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How much years of education do you need to be a pediatrician

I am asking this because i would love to know how many years i have infront of me #pediatrician #graduate-school #medical-school #healthcare #medicine #pediatrics

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Abby’s Answer, CareerVillage.org Team

Hi Stephane! I’m sorry no one’s answered your question yet. We're working hard to get it answered by Professionals with the best insights, but in the meantime I've included a link to a relevant Q&A here on CareerVillage.org that should be super helpful for you to read through.


Mayelin asked: How many years of school does it take to become a pediatrician?, and one of the Pros who answered it said:


After graduating from high school, a student that wants to become a Pediatrician must finish:

four years of college, four years of medical school, one year of a Pediatrics internship and two years of a Pediatrics residency. That adds up to about 11 years of school and training to become a Pediatrician. It is important to note that during your internship and residency years, while you are still learning, you are not really in school and are getting paid for your work...


Click the question to read more of what this Pro and others had to say!


Good luck! 

Abby 

Community Management Intern at CareerVillage.org
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rubina’s Answer

In order to be a pediatrician, I first completed a bachelors of science degree (pre med program) at a university - that was 4 years.
After that you can apply to medical school which will be 4 years of training. After that you will have to complete a pediatric residency training program which is usually 3 years training. So total of 7 years of medical training to become a pediatrician.
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Rachel’s Answer

Agree with all of the above about years of school. I would like to add that as a physician, you are a lifetime student. You will be learning from your patients decades into your practice. Additionally, you will be responsible for maintaining your certification and staying up to date on the latest in pediatric advances.
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Ruth’s Answer

4 years of college/university then
4 years of medical school then 3
Years of specialty training at a hospital Pediatric Residency program.
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Ruth’s Answer

****see Marc's answer

unless you do either:

> a 6-7 year college medical school combo. ( less time)

>a fellowship for specialty or research during training ( more time- amount varies)

another path to consider is- that a least one school my patients/students have told me about ( sorry I don't remember where- ? in PA-?)- has a program where you get your RN as premed and then go to med school for 4 yrs... ( something to think about- both for experience and decreased loans as you go).

Ruth recommends the following next steps:

college
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David’s Answer

To become a pediatrician requires a medical degree and 3 years as a lowly paid pediatrics resident. A medical degree is usually a 4 year program after a 4 year college degree.
I have heard of a 6 year program that completes both the college and medical degrees in 6 years.
I graduated from high school and 11 years later started as a full time pediatrician.
A lot of people in college drop their interest in medicine after taking their first chemistry class. It usually requires very good science grades in college to get into medical school.
If you are in high school try to ace chemistry and physics.
Sons and daughters of doctors somehow get the thought that they should be doctors or their parents will be very dissapointed in them. Mine were, and I never suggested it. I would have been very surprised if they pursued medicine. Their interests were elsewhere. It was the same way in college. My beginning chemistry teacher told the whole class he was tired of doctors kids coming to him trying to get their grades lifted.

David recommends the following next steps:

4 years of college and 4 years of medicine usually require a lot of school loans. Try to get a scholarship and even if you don’t your good grades will help.
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Richard’s Answer

In the US, to apply to medical school, you need a bachelor's degree. Any 4-year university should suffice.

Pick a college that suits your personality and a major that interests you. You will need to get good grades in college in order to apply for medical school. At the medical school I attended, the average GPA is reported to be 3.85, so even one or two B's can hurt your chances of acceptance.

Aside from this, any major is acceptable as long as you complete the prerequisite courses.

Typical medical school prerequisites include:
Biology: Lecture – 4 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
General Chemistry: Lecture – 2 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
Organic Chemistry: Lecture – 2 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
Biochemistry: Lecture – 1 semester
General Physics: Lecture – 2 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
Math: Statistics – 1 semester
English: Rhetoric (Composition) and Literature – 2 semesters

Apply to medical schools during your last year of college.

Medical school takes 4 years to complete.

After medical school pediatricians complete a 3 year residency for additional training. These are sometimes followed by fellowship subspecialty training.
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Frances’s Answer

Hi there. You will need a bachelors degree, this is usually 4 years. The medical school, 4 years, then you do a residency to specialize in pediatrics, which is 3 years. So in all is 11 years. Hope this answers your question. Good luck!!!
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Sarah’s Answer

To become a pediatrician, it takes 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and 3 years of internship/residency. The 3 years of residency are a little different because it is active learning while practicing pediatric medicine on patients and because you get paid. If you choose to specialize- cardiology, endocrinology, sports medicine, critical care, etc- it takes 1-3 years of fellowship training in that specific field.
A few specialties, like neurology and pediatric surgery, start in residency programs other than pediatrics. These can take a little longer.
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Allison’s Answer

Hi!
To become a general pediatrician, it’s 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and 3 years of residency training at a minimum.
I did extra training , but that’s the minimum needed above.
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Bello’s Answer

Three years

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David’s Answer

After obtaining a four-year degree it would take 7 years to become a pediatrician. Medical school is 4 years. Pediatric residency is 3 years. If one wished to specialize within Pediatrics you would follow Pediatric Residency with a Fellowship in that subspecialty (Pediatric Cardiology or Pediatric Hospital Medicine for example). Fellowships range from 2-several (4-5) years
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Lori’s Answer

To become a physician it requires 4 years of college and then 4 years of medical school. When you decide on what speciality you would like to practice in, that requires a residency of a certain number of years based on what area of medicine you have decided to practice in. For pediatrics it is 3 years. You could then do a fellowship within the area of pediatrics-for example pediatric infectious disease which would require additional training. For general pediatrics, that amounts to 12 years of schooling/training after graduation from high school
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Romita’s Answer

Hi!

so to become a pediatrician you’d need to complete a bachelors degree, so 4 years of undergraduate education, during which time you’ll take the MCAT which is the entrance exam for medical school. Medical school is 4 years, the first 2 of which are pre-clinical and the 3rd/4th are clinical. During medical school you’ll take 2 medical licensing exams. After medical school, a general pediatrics Residency is 3 years. During Residency you train under other pediatric physicians and you are working as a resident and learning pediatrics. After that you can either begin practicing as a general pediatrician or choose to do a fellowship to further sub-specialize. Being a pediatrician is such a rewarding career choice. I’d advise you, if you’d like to provide healthcare, to go ahead and choose medical school. The career path may be long (8 years of university-based education and 3 years of residency training) but at the end you’ll be knowledgeable in your field and a leader and a teacher and an advocate for kids, which is the best part.

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TONYA’s Answer

My experience was very typical. I completed my undergraduate work in 4 years making sure to complete all the prerequisites in the first 2 years of college. I immediately went to medical school and completed it in 4 years, not opting to take extra time to get a MPH, MBA nor Ph.D. In my last year I applied for and was accepted into a pediatric residency which is a 3 year program.

There are some schools that combine undergraduate and medical school into a 7 year program and there are many people now getting dual credit in high school who only need 2-3 years to complete their undergraduate work. All medical schools in the US and Canada are 4 year programs but many students opt to add a year in pursuit of an MBA or MPH. MD/Ph.D programs can run 7-9 years depending on the Ph.D work being done.

TONYA recommends the following next steps:

Look into universities/colleges that offer a broad liberal arts education. Plan on taking medical school prerequisites, but don't worry if a school doesn't have a "premed" major.
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Powen’s Answer

So to become a general pediatrician you would need to graduate from college and medical school about 4 years each. After the medical school you will get 3 additional year of resident to become pediatrician.

Hope this help
Powen Hsueh DO FAAP
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Noha’s Answer

I attended college for 4 years, then medical school for another 4 years then 3 years of training. Total 1 years after high school degree is the minimum.
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Stephanie’s Answer

I would suggest shadowing a pediatrician to get a sense of what they actually do and if that's what you're really passionate about.
4 years of college then 4 years of medical school and 3 years of Pediatric residency. Then an additional 1-3 years if you want to do a fellowship to specialize.
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Wanda’s Answer

To become a General Pediatrician you need 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and 3 years of pediatric residency training. A total of 11 years after high school.
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Sruthi’s Answer

I wanted to add that if you want to further specialize after Pediatrics residency (ie Pediatric Cardiology etc.) it is typically 3 additional years. Pediatrics is a great field for advocacy and preventative care . Good luck!
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Thomas’s Answer

Should you decide to specialize such as pediatric cardiology, pediatric pulmonary medicine etc you would need to do several more years of training.
Also while you get "paid" during internship, residency and fellowship , that pay will not make you rich!
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Rene’s Answer

After high school, there will be 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, then 3 years of training in a hospital (residency). A total 11 years.
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Jamie’s Answer

You must finish your 12 years and graduate high school then complete 4 years of undergraduate education at a university and 4 years of medical school. After this you typically do a 3 year residency program which is basically when you are a doctor in training. After that you may sit for your boards and you can be a licensed board certified pediatrician.
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Maria’s Answer

You need 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school and 3 years of a pediatric residency to do general pediatrics
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Marc’s Answer

Hi - the quick answer is, 4 years or college, 4 years of medical school and 3 years of specific pediatric training (called "residency").
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Omobolaji’s Answer

6years
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Fawzia’s Answer

Hi there! I am so happy to see that you would like to become a pediatrician. It is a job I love and I am always excited to see young people preparing to become one. To become a pediatrician you will need to complete a 4 year college and then 4 years of medical school then 3 years of pediatric residency. Some people do things a little differently, they may enter a 6 year program that combines college/med school or they take a gap year somewhere. The general amount of time is 11 years after high school.
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