How to Become a Plastic Surgeon/ Reconstructive Surgeon

Everybody knows what a plastic surgeon does. To become a plastic surgeon, you need you need to study up to ten years after high school, and then up to five years and residency. After this very long period of training, you can expect to earn 300k/year and more.

Instructions

1. After earning your high school diploma, the first step is to finish a four year bachelor degree. Most of the people who want to go to medical school major in a science, but every major will do fine.

2. Apply and be accepted to a medical school. Admission to medical school is very competitive; apply early, when you are still attending your senior years in college. GPA and scores to MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) are taken into consideration when applying to medical school, so do the best you can in college and MCAT. The fist two years of medical school are more theoretical, but in the last two years you will have more clinical and practical training.

3. You can condense the eight years necessary to finish the first two steps into six years if you choose to go to an accelerated medical program, where you will spend two years in an undergraduate program and the last four years in the medical school.

4. After medical school, the graduates spend a year in an internship, and then they must choose a specialisation and start their residency. To become a plastic surgeon you must spend three years in a general surgery residency, followed by another two years of training in plastic surgery.

5. Become licensed; you must be licensed in order to practice medicine in the United States. then you must become certified. In order to become a certified plastic surgeon, you need to apply to American Board of Plastic Surgery, and when your application is approved, you can take the written examination. After passing the written exam, you need to pass the oral examination.

Tips & Warnings

• during your residency years you can expect to earn 50-60k/year, but after finishing residency and becoming a licensed plastic surgeon you can earn up to 200-300k/year.

Resources

• American Board of Plastic Surgery