16 Years to Become a Doctor

Doctor Ricky is back to answer your questions and break down his 16 year journey to become a doctor at the age of 39.

Starting as a non-traditional student, Doctor Ricky decided to pursue medicine as a college senior and being a non-traditional student he had to add an extra year of college along with a full summer to complete his pre-requisites for medical school.

Doctor Ricky shares some tips for medical school that most doctors won’t tell you like debt management and the importance of managing your expectations so you make sure you’re doing this because you love medicine not because of money.

He talks about the steps he took to crush the MCAT which included taking a Princeton Review prep course and doing as many question banks as possible under time pressure to simulate the pressure of exam day.

Doctor Ricky talks about his time at Syracuse University before getting tired of snow and moving back to the University of Georgia to complete his pre-reqs before heading to Med school.

His long journey to become a doctor included 5 years of undergraduate course work, 3 years of medical school, 6 years of general surgery training, and 2 years of plastic surgery training for a total of 16 years to become a doctor at 39.

Doctor Ricky breaks down his favorite tips to overcoming negativity by sharing stories of how his dad and pre-med advisor made him feel discouraged so he learned to channel external discouragement into motivation. Learning to shit out negativity was a very important part of the journey.

Finally Doctor Ricky talks about having a very low 2.6 GPA and still managing to become a doctor with the importance of making your strengths even stronger rather than focusing on weaknesses. Most importantly Doctor Ricky reminds us that grades don’t make a great doctor but being authentic to yourself himself for failure.

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