How to become a Cardiovascular surgeon?

I want to become a Cardiothoracic Surgeon or Cardiovascular surgeon , how to become one?

• I want to be a Cardiothoracic Surgeon ( heart surgeon), I find this extremely fascinating. I am a 17 year old male and am a senior in high school . I was wondering " Specifically" how many years it will take, what will these years consist of. How do I go about this? What is the pay of a Cardiothoracic Surgeon? Do they only work in hospitals? What is the typical work day for them? What age would I be finished and finally helping people? How much money would I owe after all this ? Thank you very much, I hope I get a detailed answer.

• Answer:

  First, you go to college. Four years. Next medical school, four more years. (There are a few programs out there that will let you get both in six or seven years.) Medical school will be followed by a five-year general surgery residency, and after that a two-year cardiothoracic surgery residency. You may also want to do a fellowship after that, but those are the minimums. You know how old you are and whether you're going to do this all starting next year, so you can do the math. ;-) You get paid for residency, but not very much (comparatively). Residents in large cities get paid a little more than those in smaller places because of cost of living, but even in a place like New York, it starts at a little under $50,000 a year. You will be working VERY long hours, especially in surgery, and it's very hard and stressful work. These are also competitive residencies, so you will have to have done very well in medical school to get into them. Cardiothoracic surgeons are well paid. One site I checked lists the mid-career salaries at about $500,000. This would depend on how much you work, of course. It has not been my impression of the cardiothoracic surgeons that I have known that money was a key factor in their choice of specialty--they are a driven, dedicated bunch and all the ones I have known work extremely hard. Work days in surgery are quite long, and cardiac surgeries can go for many hours. Generally speaking I would say that a cardiothoracic surgeon would mostly work only in hospitals, although there are certain things they might do in an office (consults, assessments maybe). A surgeon mostly works in an OR. I doubt there is any such thing as a "typical" day, but surgeons start early and work late. How much money you would owe depends so much on what schools you choose/get into that it's not really possible to give you a realistic answer. The average medical student graduating this year has a debt of about $115,000. That doesn't take undergraduate debt into account, and most people can't start paying their loans back until after residency. This could be less if you have a low-priced state school alternative open to you, and there are sometimes scholarships or grants available. I hope that answers some of your questions. ;-)