Sophia
I am really interested in doing a career in the medical field, what are some high school courses should I take that would good for this career?
I believe I should mainly take any advance math or science career, but I do not know what other subjects would be important.
2 answers
Kelly Ongsueng
Kelly’s Answer
Hi there :) I work in the health care industry as an occupational therapist. What health care field are you interested in pursuing?
At my high school, they offered a program senior year called medical careers - basically it was a course for the whole year that exposes you to various health care fields and you also learn basic skills such as taking vitals, transfers, etc. this was really helpful - I would see if your school offers that. It’s also a great asset when applying to colleges.
Additional courses that would be beneficial:
-depending on the type of population you want to work with - child development would be a good course.
-anatomy and physiology
-psychology
-biology, chemistry, physics as you stated
-advanced math course
I’m not sure what grade you are in, but it would be good to even take some of the courses as an AP because you can take a test and if you pass it - they can translate to college credit which can save you money in the long run! Also, it’s good if you have a lot of volunteer experience- possibly in a hospital setting, nursing home, rehab. My school offered seniors a work study program where you can leave early to volunteer or work - if your school offers that , take advantage of that time to volunteer, shadow health professionals, and gain experience as it’s a good talking point for college essays and interviews.
This is also a good article that provides more insight on what you can do to prepare for a career in the medical field as a high schooler: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5347725
Let me know if you have any other questions :)
Kelly recommends the following next steps:
Thank you so much for your feedback Kelly. I appreciate the article you showed me and your recommendations.
Sophia
Mahesh Shakthy
Mahesh’s Answer
I am not in the medical field, but in the hopes of being in that field, I did a Master's in Bioengineering and ended up working in technology. To be in medical field and excel, I feel that one must have a good background in science and math. So Physics, Chemistry, Biology (Physiology and Anatomy) and math are important. If you prefer to be in technical side of medical field such as imaging, etc., I suggest that you take some computer programming classes along with Math
Thank you so much for your response Mahesh. I wanted to ask you what specific math classes should I take if I want to go into the medical field?
Sophia
If your school offers Calculus (Esp. AP Calc), that would be one of the key math courses to take
Mahesh Shakthy