HS Student Interested in Anesthesiology

[leonard]

im going to be a senior this year in highschool but would like to get an understanding in the classes i would have to take in college,md school, ect. can you list some classes you completed or recommend to become an anestegiologist?

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[lord_jeebus]

Start in this forum and come back in 8 years

 

[leonard]

im going to be a senior this year in highschool but would like to get an understanding in the classes i would have to take in college,md school, ect. can you list some classes you completed or recommend to become an anestegiologist?

 

[Depakote]

im going to be a senior this year in highschool but would like to get an understanding in the classes i would have to take in college,md school, ect. can you list some classes you completed or recommend to become an anestegiologist?

In college you can take pretty much any classes you want/major in anything you want in order to get into medical school as long as you take certain prerequisite classes:

The prereqs may vary by school, but in general they are something like this:
-1 year General Chemistry (w/lab)
-1 year Biology (w/lab)
-1 year Organic Chemistry (w/lab)
-1 year Physics (w/lab)
-1-2 semesters of English
-Biochemistry (only a few shools)
-1-2 semesters of Calc (some schools have varriable requirements here)

The medical school curriculum is pretty standardized, you don't pick the classes you take years 1-3. Medical shool curricula vary by institution, but at many Year 1 of medical school focuses on Biochem/Cell Bio, Gross Anatomy, Behavioral and Neuro Sciences. Year 2 focuses on Patholgy, Physiology and Pharmacology.

Years 3 and 4 you do rotations. Year 3 are your core rotations through Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, Family Medicine and Psychiatry. You get some elective time 4th year, if you're interested in Anesthesiology, you might do an Anesthesiology rotation.

Prior to starting an Anesthesiology Residency, you either do a Transitional Year (grab bag of rotations) or a General Medicine intern year.

 

[leonard]

ok thanks

 

[Depakote]

To clarify:

Some schools will require 2 semesters of Biochemistry. (this is the minority)

 

[fakin' the funk]

im going to be a senior this year in highschool but would like to get an understanding in the classes i would have to take in college,md school, ect. can you list some classes you completed or recommend to become an anestegiologist?

Since I've never been nice to anyone in this forum, I'll try to start here.

High school - focus on getting into a good college
College - you have to take all the premed required classes (bio, chem, physics), take the MCAT, and then apply and get into med school
Med school - pretty much everyone takes the same "classes" until the 4th year

Congratulations, at this point you're at least 25 and probably at least $150,000 in debt. Good luck.

 

[Depakote]

merged existing threads.

 

[penguinophile]

im going to be a senior this year in highschool but would like to get an understanding in the classes i would have to take in college,md school, ect. can you list some classes you completed or recommend to become an anestegiologist?

To start this concept a little early, what makes you want to be an anesthesiologist? Be aware that there are other similar fields such as AAs and CRNAs that also help maintain patients under anesthesia. Now is a little early to decide your specialty. First make sure you really want to be a doctor.

 

[Tired]

Be aware that there are other similar fields such as AAs and CRNAs that also help maintain patients under anesthesia.

Why are you promoting nursing and mid-levels on SDN?

 

[Doodledog]

Providing information about all types of health careers, not just those involving doctoral degrees is part of the mission of Aspire. We think it is important that those who express an interest in a doctoral level career not be told that they SHOULD pursue a different career, but indicating the possibility of other non-doctoral level careers is appropriate. As such, discussions of nursing as a career is not beyond the scope of Aspire, although it is not our primary focus.

All of us can discuss the pros and cons of different career options remembering that high school students may not have been exposed to many of these options.

 

[penguinophile]

Providing information about all types of health careers, not just those involving doctoral degrees is part of the mission of Aspire. We think it is important that those who express an interest in a doctoral level career not be told that they SHOULD pursue a different career, but indicating the possibility of other non-doctoral level careers is appropriate. As such, discussions of nursing as a career is not beyond the scope of Aspire, although it is not our primary focus.

All of us can discuss the pros and cons of different career options remembering that high school students may not have been exposed to many of these options.

Which is exactly my point. While I think that med school is awesome and being a doctor is the way to go, I had never heard of such things in college let alone high school. Even though I wouldn't have chosen any other field, there are going to be others out there who would. Like it or not, healthcare in general is a big field with a lot of players and it is going to stay that way. I would much rather work with a mid-level who wants to do the job instead of choosing to do it because they couldn't get into medical school. Also, I wouldn't want to work with a fellow doctor who found out too late that being a doctor was a bad decision.

It is an honest response to the OP. If he is interested in Anesthesiology, why? There are so many different aspects to the field, post-op and critical care, induction, the procedures, the pharmacology and physiology...the small amount of patient interaction (great part). While some of this can be covered by a CRNA or an AA, some of these aspects are also going to be in other specialties. Since the OP is going to be in college soon, it would be good to have shadowing opportunities in a diverse array of specialties while they still have plenty of time to shadow. If you want Anesthesia b/c of money and lifestyle, check out the other ROAD specialties. If you like the minimal patient interaction, try rads or path. If you want a specialty that is 90% chill and 10% stressful, try EM. The point is, at this time in the OPs life, try and get a handle on the WHYs, which are going to be very important when choosing a specialty or any other type of post-graduate education.

 

[leonard]

ya i know the other fields my mom is a CRNA and this is why i am interested

 

[leonard]

my mom is a CRNA an i am around alot of doctors including orthos anesthesiologist ect i i really want to be an ortho since ive broken around 9 10 bones in 17 years and know alot about them from just reading and understaand what i broke i just really like the atmosphere around anesthesiologists

 

[plasmidgreen]

Haha, why are most of the replies in this forum from residents/attendings? It's a little early for him to start being jaded. Give the kid a break, he's just found something that's interested him early on. To the OP; I'd say to volunteer in a hospital near you; see if you can shadow an anesthesiologist for a couple of hours a week. I worked in an internist's lab during high school as a part of my school's mentorship program, and ended up staying around and shadowing during college. It gave me both research and clinical experience, confirmed my reasons for wanting to be a doctor, and led to many other opportunities later on (early publications, working at a national lab now, baby). Maybe you'll see that you are still really interested in anesthesia once you learn more about it firsthand, or maybe you'll find something cooler along the way. Don't get discouraged. Aside from volunteering, keep your grades up and take as many AP sciences as you can. Good luck with your senior year

 

[Depakote]

let's keep the comments constructive.

 

[leonard]

the funny thing is i was in english class and wrote a paper on a career (anesthesiologist) and my teacher told me to stop kidding myself b.c i am a semi-pro MMA fighter like ufc, wec, ect. and most kids in my school thought that i would go pro become famous in the fighting world not become a doctor but i figured i would only last a couple years in fighting so i want to follow my moms footsteps.. so most of the people on here tryin to be funny just quite it out b.c its not cute

 

[FFwannabeMD]

the funny thing is i was in english class and wrote a paper on a career (anesthesiologist) and my teacher told me to stop kidding myself b.c i am a semi-pro MMA fighter like ufc, wec, ect. and most kids in my school thought that i would go pro become famous in the fighting world not become a doctor but i figured i would only last a couple years in fighting so i want to follow my moms footsteps.. so most of the people on here tryin to be funny just quite it out b.c its not cute

Well, you're on your way to a productive career as a physician with both your ego and lack of sense of humor. Calm down, buddy, the ride from here on out is going to be very un-fun if you don't learn to go with the flow a little.

Leonard, you should focus your energy on taking a wide variety of classes in college that interest you and trying to get some volunteer experience in healthcare (EMT, shadowing, etc.).

If after the first year of college you're still interested in medicine, check with your university advisor/career services to make sure you're going to fulfill the premedical requirements and to prep for taking the MCAT (usually during your 3rd year of college). Most of those premed courses will give you a good foundation for medical school material. There are some courses you could take in college that will be repeated at a more intense level in medical school: anatomy, physiology, microbiology, or biochemistry. Most undergrad schools don't offer pharmacology classes except to nursing or grad students, but that along with physiology will be the med courses most likely to help you decide if you like the material involved in anesthesiology. Then of course, you can rotate through that field during your 3rd year of med school.

 

[leonard]

sorry but some people on here like telling me to take keg 101 or something like c'mon get a life and stop living on the comp. but thanks you for your advice and concern.

 

[ButImLETired]

sorry but some people on here like telling me to take keg 101 or something like c'mon get a life and stop living on the comp. but thanks you for your advice and concern.

Ok, seriously.
1) you're asking questions on an online forum. People are taking time out of their busy schedules (residents and attendings, no less) to help you out and you're acting like you are somehow owed it. You're not. You're a 17 year old kid who is asking stuff that could, potentially, be googled, so if you want the "personal touch" of SDN, you might not want to go around telling people to get off the computer. Why don't you get off the computer and make everyone's day just a little brighter.

2) Everyone is right. Focus on getting into college first, regardless of your impending, thrillingly amazing fighting career.

3) You know what a sense of humor is? Look it up.

4) Learn how to write. Also may come in handy.

 

[lemoncurry]

Again, let's try to keep the comments constructive and civil. Please remember that this forum is primarily for High School students, many of whom have a lot to learn about professional school and life in general. There's a reason this forum isn't called schoolofhardknocks.studentdoctor.net.

 

[Depakote]

Ok, seriously.
1) you're asking questions on an online forum. People are taking time out of their busy schedules (residents and attendings, no less) to help you out and you're acting like you are somehow owed it. You're not. You're a 17 year old kid who is asking stuff that could, potentially, be googled, so if you want the "personal touch" of SDN, you might not want to go around telling people to get off the computer. Why don't you get off the computer and make everyone's day just a little brighter.

2) Everyone is right. Focus on getting into college first, regardless of your impending, thrillingly amazing fighting career.

3) You know what a sense of humor is? Look it up.

4) Learn how to write. Also may come in handy.

I'd just like to clarify how Aspire is different than the remainder of the SDN forums.

We are trying to get information out to a traditionally uninformed group of students. This is a medium that has the potential to help these HS be a lot less naive than we were when we started our health career tracks. (Which, is the whole purpose of SDN.)

While there is some value to helping broaden the tunnel-vision, this can be done with much more tact than has been demonstrated in this thread. (yes, some of that was due to the fact that part of this thread originated in the gas forums)

If you're going to post in Aspire, please do so as an ambassador of your respective field. You may be the first Med Student/Resident/Pharmacist/etc many of these students have had a conversation with in a non-patient context.

Thanks.

 

[Depakote]

If you were not swayed by my comments above, please see here.

 

[Terpskins99]

We are trying to get information out to a traditionally uninformed group of students. This is a medium that has the potential to help these HS be a lot less naive than we were when we started our health career tracks. (Which, is the whole purpose of SDN.)

While there is some value to helping broaden the tunnel-vision, this can be done with much more tact than has been demonstrated in this thread. (yes, some of that was due to the fact that part of this thread originated in the gas forums)

If you're going to post in Aspire, please do so as an ambassador of your respective field. You may be the first Med Student/Resident/Pharmacist/etc many of these students have had a conversation with in a non-patient context.

These guys are high school students, not little kids. Bringing up a fledgling career in mixed martial arts is pretty immature (he did so in an almost threatening manner ).

OP, you do need to grow a thicker skin if you are serious about pursuing medicine. You should already know this if your mother is a CRNA, but anesthesiologists (more so than most other specialists) routinely take heat from their peers. I personally know one anesthesiologist that was fired for getting into a fistfight with another physician in the cafeteria. Did he start the fight? He says he didn't (and the other doc is notorious for being extremely rude and obnoxious), but it doesn't matter. He let it get to him, and he was released as a result.

You shouldn't have to be in residency or medical school or whatever to understand when you need to keep your cool.

 

[ButImLETired]

I'd just like to clarify how Aspire is different than the remainder of the SDN forums.

We are trying to get information out to a traditionally uninformed group of students. This is a medium that has the potential to help these HS be a lot less naive than we were when we started our health career tracks. (Which, is the whole purpose of SDN.)

While there is some value to helping broaden the tunnel-vision, this can be done with much more tact than has been demonstrated in this thread. (yes, some of that was due to the fact that part of this thread originated in the gas forums)

If you're going to post in Aspire, please do so as an ambassador of your respective field. You may be the first Med Student/Resident/Pharmacist/etc many of these students have had a conversation with in a non-patient context.

Thanks.

Sorry, Depakote...I got cranky

 

[HumidBeing]

Leonard, I applaud you for having the maturity as a successful high school athlete to be looking into careers outside of sports. One of my sisters is a teacher, and I've heard many tales of students who have pushed academics, and any real career planning, to the side for short lived 'glory of the moment' in sports.

You've gotten some good advice from the members who made the effort to answer the actual questions you asked, and some that have no bearing at all to your questions. I'm sure that you are mature enough to tell the which replies fall into which category.

The only thing I'd like to add is that it's good to get an overview in order to plan, but it's even more important to take things one step at a time. As a rising senior, your focus this fall would be on checking into which colleges are most appropriate for you, and getting everything in line to get those applications out. If you can mix in some shadowing time, and/or volunteering, and stay involved with interesting extracurriculars, that's great. It sounds like you have the advantage of being able to make some good connections for shadowing through your mother and your own contacts that you've made because of all those broken bones. (ouch!)

 

[leonard]

yes its not fun braking bobes wrist,right hand twice,left hand,foot,orbital(worst),collar, ankle,and a couple fingers haha but ive decided to attempt to acheive a career in the medical field