Becoming a neurologist requires extensive training, including a four-year university degree, medical school, internship, and residency. Certification exams are also required. It can take 11-12 years to become a neurologist, and a high degree of compassion is suggested due to the nature of the work.
Neurologists are medical specialists. They are particularly concerned with disorders that affect the brain, or to a greater extent the central nervous system, and can include such things as degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, or damage to the brain caused by trauma or stroke. To become a neurologist, a person must undergo extensive training.
Training begins on the path to becoming a neurologist upon finishing high school, and it pays to take many classes that emphasize math and science, as skill in these areas is necessary for continuing medical training. The next step is a four-year university degree or direct application to medical school, as is common in places like the UK. In the US, people must first earn a bachelor’s degree before applying to medical school, and there are application requirements. Those are excellent grades and good scores on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), and applying to some of the best schools is extremely competitive.
Once in medical school in the US, a person spends three to four years in training and apprenticeship before becoming eligible for licensure as a physician. They may also need to spend an additional year as an intern, and common internship choices for those wanting to become a neurologist are medicine/surgery or internal medicine. Once completed, and indeed during the internship, people should look for fellowship or residency programs that will accept them for training in neurology. It helps to get good grades in medical school to get a specialty residency.
At this point in the process, the person is now a doctor, and if neurology no longer appeals, there are other specialties or the person can practice general medicine. On the other hand, if the person still wants to become a neurologist, he needs to spend much more time training. This training is a minimum of three years and some doctors may take longer because neurology has subspecialties.
There is a big difference in many parts of the world if a person wants to become a neurologist who works with children. This is not a subspecialty, but involves applying for a three-year residency that focuses specifically on pediatrics and then on pediatric neurology. The two specialties are not interchangeable. After training is completed in pediatric or adult neurology, clinicians must take a final step. Generally, they must take exams to be certified in their specialty, which allows them to claim that they are neurologists and practice their specialty accordingly.
In total, it can take eleven to twelve years after high school graduation to become a neurologist. It’s a reasonably well compensated field, but it can be a difficult field to work in. Diseases that affect the central nervous system can have devastating results for individuals and their families. A high degree of compassion is suggested for those wishing to pursue this field.
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