how many years to become a doctor uk

Last Updated on December 28, 2022

Before you become a UK doctor you first have to obtain a degree in medicine from a medical school whose medical degrees we accept. Courses normally last five years, or four years for a graduate entry programme. They involve basic medical sciences as well as clinical training on the wards. If you are looking for how many years to become a doctor uk, then you are on the right page. It contains how to become a doctor uk nhs. Suppose you want to know how to become a doctor in uk international student instead. Then this article is what you need.

How many years to become a doctor uk? You’ll need to study intensively for five or six years after school to become a doctor. That’s a long time, but it’s probably just as well because you’re going to be a doctor – and doctors can literally save lives.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a doctor? It is an interesting career choice, and the route to becoming an accredited doctor requires many years of dedication. Although the number of years required can vary depending on your choice of specialty, below are some examples.

how to become a doctor uk nhs

how many years to become a doctor uk

UK

In addition to the usual 5-6 years for studying a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), you will also need to complete two foundation years working in a hospital, known as F1 and F2, and 3 years of vocational training before you can be classed as a GP. In total, this works out at around 10-11 years to become a GP in the UK.

Ireland

In Ireland, Medical School lasts for 5 years. Following this GP training is a specialist programme which takes 4 years to complete. In total it takes 9 years to become a GP in Ireland.

USA

In America, Medical School is slightly shorter than the UK, with courses taking 4 years to complete, however, a bachelor’s degree is pre-requisite, which also takes 4 years to complete. Following Medical School, graduates must undertake an internship or clerkship, commonly known as a residency. A residency is usually based in a hospital and is primarily a practical role, rather than textbook learning in the first two years of medical school. This usually lasts from 3-8 years, depending on your specialism. Following this, fellowships are further training opportunities for doctors to specialise further. In total, training to be a GP or Family Practitioner (FP) as they are often called in the USA usually takes 11 years.

Canada

In Canada it is a pre-requisite for medical students to have undertaken an undergraduate degree prior to starting Medical School. This does not have to be related to medicine, although it may help your application if the bachelor’s degree is complementary to medicine such as Biology. Following at least 3 (typically 4) years of study for your undergraduate degree, you must complete 4 years of study at Medical School, followed by 2-5 years of postgraduate study as you focus on your specialism. Most specialisms last for 5 years, but Family Medicine is usually a 2-year programme, meaning that you can expect to spend at least 10 years studying to be a GP in Canada, although other specialisms could take up to 13 years.

Australia

In Australia, an MBBS can take between 4-6 years depending on where you study. Following this is a period of postgraduate study to focus on a specialism, such as training to be a General Practitioner (GP), which usually takes between 3-5 years to complete. This means that you could be a GP in just 9-11 years, but it is possible to be qualified in other specialisms after just 7 years of study and training.

New Zealand

New Zealand has only two Medical Schools, located at the University of Otago and University of Auckland. Medical School lasts for 6 years in New Zealand, however, during your 6th year you are working in a hospital alongside qualified doctors, and are able to earn a small salary whilst in this position. Following this, graduates must work for two years as a House Officer. This is similar to an F1 and F2 in the UK, where the graduates work for 3 months at a time across different sections of the hospital. Following this, the junior doctors begin working towards their chosen specialism, which usually lasts between 4-6 years, taking the total time of study to 12-14 years.

how to become a doctor in uk international student

So, here are the top 10 universities for Medical studies on these prestigious international rankings:

U.S. News Global Universities Ranking: Clinical Medicine 2022

Explore the full list of medical schools on the U.S. News website.

World University Rankings 2022 by subject: clinical, pre-clinical and health

  • University of Oxford, UK
  • Harvard University, US
  • Imperial College London, UK
  • University of Cambridge, UK
  • University of Toronto, Canada
  • Stanford University, US
  • Tsinghua University, China
  • UCL, UK
  • Johns Hopkins University, US
  • Yale University, US

You can find the full ranking on Times Higher Education.

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021: Medicine

  • Harvard University, US
  • University of Oxford, UK
  • Stanford University, US
  • University of Cambridge, UK
  • Johns Hopkins University, US
  • Karolinska Institute, Sweden
  • University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), US
  • Yale University, US
  • UCL, UK
  • Imperial College London, UK

For the complete list of top medical universities, visit TopUniversities.com.

Female doctor working in a laboratory

ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2021: Clinical Medicine

View the other ranked medical schools on ShanghaiRanking.com.

Academic Influence Public Health Rankings – Real-time objective rankings

Created by a team of academics and data scientists, The Academic Influence Rankings collected text documents and structured data to determine how often disciplines and universities were referenced on the web. Here is the top 10 list with universities offering Public Health degrees:

The complete list of medical schools is available on AcademicInfluence.com.

If you want to study from the comfort of your home, check out online Bachelors and Masters in Medicine & Health.

Here are other medical schools we recommend:

Find Bachelors in Medicine abroad

Student reviews of the best medical schools in the world

Here are a few impressions from students who attended some of the best medical schools mentioned above:

Cambridge University graduate

“I’m loving my study experience at Cambridge because it’s a highly intellectually stimulating environment with so many opportunities to take advantage of during your studies.

I’ve met some wonderful people (that I know will be my friends for life) and have had the chance to do so many things that I wouldn’t have otherwise, all while receiving top quality teaching and mentoring.”

University of Vienna graduate

“University of Vienna is one of the oldest universities in Europe with a beautiful as well as historic main building and many campuses all around the city of Vienna. Studying in the University of Vienna was an enriching experience, as the city of Vienna is home to many students and offers diverse opportunities for them.

As a student at the University of Vienna, you are expected to be self-sufficient and self-disciplined as there are a lot of students who are admitted into programs, but only a few actually manage to finish the programs.”

University of Toronto graduate

“This is an amazing school and it has an amazing environment with great people. The city is especially nice because the school is located in the heart of downtown. Although it could be really cold during the wintertime, the campus is really nice and there are lots of supports for the students from the university.”

Karolinska Institute graduate

“It has been a great experience; I had the opportunity to work with new techniques on genetics and it has been amusing and a future great point on the CV. The lab environment was nice, although I had my problems with communication, as it was my very first exchange and immersion in English.

Even though I needed to do the internship in order to get my degree, I got paid through a scholarship from the lab. I also got a semester of free Swedish lectures. If you are interested in Sweden and in the field of Biomedics/Biochemistry, I definitely recommend going there!! (Not to the University of Gothenburg) Good luck! :)”

University of Edinburgh graduate

“Friendly environment, excellent teachers, the courses really help master students think critically and independently. My programme requires a lot of reading, review and analysing of literatures and data. As well as doing research, the ability related to this increased greatly.”

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