Becoming a doctor is no easy option. Before you choose medicine as your future career, think of your personal skills and interests. Ask yourself some questions:

• Do I care deeply about other people, their problems, and their pain?

• Do I enjoy helping people with my skills and knowledge?

• Do I enjoy learning and gaining new understanding?

• Do I often dig deeper into a subject than my teacher requires?

• Do I understand the value of learning beyond just making good grades?

• Am I interested in how the human body functions?

• Am I intrigued by the ways medicine can be used to improve life?

If you answered "Yes" to most of these questions, chances are you have the right kind of personality for a medical career.

    Medical profession is all about treating illnesses, assuring people of their well-being and providing proper recourse in case of any medical emergency. If you have the passion to improve people’s lives and a determination to reach the highest standards, your choice of studying and choosing medicine as a career option is aptly justified.

To be a physician you should have certain inherent doctor like qualities. you should have an inherent desire to help people. You should be able to provide possible solutions, and look into ideas that can bring in maximum relief to patients. You should have patience to deal with pressuring situations, to talk, and to make patients and relatives understand medical situations. This requires an analytical mind.

Being a doctor requires you to be emotionally strong. As a doctor, you would have to deal with many dire situations, handle patients with utmost care, provide substantial emotional support to relatives and those in medical emergencies, and remain calm in the most difficult situations to help, handle, and take critical decisions. A doctor’s life involves a high degree of commitment. You may have to work late hours and often would have to attend calls at any time of the day or night. You have to be sure of your interest right from the time you start studying medicine.

You should be able to retain an extensive and in-depth knowledge of ailments, symptoms, remedies, and be able to relate and apply them as necessary. You have to understand symptoms and decide on your course of medication. Again, the profession of medicine also requires an enquiring mind.

Studying medicine does not mean you will end up as a doctor in some hospital or nursing home alone. You will have a wide range of career opportunities. You can follow a path to one of many specialties - from working in a hospital as a surgeon to being based in the community as a general practitioner.

Physicians are employed in every sector of society. If you want to serve people in rural areas, you can work with health organizations working for betterment of rural people. Alternatively, you can choose to serve people in tribal areas, and in the far-flung geographical areas of the globe. You can choose any model to serve humanity.

    You may hear that studying medicine is long and tough… but one of the important truths is things that come easily usually aren't worth much. Doctors are always learning as new discoveries are made and new technologies develop.

Medical school is tough and challenging. A lot will be demanded from students in both the volume of information they are expected to master and the rate at which they are expected to learn. Remember a good liberal arts education is a key ingredient to becoming a physician. Taking courses in the humanities or liberal arts will help you prepare for the "people" side of medicine.

You'll need a strong foundation in mathematics and the sciences that relate most to medicine e.g.,... biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics. But it's important for your college experience to be broad.

In addition to the good varied and strong academic background, you have to have a good study habit and time management skills. You will enjoy a tremendous support, guidance, and mentorship from medical school faculty and staff to help you succeed. Once you've been accepted, the medical school faculty and staff will do everything they can to help you succeed.

The curriculum at many medical schools has changed in recent years. However, here's a general, quick look at what you can expect. You will start with the basic sciences: anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology, pathology, and pharmacology, as well as behavioral sciences. Through out the process, you will learn the fundamental techniques of taking a medical history and examining patients. You'll go into the hospital and various clinics to observe and work with experienced doctors and begin to learn patient interviewing, examination techniques and an introduction to health care. Your final years are spent continuing your contact with patients and doctors in a clinical setting. You'll gain experience with patients in hospital, clinic, and office settings in the fields of internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, and psychiatry.

You'll begin to explore the wide variety of career paths within medicine, such as family practice, internal medicine, surgery, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics. You already may have an idea of which specialties interest you; however, it's good to keep an open mind.

      If you want to go into the depths of any particular branch of medicine and understand it thoroughly, you can go in for higher specialization after training as a doctor. There are numerous courses available for specialization like:

- Ophthalmology

- Anesthetics

- Obstetrics and gynecology

- Psychiatry

- Pediatrics

- Pathology

- Surgery

- Radiology

- Trauma management

- Orthopedics

- Pharmacology

There are numerous career opportunities once you complete your study of medicine. With the same background, you can enter into many related heath fields. The same education and training can help you take up jobs in other areas of medical field other than being a doctor. In some cases, you may have to undergo short training or specialization courses.

Healthcare industry is booming and ever expanding. If more academically inclined, you can choose to take up a career as a lecturer in any medical college. You can go into advanced studies and choose an option of medical research. If you are interested in administrative work, you can take similar positions in healthcare projects, hospitals, social organizations, and others. If you want to combine your interests of serving the society and medicine, choose to go for healthcare projects operated under the bigger organizations like United Nations, Red Cross Society, etc. You can also work to improve public health.