How long it takes to become a doctor varies considerably based on a number of factors. In fact, it can take up to 4 years longer to become a fully-licensed doctor depending on the medical specialty you choose.
But the big question is what’s the absolute fastest way you can become a doctor. In this post, we break down the quickest path to becoming a physician, as well as the steps you need to take all the way from high school to residency to get there in the shortest amount of time.
The Fastest Way to Become a Doctor
After high school, if you take no gap years, are accepted to medical school right after college, and pursue a short residency, the fastest way to become a doctor is 11 years.
However, you could also apply to an early admissions pathway, known as a BS/MD program, during high school, which can decrease the time it takes by 3 to 5 years. We’ll dive into what BS/MD programs are later in this post.
But pursuing this path requires an incredible amount of planning and dedication, and you must be completely sure of the route you want to take early on.
Let’s break this down further so that you can decide if the fastest route is actually the right path for you.
1 | High School
If you take the traditional path through high school and do not take any gap years or extra semesters, you’ll complete high school in 4 years, meaning you’ll likely be 18 by the time you finish, give or take a few months.
If you’re in high school and are already determined to become a doctor, check out our guide: From High School to Doctor in 6 Steps.
2 | College
Once you’re in college, you’ll spend 4 years as a premed. The term “premed” is used to describe a student who plans to apply to medical school, but premed is not a major in itself. You could technically major in art history if that’s another passion you have, as long as you fulfill your medical school prerequisites. Of course, that could extend your time in college if you don’t carefully plan your courses.
If you complete college without taking any breaks or gap years, you’ll likely be around 22 by the time you finish.
But before you start medical school, you have to be accepted. Becoming a doctor on the fastest route means applying traditionally at the end of junior year and getting in on your first try.
This is easier said than done. According to data released by AAMC, 52,577 people applied to medical school in 2023, applying to an average of 18 schools each. (That’s 966,947 individual applications across the US!) Of the 52,577 people who applied, only 22,981 successfully matriculated. That means more than half of applicants were not accepted.
Having to reapply could mean a 1 to 2 year setback.
Don’t let anything slip through the cracks. Med School Insiders is here to help you each step of the way with tutoring, advising, and editing services for both premeds and medical students. We’ll make sure you’re not only accepted to med school but also accepted with scholarships from your top choice schools.
3 | Medical School
Without any breaks or research years, medical school also takes 4 years. Typically, your first 2 years are your preclinical years, where most of your time is spent in class and in lecture, and the last 2 years are your clinical years, where you will fulfill your clinical clerkships and determine which medical specialty is right for you.
Following the fastest path, you’ll likely be 26 by the time you finish medical school.
However; there is an option to decrease this time with an early admissions pathway. You can apply to BS/MD programs in high school, which combine bachelor and MD programs together to streamline the journey from high school to medical school.
With early admissions pathways, also known as direct medical programs, you have the ability to earn either a BS (Bachelor of Science) or BA (Bachelor of Arts) combined with an MD (Doctor of Medicine) or DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) through a single acceptance.
You can immediately start working on your MD or DO after you earn a BS or BA, often at the same school, bypassing the expensive, tedious, and challenging process of applying to a separate medical school. Plus, you won’t have to work your butt off to crush the MCAT. BS/MD programs usually have an MCAT score cutoff that’s much lower than those of general matriculants, and some programs don’t require the MCAT at all.
However, it’s important to understand that these programs aren’t for everyone.
Learn more about the pros and cons of BS/MD programs: Are BS/MD Programs Worth It?
The most noteworthy drawback is that students must commit to a career in medicine before many of them have had adequate exposure to what the job is really like. Additionally, BS/MD programs lock in top-performing students to their institution when they may have been able to qualify for more prestigious programs through the traditional route.
That said, for those students who are passionate about becoming a doctor and want to fast track their career, BS/MD programs are 6 to 8 years after high school, so you could be as young as 24 by the end of med school.
BS/MD programs are designed for well-performing and high-achieving high school students who are already certain they want to become physicians—without going to college. Standards are extremely high, and acceptance rates are quite low.
If you’re unsure if it’s the right choice for you, we’ll help you determine the ideal path based on your strengths, preferences, and career goals.
Learn more about BS/MD Programs: Options and How to Get In.
4 | Residency
The next step is residency, which can last anywhere from 3 to 7 years.
Technically, you will be considered a doctor after graduating from medical school, but you won’t be board certified and can’t be an attending physician until you complete residency.
And before you get there, you have to match into a residency program, which requires another complex, tedious, and competitive application process.
Failing to match can also send you back 1 to 2 years, depending on the program you’re applying to.
However, note that shorter residency programs are generally less competitive overall. Learn more about the Top 10 Least Competitive Specialties in Medicine.
That said, no specialty is easy to get into, which is why you want to be thoroughly prepared to craft a residency application that’s noticed by your top choice programs.
There are multiple ways to enhance your application, but some are more effective than others. Research is a way to stand out that many people shy away from because they find it unfamiliar and intimidating. However, once you overcome the initial learning curve, it becomes exponentially easier to publish multiple papers.
Being prolific as a published author makes you far more compelling to admissions committees for both medical school and residency, and the sooner you start, the better because your premed and early medical school research experiences will continue to add up to an impressive list of publications.
For even the least competitive medical specialties, including family medicine, emergency medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, and neurology, program matriculants have an average of 5 to 10 research items. For more competitive specialties, like plastic surgery and neurosurgery, matriculants have an average of over 30 publications. Keep in mind this is only the average, not what you need to stand out.
Whether you are just starting out as a researcher or looking to master your research skills, our Ultimate Premed & Medical Student Research Course lowers the steep learning curve of research. It distills how to become a research superstar into a stepwise and repeatable process.
Many of the least competitive specialties also happen to be the shortest at 3 years. These include:
- Family Medicine
- Internal Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Preventive Medicine
- Genetics and Genomics
- Emergency Medicine (which is sometimes 4 years, depending on the program)
By the time you finish residency, you’ll be 29 years old. If you went the BS/MD route, you could be as young as 27.
Of course, there are some exceptions. If you’re a child prodigy who graduates high school at 16, you could become a doctor that much quicker. But these people are by far the exception, not the norm.
And there are some downsides to rushing into medical school early. While you may have the intellectual chops, your lack of real world and clinical experience will be a disadvantage. Medical school is about more than book smarts, and a lack of maturity could show in your personal statement and during interviews.
No matter how intellectually gifted you are, it’s still an incredibly long journey to become a doctor!
As you can see, even on the fastest route, it’s still an incredibly long journey to become a doctor!
What Path Is Best for You?
Taking the fastest route doesn’t mean it will be the best route for you.
While they may sound appealing at first, BS/MD programs are certainly not for everyone. They require understanding you want to become a doctor at an incredibly young age and committing to a long and tedious process before you’ve even had clinical exposure.
Additionally, the shortest route requires taking zero breaks or gap years along the way, which you may find you either need for your physical and mental health or want so that you can explore other passions or gain extra experience to strengthen either your medical school application, residency application, or both.
In fact, taking one or more gap years has become more of the norm than the exception. Over two thirds of matriculants report taking at least one gap year before medical school.
Also, note that the fastest route limits you to only a few very specific medical specialties. If you learn during medical school that these are not career paths you’re interested in, the shortest path may ultimately be the wrong path for you.
Many students who think they know what specialty they want to pursue change their mind in medical school after learning more about other options and experiencing what different specialties are like first-hand. According to the AAMC, nearly 75% of students change their specialty preferences%20(Table%20B3).) during medical school.
If you’re unsure what specialty is right for you, check out our So You What to Be… series, which provides insight into what it’s like to pursue different specialties. We have dozens of articles and corresponding YouTube videos. If you don’t see a specialty you’re interested in, leave a comment below to make a request.
If you’re applying to medical school or hope to in the future, save our guides: Medical School Application Monthly Schedule and How to Apply to Medical School.
