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Career Advice on How to Become An Obstetrician and Gynecologist

General Career Information

Make sure that you like the female anatomy, and a whole lot at that.  Working as an obstetrician and gynecologist will require you to spend almost every working hour of every day working with women and evaluating their medical needs and problems.  In particular, obstetricians and gynecologists specialize in issues relating to reproductive health and pregnancy.  This means that they specialize in childbirth and all related issues of female anatomy.  If you are considering putting obstetrician and gynecologist on your career planning or job search list, you should realize that most of your days will be spent dealing with issues of reproductive health. You will also need to spend quite a few years in college and medical school.
 

Career Facts:

In general, doctors work longer hours than the typical forty-hour workweek, which is due, in part, to the fact that we are a rather sick nation.  Since preventative health care is seen as drinking diet soda instead of regular soda, we have become a rather obese and unhealthy lot.  This means doctors of all sorts are putting in many hours trying to keep us all from dying premature deaths.

 

Career Opportunities and Job Outlook- Excellent:

The job outlook for obstetricians and gynecologists is expected to be rather strong, with the highest levels of growth being in rural areas, for example.  Between 2008 and 2018, there is an expected twenty-two percent increase in the number of obstetricians and gynecologists working in the United States.
 
Job Outlook is Excellent
 

A Day in The Life:

The average day for the obstetrician and gynecologist can range from performing routine medical check ups to helping deliver a baby.  Much of the day is spent listening to patient’s feedback, acting as though you care, and then speeding away in a ridiculously overpriced car as soon as you can.  While doctors may not always treat their profession or their patients with the respect they deserve, this is a profession that comes with a serious amount of stress.
 

Average Salary:

Show me the money; now show me MORE money.  The average yearly income for an obstetrician and gynecologist is roughly $186,000.  For all that money they do have to deal with the pressure of childbirth, which of course, isn’t an easy process to be playing a key role in.  As a result, this is a job with a lot of stress.

$186k

 

Career Training and Qualifications:

After college it is common that medical school takes an additional seven years.  Internships usually follow afterwards to make sure that would-be doctors don’t kill anyone (and they often do).  But don’t worry; statistics indicate that it isn’t likely to be you. 

Would be doctors often specialize in a science as undergraduates, whether it is biology, chemistry or physics.  Competition to get into medical school can be intense and one of the main factors is the MCAT exam, which like the LSAT for lawyers can determine what schools one is accepted to and thus often predicts career and earning trajectories.

 
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