How do I become a pediatric surgeon?
Before you can become a pediatric surgeon, you have to complete a general surgery residency (5-7 years). As you near the end of your residency, you will apply to fellowship programs in pediatric surgery. If you aren’t finishing medical school, it’s way too early to think about fellowship training! The total training after med school is 7-9 years or more. As for college, talk to your academic advisor about completing the required science courses for admission to medical school, but major in whatever interests you. (I majored in psych – fewer labs!) The job is surgery. It is the surgical management of sick babies and children. Some of it is routine, like hernia repairs, but the really cool stuff involves malformed babies – things like gastroschisis, omphalocele, tracheo-esophageal fistula and the like. If you don’t like seeing deformed children, or if the thought of children dying upsets you, you might not be suited for pediatric surgery. There’s a lot of very sad, unfortunate situations
