WHAT TO EXPECT IN MEDICAL SCHOOL: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE FOR FUTURE MED STUDENTS There are over 140 U.S. medical schools that award the Doctor of Medicine, better known as the MD, to graduates. These schools train students in allopathic medicine, an advanced system which encompasses the use of medications, surgery, and/or therapies to help treat individuals with a variety of conditions and diseases. Allopathic schools train tomorrow's MDs with a common (and rigorous!) core curriculum. But beyond that core, each medical school offers its own unique academic foci, teaching methods, and research opportunities to students, which means no two medical schools are exactly alike. As such, before entering medical school, it’s crucial for you to have a clear understanding of how long completing medical school will take, and perhaps more importantly, what each specific step of your medical school journey will entail.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO COMPLETE MEDICAL SCHOOL? Medical school itself takes 4 years to complete, but to become a doctor, you'll also spend 3–7 years in residency.
THE FIRST TWO YEARS The first two years of medical school are a mixture of classroom and lab time; students take classes in basic sciences, such as anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, and pharmacology. They also learn the basics of interviewing and examining a patient. Traditionally, students take four or five courses in various disciplines at the same time. However, some schools focus on a single subject for a shorter block of time—say, three or four weeks—then move on to another subject. Other schools take an interdisciplinary approach to pre-clinical coursework, in which each class focuses on a single organ, examining all the anatomy, pharmacology, pathology and behavior relevant to that system. At the end of the second year, you'll take Step 1 of USMLE, a three-step test designed for students of allopathic medicine who are on the path to an MD. Step 1 of USMLE is a one-day, multiple-choice test that emphasizes knowledge of basic sciences, including anatomy, biochemistry, behavioral sciences, microbiology, immunology, pathology, pharmacology, and physiology. Topics such as nutrition, genetics and aging are also covered.
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