Originally Posted by
taishayla
if i want to become an obstetrician, what will i have to major in in college and will i be able to do like job shadowing or something similar while im in college?
Agree with J_9.
More detailed process would be.. you would need to take certain courses in college: Biology I & II, Physics I & II, Chemistry and +/- Organic Chemistry I & II, Mathematics and English (at a minimum). You would then need to apply for and take the MCATs (medical college admission test).
You score on the MCATs would determine your ability to get into medical school (in the US). The better you do, the better your chances and the better the medical school you get into. All US medical schools are 4-years of training, initially 2 years of lectures (didactics) and laboratory work and then 2 years of clinical experience.
During your medical school experience, you will take 2 of 3 medical exams that are required to be able to apply and get through speciality training (also called residency). These exams have been termed the USMLE Step 1 and 2. You take the 3rd step of the exam during your residency training.
Residency, also referred to as speciality training can be 3-7 years long, and then any subspeciality training is done after you initially speciality training. Ob-Gyn is a 4-year training process. It is relatively competitive to get into. There are a number of subspecialities in Ob-Gyn, MFM (maternal fetal medicine), Gyn-Onc (gynecology and oncology) etc to name a few. Each of the subspecialities are very competitive to obtain, but that is something that is way down the line.
In general, to become and Obstertrician it would take about 8 years after acceptance into medical school.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to PM me.
Hope this helps.