Keep your grades up in high school and do well on your ACTs and/or SATs so you can get into a good college. Depending on how many electives you get in high school, you will want to take lots of science classes, particularly biology and chemistry. Take some AP classes, if your school offers them. Visit some college and med school websites and find out what a pre-med curriculum is. Traditionally, a double major in biology and chemistry has been considered good preparation. In college, you’ll want to keep good grades and get a good score on your MCATs. After college, med school will be another four years, two years of lecture courses and two years of clinicals. After graduating med school, you’ll need to do your internship and residency which, depending on your specialty, could be another three to seven years. You’ve got your work cut out for you.

For now, there isn’t much advice I can give you. Your are not in college yet, which is where the fun begins. But for high school tips, I suggest that you take Biology, Chemistry, and Physics classes (honors if possible). Also, if your high school has them, take college level science beyond those three courses in Biology and/or Chemistry (whether they be IB, AP, or dual-enrollment courses). An Anatomy class might be helpful too, if your school has it (but this is less important than taking college level biology and/or chemistry during high school).

With math, take as much of it as you can. You’ll at least need to get through 4th-year math (pre-calculus or Math Analysis). But it would be best if you can take Calculus during your senior year.

For English, don’t let your grades slide–communication skills are important in doctors.

Don’t start worrying about the SATs or the ACTs until maybe the summer before your junior year. Get good scores on either of them–this will help you get into a good college. Try to get good grades so that you get into a good college.

You should ideally take the SAT Subject Tests in Math (Math 1 or Math 2) and Biology or Chemistry at some point before you apply to college (preferably right after you finish the course, or the AP/IB course if that applies).

Attend a good college, but make sure you would also feel confident that you can get over a 3.0 (and probably closer to a 3.5) average at the college you choose. If you attend an awesome college but cannot make a high GPA there, you will still be screwed no matter what the name of the college is. But don’t go to a slouchy college either–I have heard stories about students who had 4.0 averages who didn’t make it into medical school. Don’t start off in a community college–medical schools look down on them.

Obviously, I cannot give you more tips about getting into medical school. It will be another 8 years before you can get there.

You may change your mind over the next few years over whether you want to be a doctor. So don’t feel bad if you do change your mind.

Why not read what the medical schools tell potential students? Visit the Association of American Medical Colleges web site and explore all they are offering. They will provide answers to questions you haven’t even thought of yet!

Shucks, I’ve referred so many people to that site that I ought to be getting a commission! But seriously, it is the best source for factual information about getting into a med school.

keep your grades up so you can get into a decent college, but really theres not that much you can or should do. take as many APs etc as possible, but youre talking about stuff a minimum of 8-12 years down the line (a really long time!) so try to have fun too, its really important to keep you motivated over the long haul. high school is supposed to train you for college, but i think enjoying the time (in a good way) is more important than anything…

Keep grades very high

Take lots of math and scienct (Chemistry, Physics, Biology)

Might be a good idea to take one to two years of a foreign language. Spanish might be useful in the US

Practise for your SATs and take them fairly early (start of senior year maybe) so you get them back in times

See if you can get letters of recomendation from Chemistry and Bilogy teachers

Maybe do voullenteer work at a hospital. A friend of mine worked in the lab taking care of the test animals.