So You Want to Be a Dermatologist?

Millions of people visit dermatologists each year, but have you ever wondered what it takes to become a dermatologist? Dermatologists go through many years of education and training after graduating high school before they are able to practice dermatology. This pathway typically consists of 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and 4 years of residency training.

In order to apply to medical school and become a doctor, your dermatologist first needed to complete college. You might think that doctors would be required to major in biology or another area of science in order to get into medical school, but that’s actually not the case. Students wishing to attend medical school can major in anything from political science to engineering to foreign language, as long as they take certain prerequisite classes such as biology, chemistry, physics, and other classes that medical schools require for admission. In addition to completing these prerequisites, students typically need to obtain a high overall GPA and eventually take and score well on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). This typically takes about 4 years total but can be longer or shorter depending on a person’s individual path.

After completing college and successfully applying to medical school, your dermatologist then underwent 4 years of training in medical school before receiving his or her medical degree. The first 2 years of medical school consist of mostly book work that covers the basic sciences (eg, anatomy, biochemistry, immunology) as well as the physiology and pathology of each organ system (eg, cardiology, gastroenterology, dermatology). The next 2 years of medical school are spent primarily learning through hands-on experiences in hospitals and clinics. The third year of medical school generally is reserved for completing rotations in certain “core fields,” such as internal medicine, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine, neurology, and surgery. The fourth and final year of medical school is more individualized and mostly made up of electives that allow medical students to get more experience in fields that interest them.

During the fourth year of medical school, students also apply to residency programs, where they will train in a specific specialty of medicine. Each year, there are over 25,000 students graduating from US medical schools with Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degrees yet only about 450 training spots for dermatology, making it a highly competitive field of medicine.

After graduating from medical school, becoming a doctor, and matching into a dermatology residency, a dermatologist still has an additional 4 years of training to complete. The first year is known as internship, when the doctor focuses primarily on internal medicine along with a few other electives, before starting the 3 remaining years of pure dermatology residency. This training process allows for dermatologists to become experts in diseases of the skin but also ensures that they are knowledgeable about all the other organ systems and fields of medicine. After finishing residency, most dermatologists are done training and are ready to start seeing patients on their own. However, some dermatologists elect to do an additional year of fellowship training in Mohs surgery, dermatopathology, cosmetics, or pediatric dermatology.

In total, your dermatologist likely completed:

4 years of college

4 years of medical school

4 years of residency (1 in internal medicine, 3 in dermatology)

+/- 1 year of fellowship

That’s a grand total of 12+ years of schooling to be able to take care of you and your skin!