How to Become a Cardiologist

Video Transcript

"To become a Cardiologist, or a Heart Doctor, you first need to become a Doctor. This is a long path, it takes a minimum of eight years to get your M.D. with an additional Residency in Cardiology. The first four years of this path are obtaining your Bachelors Degree. Upon completing your Bachelors Degree, you need to take what's known as the Medical College Admissions Test for entrance to Medical School. You'll also want to focus during your Bachelors career on maintaining a strong GPA. To be a competitive applicant to Medical School you want to have a 3.75 GPA or higher. The next step is applying to Medical School, there's a standardized applications service called AMCAS, that most of the Medical Schools in the United States use. You can apply to one or all of these schools through this, through the AMCAS service. Upon being accepted to Medical School, the first two years of your formal medical education will be spent on didactic instruction on Health sciences, with some clinical work. The second two years are focused primarily on learning the clinical aspect of medical care, and you must then complete both steps of the Medical Licensing Exam, USMLE part 1, after your first two years and part 2 after your second two years. Upon completing the Licensing Exam and your, and passing your coursework in, in medicine, you're given the degree of M.D. and it's at this point that you can specialize in Cardiology. Cardiology is learned through what's known as a Residency program. There is also a standardized process for applying to Residencies and it's called the National Match. Once you are matched with a Residency program, you begin your formal training in Cardiology and after completing your Graduate medical education in Cardiology, the you can take the state licensing exam in the state in which you which to practice. You can also become licensed in multiple states, and then you're ready to practice as a Clinical Cardiologist."