10 Things That You Will Fail Without

Many people living in different parts of the world before choosing a career always consider about becoming a doctor. There are various reasons for this. Doctors are highly paid, they are always in demand, and therefore chances of unemployment are very less. Doctors also enjoy a high status in the society due to the noble cause they are associated with.

Many people consider being a doctor, but very few amongst them actually become a doctor. People generally underestimate the hard work and time required for this field. It may take about twelve to fifteen years to become a doctor, including eight years at college and medical school and about four to five years of residency preparation. This time duration may differ from one country to the other.

Apart from the time and hard work, a lot of money is also required to become a doctor. Dedication towards becoming a doctor plays a vital role. There are people who have strong determination about entering the medical field, but when they come to know about the hardships and complications involved they take a step back.

1) Planning

Without a proper plan, or understanding of what you are getting yourself into you will not succeed. There are quite a few things that need to be considered on your part before you even make it to your undergraduate degree. There’s so much that is actually will wind up being a list of its own. Here’s a short list to get your mind working:

a) college accreditation – is the college you’re considering for your undergraduate degree accredited? If not, you need to reconsider where you’ll be going.

b) what does the medical school you want to attend require? What grades do they desire? What experience do they want? What does their average student look like? What is the licensure rate of their graduates?

c) what do you need to be doing right now? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month?

2) A relevant under-graduate degree

Obtaining a relevant bachelor’s degree is the next step. It should be made sure that the subjects like biology and chemistry are studied during graduation. While you do not need to be a straight A’s student in college, a good GPA will make your med school application process a lot more competitive. The general rule is that you want a 3.5 or above because the average GPA of the matriculated students are usually around 3.5 to 3.7. Depending on where you go, what you major in, and what you do outside of school, however, medical schools will still consider you if your GPA is significantly lower than 3.5. But if you want to get into medical school, you need to try your best in college.

3) Relevant courses

Your undergraduate degree will be useless unless it hits the requirements of your target (see item one on this list) medical school. You won’t do yourself any good taking a course in underwater basket weaving. It won’t be relevant. Once your plan is in place you’ll know exactly what you need in the way of courses both for medical school AND your undergraduate degree.

4) Grades

It doesn’t matter what your GPA stands at right now as long as you know how to GET the grades you NEED.If you haven’t made a practice of study, learning, and mastery of your course-work now is the time to change your habits. The books are your best friends. Good students are separated from great students one thing: note taking. Be prolific in your note-taking, follow up with questions you have about the material with your professors/teachers/tutors. Engage with the material you are working with so that you understand it, all its nuances, and then you will have mastered the material. And that’s where good grades come from.

5) Attitude

If you are going to any of the above you need the right attitude. Start with why? Why are you doing what you are doing? Who are you doing it for? What other reasons are you doing it? Is there anything else that might factor into the decision? Are these decisions in your best interest? If not, then why not? Learn to ask questions. Learn to give up things you love (but not family, there is nothing more important than family). Learn to smile and introduce yourself to everyone you see. Learn to remember every name and every face. Learn all of this by doing it. There is no method of learning that compares to doing.

6) MCAT Scores

Taking the MCAT exam is vital to obtain admission to a medical college. Just because the medical school websites say that the “MCAT is not everything”, does not mean that it isn’t. Although most med schools look at an array of things when you apply, the MCAT remains as the most important element for getting into med school. Again, like the GPA, you do not need a killer MCAT score to get into medical school. However, you need to perform well, generally a score of 30 or above, to stay competitive in the application process.

7) Medical School Admissions

Medical schools are one of the most difficult institutions to get into. Make sure you read up on what the schools accept. Read this information at least once a month. More often if you can stomach it. Become intimately familiar with what the schools look for in students, performance standards, and any other information you can find.

8) Planning

This was mentioned up top. It is important. Do it.

9) Money, loans, or…?

How are you paying for medical school? How much will it cost? Does the school offer non-standard tuition repayment methods? Tuition forgiveness? Know your options, consider each carefully, and choose the one that will fit your situation the best. No single solution will fit everyone.

10) Did we mention planning? (and discipline)

If you haven’t started planning then stop reading and start planning. If you don’t know how to plan then its time to look into Operations and Strategic planning for military organizations. Why those? Because they’ve had 200+ years of experience figuring out how to plan things that are infinitely more difficult than medical school. Using the tools they have for planning and execution you will not fail. But you have to use the tools.

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