What to do to be a dermatologist?

1. what high school classes would help? (anatomy? physics? chem? or any specific AP?)





2. what would be your undergraduate major? (biology? or premedicine? or...w/e)





please explain the detailed steps and years it would take. ( i know :


4 years undergrad


4 years MD (masters)


1 year internship


2 -3 year residency


and something else i forgot





but what about those like residency? what is that? and in that %26#039;timeline%26#039; when do you actually start seeing patients.





4. ANYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT DERMATOLOGY WOULD HELP














thanks in advance =]





P.S. if this helps im a sophomore in HS. |||Yes, all the science classes you can get into. You do not major in pre-med: that is just the set of courses you take for med school. You can major in anything, its just easier to major in bio or chem since so many of the pre-reqs are in those majors. You pretty much have the years %26amp; steps correct; although the 4 years in med school gets you a doctorate degree not a masters. Your 1 year internship is in general medicine. You actually see general patients starting in med school and that continues all through internship %26amp; residency. You always have an attending doctor to back you up ; but the further you are in the training, the more you actually practice on your own. Consider residency like on the job training. After residency you can do very specialized fellowships.


Derm itsself is pretty standard--you see skin conditions--all kinds, and minor surgery (remove cysts, abscesses, lesions, moles, cancers etc; do biopsies, etc). Some do cosmetics along with a general derm practice, others do not. In some places there is a dermatologist every 3 feet; in other places, they are in demand as there aren%26#039;t any.|||Not to be a downer, but as you are in high school, I wouldn%26#039;t put all your hopes into being a dermatologist. A friend of mine graduated from medical school and is doing his residency in a radiology program. Radiology is pretty hard to get into, but apparently dermatology is even harder. Why? Great hours, work at a clinic versus at a hospital so not too many patients, and still make amazing money.





So, how do you get into a dermatology program? You will pretty much have to kick @ss at school all the time. There are very few openings and even fewer dermatology programs around, so they are VERY selective with who they pick. Your grades, your scores on the tests, etc. are what they will be looking at when the selection process starts.





You should definitely go for your dream, but it would totally suck if you went through all the schooling and tests and not be able to get into a dermatology program.


I would ask your personal dermatologist to get even a better sense of what they had to go through.