Find out what goes into becoming a pediatrician – what courses to take and sound advice you should follow – and how you can help decrease the debt load with an easy scholarship. There’s a lot of work ahead for those choosing any career in the medical field, and with that come the high costs of tuition. But if you have a deep love for children and helping them become physically well, then why should any of that stop you?

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So you’ve decided to become a pediatrician and you’re interested in learning about what goes into the education and training before you can call yourself a professional. It’ll take a lot of hard work and a ton of money so be prepared to be diligent, working to the best of your ability, and making a few sacrifices with a restricted budget along the way. For instance, maybe instead of dining at fine restaurants while toughing it out in medical school, reaching for the tried and true Ramen noodles to satisfy your taste-buds would be more financially wise. And instead of purchasing those expensive, but crowd favorite, frozen java beverages from Starbucks, opting for packaged green tea you can find at any grocery store for a caffeinated boost would keep your budget in line.

Pediatrician Education

Alright, enough with the college money tips, time to delve in the education aspects of becoming a pediatrician. In all, you can expect your quest to metamorphosing into a pediatrician to take at least eleven years. I say at least because it’s taking longer than the standard four years to finish undergrad, but that’s what you’ll have to do in order to reach your goal in an eleven year time-frame. In addition to undergraduate study, you’ll spend about four years in medical school, one year interning and a couple as a pediatric resident. Remember what I said earlier about the Ramen noodles? By the time you’re in medical school you would have accrued $25,250 in debt (According to Preject Student Debt findings), and you’ll still have at least eight years left! Luckily there are pediatrician scholarships available to you to lessen that amount, but unless you get a full-ride, you’ll still be in the hole a few grand.

The Coursework and Extracurricular Activities

Your undergraduate studies will consist of premed coursework in biology, organic and inorganic chemistry, physics, calculus, and genetics. Also English, behavior and social sciences, humanities and advanced biology electives could be required. Additionally, it’d be a good idea to have a list of extracurricular activities associated with whatever profession in the medical field you’re seeking once finished with undergrad. An example for pediatricians would be to volunteer, or work part-time, at a local children’s hospital. These activities would add to your experience in the medical field giving you a boost on your application. Also be sure to join a premed society or club at your college as they can provide tons of resources like internship opportunities, conferences, seminars and research opportunities all for aspiring medical students.

Finding Easy Scholarships

In addition to all the coursework in medical school you’ll have to do, depending on what specialty you choose in pediatrics (critical care medicine, cardiology, developmental and behavioral medicine), it may take a few years longer than the standard eleven to finally be done with all your work and find a career. Either way, it’ll definitely be well worth it if you have a passion for children and there well-being as well as a vested interest in medicine how it can help people. There’ll be plenty of hard times through medical school, but keeping your mind clear, setting realistic goals and focusing on what’s really important will help get you through. If the debt that you build during medical school is troubling, and believe me it will be, searching out Easy Scholarships that don’t require much work will help chip away at that mountain making it more manageable when it comes time to pay.