i want to become a pediatrician ! :)

[sweetxd]

hellooo.
i'm currently in high school now, and i have a few questions.

1. what is it like being a pediatrician?
2. what colleges up northeast are good medical /premed schools?
3. i did my research, and i know we have to take 4 years of college > 4 years medical school > 3 yrs practice intern. please correct me if i'm wrong.. (OR u can go to a 7yr med program and reduce the year by 1) .
4. is it true that colleges accept people based on race? for example.. they only have a certain amount of race that they accept?
5. what do u think about 7 year medical programs.. like the one at UMDNJ if u've heard of it?

thank youuu for ur help.

[LilKim]

1. I don't know if we have any pediatricianss that frequent this site. So, if you're interested in becoming a pediatrician, you can think about approaching YOUR pediatrician and meeting with him/her to ask questions and maybe 'shadow' for a-day.

2. There are many colleges and universities that are good premed school in the northeast. So, I wouldn't necessarily focus on the "name" of the university... rather pick the best school that you can afford and take ALL of the classes required for med school. (cell bio, molec bio, physics, calculus, chemistry, biochemistry, english .. etc). You don't actually need to major in premed.. (you could be a literature, history or music major... but make sure you take the core classes needed to apply to med school.) The important point is that you must do very well academically, no matter where you go to undergrad!!! You'll need at least a 3.4 GPA to get into med school with ease.

3. 4 years of college, 4 years of med school and intern. time (don't know how many years.. that lasts) sound correct. Additionally, If you want to become a specialist (endocrinology, pediatrics, neonatologist) you MAY have to do a 2nd internship. BUT, don't quote me on that! I'm not, and never will be a med. student.

4. Colleges accept you based on merit! THEN, they will seek to "balance" incoming classes in an effort to make ethnicity/race refelect the population of the general public. Therefore, there are situation where acceptance is more or less competitive for certain people depending on race. HOWEVER, no school will accept student solely based on race... because, when the students fail out or perform poorly in the 'real-world' it therfore becomes a direct reflection of the education they recieved from their medical schools.

5. If you can get into a 7year program ... DO it! There are MANY schools that have them, but, they're difficult to get into. But, it's worth a shot... and it's worth sparing the anxiety that comes with taking MCAT's, med school application cost (processing fees, traveling fees for interviews) and then waiting for responses.

hope this helps a bit.. an best wishes!
- KIM

[sweetxd]

wow you have no idea how helpful your response was. i appreciate the time and effort you put into the answers thank you, thank you, and THANK YOU kim!