America's Next Doctors!

Hello everyone .. Today I thought of helping out some fellow medical students in their journey towards becoming AMERICA"S NEXT DOCTOR! Its an overwhelming process but definitely one worth doing. I don't have any physicians in my family so being the first one was tough. There are a lot of things to be learned and discovered as a first timer going through the process. Medical school is a 4 year graduate school , which means you first need to finish your bachelors degree. Then you must complete the MCAT exam http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/start.htm. Once you have completed this admission exam you are ready to apply to medical schools. To apply to medical school you must complete your application via http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/start.htm <--a centralized application service for all US medical schools. ..... once you are accepted you begin your medical school education . Usually medical schools are broken down into 2 years of actual classroom curriculum and 2 years of clinical (in the hospital) experience. The great thing is that you get a tast of all the different fields of medicine before you decide which one is right for you. .... Its not over ..... Once you have completed medical school you apply for a position as a resident at a hospital via ERAS http://www.aamc.org/students/eras/about/start.htm. Depending on the program and specialty ...each is a bit different you submit your application to : THe National Residency Match Program (NRMP) http://www.nrmp.org/ <--- Which is a kinda like a lottery system but much more complicated. Putting in their words......"The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) is a private, not-for-profit corporation established in 1952 to provide a uniform date of appointment to positions in graduate medical education (GME) in the United States. " One special day usually in March is assigned as "MATCH DAY" and across the US Medical student graduates find out which hospital has hired them to work as a resident . Its soooo excting! I wish all of you great luck in succeeding in your future endeavors. Any questions please feel free to leave a comment so that I may help you. There is also a great forum for medical students with great information to offer http://forums.studentdoctor.net/index.php .

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oh and dont forget to add yourself to my MAP !!! http://drlongo.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-frappr-map.html