Hey aska,
I am in second year and I?ve been looking into graduate programs lately. I have a set mindset on what I would like to do in the future but I am super confused on how to get there. My goal is to become a pathologist, there is a graduate program under LMP (Laboratory medicine and pathology) at UofT. But I don?t understand the amount of education required to become a liscened pathologist. Do I need a master’s, or PhD, or both? What about a MD? What about writing the MCAT? I see some universities asking for MCAT, while UofT did not when it comes to the pathology program. If I can become a pathologist with a master?s what?s the point of a PhD? I just want to know the educational pathway in becoming a pathologist. Please help.
Thanks
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hey there,
first thing’s first: pathologists are doctors. before you do anything else, you need to get into medical school. uoft’s laboratory medicine and pathobiology M.Sc. program (which i believe is what you’re referring to in your question) is a degree that you get to specialize in this area AFTER your M.D.
there’s no one set path that you need to take to become a pathologist. from what i understand, it’s not as formal a title as “Dr.,” for which there is only one degree that can license you. depending on what kind of pathologist you’d like to be, there are probably different programs that would make most sense for you – at uoft and?also elsewhere.
to do an M.D., you definitely have to write your MCATs. i don’t know of a single university in the world that does?not?require MCAT scores as part of your application, so you can count on writing them at some point.
obviously, a Ph.D. would be more beneficial to you were you to be more interested in research – however, there’s no cut and dry difference in terms of accreditation. you can read about the nitty-gritty differences?in terms of program requirements here. there’s also the M.D./Ph.D. program, which you might be interested in. however, your first step should most likely be learning a bit more about medical school. here are some good starting places.
best,
aska