biology, 1 year of chemistry, 1 year of math, etc.)

 2. 4 years of medical school. Everybody goes through the same general training where the first 2 years are spent in the classroom and the last 2 years are clinical with patient interaction.

 3. Residency training, variable, 3-7 years. Once you finish medical school, you have to complete specific training in a residency program. These include Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, OBGYN, Pediatrics, etc. There are many types of residencies and you have to decide what you want to practice. Hopefully medical school gave you enough of an idea of what you like at this point.

 4. Fellowship, optional, 1+ years. This is where you get to further specialize. Lets say you wanted to become a cardiologist. This would require you to first complete a 3 year residency in Internal Medicine, followed by a 3 year fellowship in Cardiology. This can get very confusing to say the least because you can specialize for years and years.

The variables are residency and fellowship, which can add up to up to 10 years. This is why most doctors will never be practicing independently until the age of 28 or 29, and some as late as 34 or 35. There you have it, the basic steps to becoming a doctor.