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The route into general surgeon

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار الصحة والحياة— Health and Life Sciences

A-Level

  • Chemistryrequiredfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • Biologyrequiredfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • Mathematicshelpsfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • Physicshelpsfor Dentistry, Medicine

IB Diploma

  • Chemistry HLrequiredfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • Biology HLrequiredfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • Mathematics SL or abovehelpsfor Dentistry
  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches SL or abovehelpsfor Medicine

Advanced Placement

  • AP Biologyhelpsfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • AP Chemistryhelpsfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • AP Physics 1helpsfor Dentistry, Medicine
  • AP Calculus ABhelpsfor Dentistry
  • AP Calculus AB or BChelpsfor Medicine
  • AP Statisticshelpsfor Medicine

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Dentistry

    Oral and maxillofacial surgery, which in most systems requires both a dental and a medical degree.

    Five to six years, clinical from early on. Independent practice follows almost immediately, unlike medicine.

  • Medicine

    The longest training of the common routes, and the one most students picture.

    Five to six years undergraduate outside North America; four years of medical school after a first degree in the US and Canada. Then residency, which is where the real length is.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • UCATJuly–September of the application year

    Required by most UK dental schools, on the same timetable and with the same September booking deadline as medicine.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • Tahsili (science)End of Grade 12

    A heavy component of the Saudi health-college composite.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • QuduratFrom Grade 11

    Sat by every applicant regardless of track.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • DATDuring a US bachelor's

    The US graduate-entry dental admission test.

  • MCATAfter two or three years of a US bachelor's

    The US graduate-entry route. Nothing you do at seventeen prepares for it directly, and it is worth knowing the road has this on it.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

United Kingdom

  1. schoolA-levels including Chemistry and Biology2 yr
  2. undergraduateMedical degree5–6 yrs
  3. trainingFoundation training2 yr
  4. trainingCore and higher surgical training6–8 yrs
  5. licensingSpecialist registration as a consultant surgeon0–1 yrs
  6. practiceConsultant surgeon0 yr

LicensingFull registration with the medical regulator, then entry to the specialist register following surgical training and examinations.

United States

  1. schoolHigh school with strong sciences4 yr
  2. undergraduateBachelor's degree with pre-medical prerequisites4 yr
  3. postgraduateMedical school4 yr
  4. trainingGeneral surgery residency5 yr
  5. trainingFellowship (optional, common)1–3 yrs
  6. practiceAttending surgeon0 yr

LicensingState medical licence and board certification in surgery.

Saudi Arabia

  1. schoolSecondary school, science track3 yr
  2. undergraduateMBBS including internship6–7 yrs
  3. trainingSaudi Board of General Surgery residency5–6 yrs
  4. trainingSubspecialty fellowship, often abroad1–3 yrs
  5. practiceConsultant surgeon0 yr

LicensingSCFHS classification through the مقيم / نائب / أخصائي / استشاريprogression, with board certification required for specialist and consultant grades.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 13–16 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 13 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £351,000–455,000 of earnings deferred.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 13–16 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is aircraft maintenance engineer at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 12 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of $48,780–62,630, that is roughly $585,360–751,560 of earnings deferred.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 12–16 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 12 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 1,680,000–2,640,000 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.