Imaging my future with Radiology

Sean | future radiologist

My professional goal as an adult is to become a radiologist. Radiologists are doctors who use x-ray, MRI and ultrasound technologies to create images in order to examine, diagnose, and even treat their patients' medical conditions. Some of the medical issues that radiologists explore are broken bones, blood clots, internal injuries and even cancer. This career is well suited to me because I enjoy learning about the human body, it's physiology, and how to use advanced technologies to diagnose and correct different ailments.

The education that I will need to become a radiologist includes 4 years at an undergraduate school, during which I plan to also earn a master's degree to help me get into medical school. Following undergraduate school, I will enroll in medical school for 8 years and graduate as a Doctor of Medicine. After medical school, I will enter an internship at a hospital for approximately one year, immediatly followed by four years of residency-training. If all goes as planned, I will recieve my official certification as a radiologist.

The future of this career offers many opportunities. Although the education requirements and preparatory training for radiologists are challenging, the long term rewards justify the effort since the demand for radiologists is currently very high everywhere.

I learned many details about this career in a class that I completed this semester called PACE, which stands for Personal, Academic and Career Exploration. In this class we researched potential careers of interest and determined the education and training that each career path would require, and how our lifestyle would be affected by each career's expected level of income.