Medicine is one of the most challenging yet rewarding fields a student can enter. But before you decide whether becoming a doctor is right for you, it’s important that you know every step you’ll have to take along the way.
Here, I’ll walk you through exactly how to become a doctor, starting with high school. This career is definitely not for everyone—it requires huge investments of time, money, and effort—but if this path is right for you, this guide is what you should read to start preparing yourself early for a successful career as a doctor.
Medicine is a super competitive and rigorous field: doctors have a lot of responsibility and must spend tons of time and money on their training. Healthcare is also a growing field, which means that the demand for doctors will continue to increase in the coming years.
As long as you do all the necessary steps below, you shouldn’t have an issue finding a job as a doctor.
Let’s take a look at the career outlook for physicians and surgeons using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
- 2020 Median Pay: Greater than or equal to $208,000 per year
- Job Growth Rate (2020-30): 3%, which is slower than average
Note that pay and job outlook can vary depending on what type of doctor you want to be, so if you have a particular specialty in mind (such as dermatology or rheumatology), I encourage you to do your own research on that field’s projected career outlook.
To lend you a hand, we’ve created the following chart, which presents the median salaries and job outlooks for various types of doctors (arranged in order of highest salary to lowest)
