For most jobs, all that is required is around two to four years of post-secondary schooling. While some professions obviously take longer, few take the persistence and perseverance that becoming a pediatrician requires. Just how long does it take to become a pediatrician? Believe it or not, in order to become a pediatrician in 2020, a student has to complete around 11 years of schooling post-high school graduation. If that sounds like a very long time, that’s because it is!

Those 11 years are arduous and jam-packed. First students must complete around four years of underground, then four years of medical school. After that, there is a one-year internship followed by a two-year residency. After all of that learning is completed, students also have to complete and follow up with board certification. All of that time adds up and most students don’t actually get to call themselves pediatricians until they are in their late 20s or early 30s.

While that dedication does pay off by granting them a high-paying and fulfilling position, many medical school students will be tasked with taking on second jobs in their early years of doctoring. The reason? Medical school doesn’t come cheap.