Study to become a doctor
Overview
If you’re looking to study to become a doctor, I’ve two very important words for you: seven years. That’s the minimum length of time it takes to study to become ready to become a doctor. That’s seven years in order to complete your undergraduate medical training and two foundation years – study which is mandatory in order to become a doctor – before you even think about actually specialising in a particular medical career.
If you want to study to become a doctor but have no A level (or equivalent) in required science subjects, add an extra year for a pre-medical year in which you’ll study physics, chemistry and biology over an intensive 30 week period.
Still want to study to become a doctor? OK. Here’s the breakdown of a full (average) course of learning. When you study to become a doctor you’ll undertake the seven or eight years outlined above (during which time you’ll go through a five year degree course, where you’ll be studying at a medical school attached to a university), plus an indefinite period of what is known as “run-through training”. Run-through follows on from your med-school degree and is non-negotiable: when you study to become a doctor you must choose either a specialty or general practice on completion of your degree, which leads you into several years of run-through training. The length of your run-through depends on what kind of doctor you have chosen to study to become, though in every case it is appreciable. If, for example, you want to study to become a doctor of neurology, you’ll be looking at years of specialised training: while those who choose to go on to study to become a doctor in general practice are committing to a comparative length of time mastering a vast spectrum of symptoms, diagnoses and treatments.
Specialist or all-encompassing, study to become a doctor is gruelling, technically never-ending (even when your run-through years are theoretically finished, you’ll need to keep continually abreast of the latest developments in your field) and expected to run alongside the practical business of actually attending to patients. It’s the hardest academic discipline in the world – and, given that you can kill people if you get things wrong – both the most practical and the most stressful. So if you want to study to become a doctor, go in with open eyes – you’re entering the most heroic profession on earth, but you’re also entering the toughest.
