Pre-Medicine

Physicians support and manage healthcare across a diverse range of specializations and age groups. There are three broad categories. A primary care physician treats a wide range of illnesses, provides preventative care, and is considered an individual’s regular doctor. A surgeon will perform operations and be highly specialized. Specialists have expertise based on body part, organ and system.

It takes four years of medical school and between three to eight years of specialty training to go on in a career in medicine. In the U.S. physicians must have either a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) degree.

The academic requirements for admission to medical school typically include courses in biology, physics, English, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, genetics, and calculus. Medical schools may vary in their policies regarding prerequisites, so be sure to check prerequisites by medical school.

Students who are interested in going to medical school typically will pursue Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry as their undergraduate program.