*The 3-year first-time residency attainment rate is the weighted average of the 2022-23, through 2024-25 academic years. For each year, the rate is the percent of students attaining a residency out of all graduates or expected graduates in the year who were active applicants in the NRMP match in that year or who attained a residency outside the NRMP match in that year. The 1-year first-time residency attainment rate is 95% for 2024-2025 graduates.
How Do I Become a Pediatrician?
Caring for younger patients presents unique challenges you may not encounter with adults. Pediatricians play a vital role in bridging this gap by performing routine checkups, addressing developmental or behavioral concerns, and educating parents on topics like nutrition and preventive care. A pediatrician’s work has a lasting impact on the health and well-being of infants, children, and adolescents.
What Is a Pediatrician?
Pediatricians are medical doctors who specialize in treating, but they can also provide care to young adults until their 21st birthday. They’re experts in the unique needs, developmental milestones, and conditions that commonly impact newborns, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. They can educate parents on typical emotional, behavioral, and physical milestones associated with different ages, and provide treatment to help ensure their patients grow into the healthiest versions of themselves.
Pediatricians can also teach parents about age—specific nutrition and common childhood conditions—like ear infections, asthma, eczema, allergies, gastrointestinal issues, and developmental delays—as well as oversee vaccination schedules to support the development of a strong immune system as children grow.
What Are the Steps to Become a Pediatrician?
Becoming a pediatrician starts with completing a pre-medical track, also known as pre-med studies, while earning a bachelor’s degree. Although there’s no rule saying you have to choose a science major, some medical schools, like American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC), may prefer applicants with specific majors.
Make sure to check out the requirements of different medical schools before deciding your major to ensure you’re building a competitive application starting your freshman year. This also gives you time to begin preparing for the Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT®) and research the MCAT® score requirements for your preferred medical program.
Throughout your undergraduate studies, consider shadowing healthcare professionals in a broad range of specialties while also sprinkling in few volunteer opportunities that allow you to work with children. Not only does this demonstrate your commitment to pediatric medicine, but it can also be a great litmus test to determine if this is really the medical specialty for you.
You’ll need to take the MCAT® during your undergrad studies and submit this score as part of your application package to medical school. After you apply and are accepted into a medical program, you’ll complete your education while preparing for and taking either the United States Medical Licensing Exam® (USMLE®) Step 1 and Step 2 CK or the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States of America (COMLEX-USA) Level 1 and Level 2-CE.
Toward the end of your medical program, you should apply for a pediatric residency. Within the first year of your residency, you’ll need to complete USMLE® Step 3 or COMLEX-USA Level 3 to earn your medical license. Once your residency is complete, you will be eligible for board certification through the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). You may join the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at any time throughout your medical training, including as a medical student.
You can further specialize in areas such as pediatric emergency medicine or pediatric endocrinology by completing a fellowship after residency. Most pediatric fellowships are three-year programs that offer advanced training in a specific subspecialty.
What Degree Do You Need to Be a Pediatrician?
To be a pediatrician, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate—either a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO).
How Long Does It Take to Become a Pediatrician?
It can take about 11 years to become a general pediatrician, and the timeline can be broken down as follows:
- Four years to complete a pre-med track and earn an undergraduate degree
- Four years to complete a medical school program
- Three years to complete a pediatric residency
Pursuing a pediatric fellowship after your residency will add approximately one to three years to this timeline, depending on the program. Pediatricians can work in primary care or pursue any of the following:
- Addiction Medicine: Focuses on preventing, diagnosing, and treating substance-related health conditions in pediatric patients.
- Adolescent Medicine: Focuses on issues adolescents face, including hormonal changes, eating disorders, substance abuse, reproductive health, and more.
- Child Abuse Pediatrics: Focuses on accurately identifying abuse, consulting the appropriate child safety agencies, and treating the consequences of abuse and neglect.
- Clinical Informatics: Focuses on analyzing, implementing, creating, and reviewing information and communication systems to improve outcomes for pediatric patients.
- Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics: Focuses on preventing, diagnosing, and managing developmental difficulties and problematic behaviors.
- Hospice and Palliative Medicine: Focuses on providing care, support, and comfort for pediatric patients with life-threatening conditions.
- Internal Medicine-Pediatrics: This specialization combines pediatrics with internal medicine. Med-peds focus on diagnosing, treating, and managing complex, chronic conditions.
- Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine: Focuses on providing care for sick newborns and creating a care plan for mothers with high-risk pregnancies.
- Pediatric Cardiology: Focuses on caring for pediatric patients with cardiovascular problems.
- Pediatric Critical Care Medicine: Focuses on caring for children with life-threatening conditions, illnesses, or injuries.
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine: Focuses on providing emergency treatments to acutely ill or injured infants and children.
- Pediatric Endocrinology: Focuses on caring for pediatric patients with diseases and conditions related to the endocrine system such as diabetes, birth defects, early or late puberty, hyper- or hypothyroidism, and more.
- Pediatric Gastroenterology: Focuses on diagnosing and treating diseases and conditions related to pediatric patients’ digestive systems, including ulcers, jaundice, and abdominal pain.
- Pediatric Hematology Oncology: This specialization combines knowledge of pediatrics, hematology, and oncology to recognize, treat, and manage blood disorders and cancerous diseases in pediatric patients.
- Pediatric Hospital Medicine: Focuses on treating a broad range of illnesses and conditions that require hospital care.
- Pediatric Infectious Diseases: Focuses on diagnosing, treating, and preventing the spread of infectious diseases among pediatric patients. These specialists strive to improve outcomes for patients with infections that have unclear diagnoses and tricky treatment options.
- Pediatric Nephrology: Focuses on the normal and abnormal growth and development of the kidneys and urinary tract.
- Pediatric Pulmonology: Focuses on preventing, treating, and managing respiratory diseases in pediatric patients.
- Pediatric Rheumatology: Focuses on diagnosing and treating patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, dermatomyositis, autoinflammatory diseases, and more.
- Pediatric Transplant Hepatology: Focuses on caring for patients experiencing liver disease, undergoing a liver transplant, or healing from a liver transplant.
- Sports Medicine: Focuses on preventing, diagnosing, and treating injuries pediatric patients sustain when playing sports or exercising.
What Skills Are Essential for a Pediatrician?
Although pediatricians treat children and adolescents, they also interact with parents—so having strong communication skills is essential for clearly explaining situations. Pediatricians should also have strong problem-solving skills to diagnose and treat various medical conditions.
Children may not always be able to clearly express themselves or even understand what’s happening to them. Empathizing and being patient with children can build trust and put them at ease. Having strong observational skills can help a pediatrician identify subtle cues that may help them form a diagnosis. Pediatricians should also have strong medical knowledge and remain up to date on the latest advancements in the field of pediatric medicine.
Is Becoming a Pediatrician Hard?
Pediatric medicine can be a challenging yet rewarding career choice. It requires at least 11 years of school and additional training if you want to pursue a specialty. You may face long work hours and difficult days when your patients don’t receive the outcomes you want. However, as a pediatrician, you can help shape the future of your patients and help them become healthy, well-rounded adults.
Catching conditions when a patient is still young can have lifelong benefits. You can:
- Identify chronic or severe conditions, like asthma, before they worsen.
- Identify growth or developmental delays and provide the appropriate medical support.
- Prevent certain chronic diseases by educating patients and their parents on lifestyle changes and treatment options that can reduce risk factors.
Pediatricians stand at the forefront of early detection for pediatric patients. This can help improve patients’ long-term outcomes and ensure they have a high quality of life.
What Is the Job Outlook for Pediatricians?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects the demand for pediatricians to grow by 2% between 2023 and 2033. According to the BLS’ May 2023 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the average national salary for general pediatricians ranges from $85,120 to more than $239,200.1
Take the First Step Toward Becoming a Pediatrician With AUC
Becoming a pediatrician requires you to complete your pre-medical studies while earning a bachelor’s degree. You’ll need to take the MCAT® and then apply to a medical school of your choice. Once accepted, you will take either USMLE® Steps 1 and 2 CK or COMLEX-USA Levels 1 and 2-CE while researching different pediatric residency programs.
After graduation or during the first year of your residency program, you’ll need to successfully complete USMLE® Step 3 or COMLEX-USA Level 3 to earn your medical license. To become a board-certified pediatrician, you’ll need to complete your residency and pursue certification from the ABP. If you’re not interested in a specific pediatric specialty, you may begin working at a hospital or clinic of your choice. If you want to specialize further, you can complete a fellowship program of your choice.
While 11 years may sound like a long time, it will fly by. Ready to take the first step in this exciting journey? Apply to AUC today or contact our admissions team for more information!
1Bureau of Labor Statistics (as of May 2023). The 10th percentile figure reasonably represents entry-level wages. BLS wages are national estimates and are not specific to graduates of AUC. Wages may vary by state or region. No guarantee is made that a person who enrolls at AUC will obtain a job or earn the estimated salaries.
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