What Exactly Does It Take To Get Into Medicine - CareerAlley

What Exactly Does It Take To Get Into Medicine - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. For some people, wanting to become a doctor or another medical professional is the ultimate goal in life. Its a career that many people dream of all throughout their childhood and they often mimic doctors by dressing up and playing with toy stethoscopes! Unfortunately, for some people, a career in medicine remains a big dream as it can be incredibly difficult to get into. It takes a lot of knowledge and academic excellence to get accepted onto the medicine courses at most prestigious colleges and universities. Thankfully, as most would-be doctors are very dedicated to their future career, they are work extremely hard to get to it. But is it really as easy as working hard and getting good grades? Unfortunately, no, it isnt. In actual fact, many gifted students often fall down at some of the common hurdles of getting into a career in medicine and health. There are a few ways you can make it a little bit easier to get into, though. Here are some tips from the people who have already done it and are now professional doctors. source Make Sure Its For You There is a lot of hard work that goes into working towards a career in medicine, so you really need to think carefully before you embark on the long journey to becoming a qualified doctor. Sure, everyone who goes off to college or university will have a lot of work on their plate and will find that it gets very stressful when it comes around to exam time, but studying for a medical degree is a lot harder and more stressful. You will have to study five days a week and each day will require you to be up very early in the mornings, and you might not get finished until late into the evening. Not only that, though, but you will need to be very confident working with the body and potentially coming face to face with some gruesome injuries and health conditions. If you feel like you might faint at the first sight of blood, then perhaps a career as a doctor isnt the best one for you! blah Tweet This Study, Study, Study! Next, you need to get ready for all of that studying that the course will require. There will be a lot of taught time when you are studying medicines, which is in a stark contrast to some of the other degrees that your fellow college students will be taking. For instance, students who study philosophy or English literature might only have a couple of lectures and seminars every week. Your week as a medical student will look a lot different. The Medical Science Liaison Career Guide: How to Break Into Your First Role Price: $49.97 THE MEDICAL SCIENCE LIAISON CAREER GUIDE: How to Break Into Your First Role is the ONLY Guide that teaches you what you need to do to effectively break into the highly competitive Medical Science Liaison career. Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 You might end up with back-to-back lectures from 9 AM till 5 PM, and you will still be expected to study in the evenings and any free periods that you might have. So, as you can see, there is a lot of studying that you need to be very prepared for. But, college isnt where it all begins. After all, you will need to get the grades you need to go to college in the first place. So, start studying as soon as you reach high school all of that hard work will certainly pay off in your favor. source Get Some Work Experience While you are going through college, you should try and get as much work experience in a professional health environment. In actual fact, most colleges and universities are aware of the huge benefits of their students taking part in work experience and work placements, so they will actively encourage you to take on some placements throughout your course. Some colleges even make it mandatory for their students to take a month or two of work experience as part of their medical course. Not only will this help you with the practical side of working in healthcare and medicine, but it will help you improve your resume. With enough work experience, your resume will look very attractive to future employers indeed. If your college or university dont offer any work placements as part of their course, you can always take a look at sites like gapmedics.com. If you are having trouble finding any suitable placements, you can always just reach out to your local hospital or doctors surgery to see if they can accommodate you. source Take Extra Exam Prep If you arent feeling too confident about the exams you need to take as part of your medical degree, there are some ways you can try to give yourself-confidence and knowledge a little boost. One of the best ways to prepare for an exam is to take a preparatory course. There are plenty of these that are aimed at medical students. You can enroll in a study course thatwill prepare you for the CS exam. This is one of the most important exams that anyone who wants to work in the medical profession will need to do. There are lots of other courses aimed at those taking other exams, so its always worth looking into what you can do to ensure that you pass your next test with flying colors. source Work On Your Personal Statement Before you get to university or college, you will need to submit a personal statement. This is often a statement that takes up one side of A4. In it, you will need to explain why you want to study medicine and any previous experience and knowledge that will make you suitable for the role. Along with your high school grades, this statement will be used by the colleges admissions tutors to work out whether you will be a good suit to the course or not. So, as you can probably tell, there is a lot depending on your personal statement. So, you need to make sure that it is as good as it can be. Thankfully, most tutors and teachers in high schools will help their students in perfecting their personal statements. So, its worth asking your tutor or a teacher who knows you well to take a read of your statement. They will be able to give you suggestions as to what you can take out and what other information should be included in it. Plus, they will be able to help you with your spelling and grammar. Its also good to get a parent or close friend to read your statement. It needs to be a good representation of you as a person, and they will be able to let you know if it represents you and your personality well. The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement: Write Your Best Story. Secure Your Interview. Price: $12.99 The Premed Playbook: Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement helps guide students in crafting their stories for the medical school Admission Committees. Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 Know Whats Hot In Medicine As with any other profession, there are always new trends in medicine, and it is important for all students and prospective students to give their finger on the pulse and try and keep up with all the latest trends. Most trends will be related to recent tech developments and scientific breakthroughs. Various areas of research come into and fall out of fashion constantly, so its always important to know what the current big areas in medical research are. Thats especially the case if you want to specialize in a certain area of medicine, such as oncology, as you will need to know how all of the cutting-edge tech and research is affecting your area of expertise. Learn About Ethics Of course, ethics has a huge part to play in medicine and the health world. A doctor is responsible for looking after all of their patients to the best of their ability, and they always need to act with their patients best interest at heart. Even if a patient wants to take part in a treatment that a doctor wouldnt necessarily recommend, they still need to do what the patient wants. In fact, ethics plays such a big partof a career in medicine, that you will need to take part in an ethics interview so that your future tutor is happy that you understand just how important they are. Its important that you brush up on ethics in medicine before this interview so that you are well prepared for it. source Dont Plagiarize This might seem like a very obvious point to make, but it still bears repeating as so many individuals still continue to plagiarize their essays and assignments. This is a huge no-no, though. If you are caught doing this, you will probably receive the severest punishment, which could be getting kicked off your course, no matter how far you have come or how well you have done up to this point. Know When To Take A Break Its true that working towards your dream career as a doctor will be very hard work. But, at the same time, you need to know when to stop and take a break from everything. Working too hard could cause you a lot of stress that could affect your health. Hopefully, all of these tips above help you bag your dream career as a successful doctor. TopResume Free Resume Review Price: TopResume writes and analyzes more resumes and LinkedIn profiles than any other service in the world. Let our resume experts provide you with objective feedback and personalized recommendations to improve your resume and land the right job sooner. Get a free, confidential resume review from TopResume Get Your Killer Resume We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to identify and land your dream job. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. 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