Key Takeaways for Students:
- You need a Medical Doctorate (MD) degree to become a doctor in the US
- Some of the best bachelor’s degrees to get into medical school are biology, physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities
- It takes at least 15 years from graduating high school to become a board-certified doctor
If you’ve decided you want to heal people as your profession, it’s time to learn what degrees you need to be a doctor. Do you need a doctorate to be a doctor? Well, obviously, but what kind? To practice as a medical doctor, you will need a Medical Doctor degree (M.D.) from medical school. While there are lots of different kinds of doctors, for our purposes, we’ll cover all the details regarding what you need to do to become a medical doctor. Here’s what you need to know about the skills, education, and certification you’ll need to practice as a medical doctor.
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What Degree Do Doctors Have?
To enter an M.D. program, you’ll need to first get an undergraduate degree. Most M.D. programs also view applicants who studied relevant disciplines when they were undergraduates as more eligible for admission to medical school.
According to the American Medical Association, the most popular undergraduate majors for medical school are:
| Major Field | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Biological Sciences | 58% |
| Physical Sciences | 10% |
| Social Sciences | 9% |
| Humanities | 4% |
| Health Sciences | 3% |
| Math/Statistics | 1% |
| Other | 15% |
What Skills Do You Need to Become a Doctor?
To be an effective medical doctor, you’ll need to have a genuine passion for making people’s lives better. Doctor’s live by the Hippocratic Oath, which demands that you “do no harm” to your patients. That means you’ll need to learn everything you can about medicine and practice your best judgment instead of simply acting like an automaton and spouting the dogma you learned in medical school.
In your quest to become a full-fledged M.D., you’ll cover a lot of ground in terms of course material. However, here are some of the most important skills you’ll need to hone as you aim to become a medical doctor:
1. Anatomy
Anatomy is the study of the structure of the human body. To accurately diagnose and treat patients, you must understand where all the organs are and how they are interconnected.
2. Biochemistry
Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes that occur within living things. A thorough understanding of biochemistry is essential to understanding how drug reactions and other chemical processes occur in human beings.
3. Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the study of how drugs are structured and how they affect the human body. Even though you aren’t training to be a pharmacist, pharmacology is essential to M.D. course material since you’ll be prescribing drugs to your patients.
4. Pathology
Pathology is the study of how diseases come about. Every disease has a pathogenesis, which is the process by which it comes into existence, and a good M.D. program will also cover how nutrition and other factors can cause disease.
Other subjects you might study as part of your M.D. program include: Microbiology, Immunology, Behavioral science, Physiology, and Genetics.
Do Doctors Need Any Certifications or Licenses?
All doctors in the United States must be properly licensed to practice medicine. Doctors who are licensed are called “board-certified” since they have received their licenses from a respected medical board.
To become board-certified, you must first get your undergraduate degree and complete your M.D. program.
When you’re ready, you’ll take the board exam to become a doctor. Once you’re licensed, you’ll be able to start your own practice or become a full-fledged member of a hospital’s medical team.
| Medical Board | Specialization |
|---|---|
| American Board of Allergy and Immunology | Allergy and Immunology |
| American Board of Anesthesiology | Anesthesiology |
| American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery | Colon and Rectal Surgery |
| American Board of Dermatology | Dermatology |
| American Board of Emergency Medicine | Emergency Medicine |
| American Board of Family Medicine | Family Medicine |
| American Board of Internal Medicine | Internal Medicine |
| American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics | Clinical Biochemical Genetics Clinical Genetics and Genomics (MD) Laboratory Genetics and Genomics |
| American Board of Neurological Surgery | Neurological Surgery |
| American Board of Nuclear Medicine | Nuclear Medicine |
| American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology | Obstetrics and Gynecology |
| American Board of Ophthalmology | Ophthalmology |
| American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery | Orthopaedic Surgery |
| American Board of Otolaryngology | Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery |
| American Board of Pathology | Pathology – Anatomic/Pathology – Clinical Pathology – Anatomic Pathology – Clinical |
| American Board of Pediatrics | Pediatrics |
| American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation |
| American Board of Plastic Surgery | Plastic Surgery |
| American Board of Preventive Medicine | Aerospace Medicine Occupational and Environmental Medicine Public Health and General Preventive Medicine |
| American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology | Psychiatry Neurology Neurology with Special Qualification in Child Neurology |
| American Board of Radiology | Diagnostic Radiology Interventional Radiology and Diagnostic Radiology Medical Physics (Diagnostic, Nuclear, Therapeutic) Radiation Oncology |
| American Board of Surgery | General Surgery Vascular Surgery |
| American Board of Thoracic Surgery | Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery |
| American Board of Urology | Urology |
How Much Schooling Does a Doctor Need?
To become a doctor, you’ll first have to finish a bachelor’s degree, at least 4 years. M.D. programs generally last another four years. Once you’re done with medical school, you’ll need to complete 3-7 years of residency before you can receive licensing and start practicing medicine. Throughout these seven to 11 years, you’ll spend countless hours in clinical settings performing your duties as a doctor, but you won’t be fully licensed yet.
In most cases, you’ll need to perform a one-year internship before your residency program, but some programs might include the time you spend in this internship in your residency time.
Depending on the type of medical specialty you’re pursuing, your residency might be longer or shorter. For an intensive discipline, you may have to go through seven full years of residency before you become licensed. Doctors in residency are paid, but their salaries aren’t as large as those of licensed doctors.
Altogether, you may spend more than 15 years training to be a doctor. Assuming you start out on your career path in earnest in the summer after high school, you will spend four years as an undergraduate, four years in medical school, and up to seven years in residency.
How Much Will You Make as a Doctor?
All your hard work to become a medical doctor will pay off. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median pay for physicians is $239,200. At a median of $267,020, anesthesiologists were the highest-paid doctors, and general practitioners made an average of 211,780. Depending on the specialty you pursue, you could end up making more than $300,000 per year as a doctor once you have some experience.
What Are Your Job Prospects as a Doctor?
According to the BLS, there were 816,900 doctor and surgeon jobs in the United States. The number of physician positions is expected to grow by 3% over the next 10 years. While competition is high for the best medical doctor jobs, 24,500 new job openings will open during the next decade.
While you’ll have to compete heavily for the best jobs available, it’s generally easy to find work as a medical doctor once you’ve completed your residency. If you’re competent in your field, you’ll have gained attention from employers during your residency, and the hospital where you completed this advanced training may be happy to add you to its team as a full-fledged member.
Licensed doctors can also start their own practices. Starting your own practice right out the gate can be risky, but it can also be highly lucrative. Use the contacts you made during your training to find job opportunities.
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