Become a Diagnostician

There are a number of types of diagnostician. The two most common fields in which people become diagnosticians are medicine and education. If you love solving puzzles and are genuinely curious about the people you come in contact with, being a diagnostician may be a great path for you. Becoming an educational diagnostician is very different from becoming a medical diagnostician. Choose an educational and career path that suits your interests and needs.

Steps

Becoming an Educational Diagnostician

1. Explore career options while in high school. While in high school, you still might not know what you want to do as a career. However, if you think you may want to become an educational diagnostician, there are things you can do to gain experience and see if this might be a good fit for you.
   • Volunteer at an organization for people with special needs.
   • Teach or tutor younger kids to see if you enjoy working one on one with young people.
   • Educational diagnosticians work individually with students to diagnose learning differences and disabilities. It's their job to help figure out what a student needs to be able to learn and thrive in a school setting.
2. Complete your bachelor’s degree. You can get your bachelor’s degree in education or in a variety of other subjects before deciding to become an educational diagnostician. Bachelor’s degrees generally take about four years to complete when done through a full-time program.
   • Having a specialization in special education is considered highly advantageous when applying for jobs or graduate school. To do this, you'll need to take specific classes within your major and talk to your advisor about what's required to fulfill the specialization.
   • If you work full-time or don’t have time for a full-time course load, you can take as much time as you need to complete your bachelor’s degree.
3. Do volunteer work. The National Clearinghouse for Professionals in Special Education highly recommends that students looking to become educational diagnosticians boost their credentials by doing volunteer work with people with disabilities. Some of the groups they recommend working with are:
   • The Association of Retarded Citizens
   • The National Easter Seal Society
   • The Special Olympics.
4. Work as a teacher. In order to even begin training to be an educational diagnostician, you need to have at least two years of teaching experience. This is important, as it gives you the experience you’ll need to be a competent diagnostician, and it will show you if this career path is right for you.
   • In order to become a teacher, you need to pass a certification test and pass national background checks.
   • Certification requirements for teachers vary by state. Check your state’s certification requirements on the school board’s official website.
5. Complete your master’s degree in education. This is the master’s degree that you’ll need in order to pursue a certificate and career as a diagnostician. Some universities will let you complete your master’s degree and your bachelor’s degree in a combined program, which can make the entire course of study shorter and more direct.
   • If you have already begun teaching through a certificate program, you may be too busy for a traditional master’s program. Many online programs will be able to accommodate your busy schedule.
   • If you have a master’s degree in another field, you may be able to get a certificate rather than having to get an entirely different master’s degree.
6. Get your professional certificate. Within the master’s program that you enroll in, you can pursue an Educational Diagnostician certification track. This will require you to take courses such as Educating Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports in Schools, Assessment and Evaluation of Students with Disabilities, Psychoeducational Assessment, Assessment and Evaluation of Students with Disabilities.
   • If you have a master’s of education in another track, or a master’s degree in another discipline, you can potentially apply for certification through a graduate program. This generally means meeting with your advisor to come up with a list of courses you’ll take in order to make up for any deficiencies in your education up to this point.
7. Apply for jobs. There is considerable job growth in this field, which means that prospects for finding a job are good. You need to know what to look for in job postings and apply to any jobs that look like they might be right for you.
   • Boost your chances of finding a job by emphasizing your relevant experience on your resume.
   • The more experience you’ve had teaching and working in the field, the better your resume looks.
   • If you don’t see job openings where you live, you may need to consider looking for work elsewhere to stay working in the field.

Becoming a Medical Diagnostician

1. Prepare for a medical career while in high school. If you want to become a medical diagnostician, you'll need to become a physician. To do this, you'll need to get into medical school, which is quite competitive. Begin preparing early by getting excellent grades and participating in extracurricular activities.
   • Great grades, standardized test scores, and a strong resume of extracurriculars make you a more attractive candidate to prestigious colleges.
   • While in high school, get involved in science or biology clubs to learn more about science and whether a career in medicine is right for you.
2. Get your bachelor’s degree. The first step toward becoming a doctor is getting your bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. You can choose from a variety of majors, but The College Board lists pre-medicine, biology and exercise science as suggested majors.
   • You’ll need excellent grades in order to get into medical school, as admissions are highly competitive.
   • While you’re in college, participate in extracurricular activities that will help you look competitive as an applicant for medical school. Join a science club, volunteer at a hospital or hospice center, or tutor other students in science.
3. Pass the MCAT exam. The MCAT stands for Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). College juniors who plan to apply for medical school should register to take the MCAT. It is a standardized, multiple-choice exam that medical school admission committees use to assess how likely an applicant is to succeed in their program.
   • The MCAT is notoriously rigorous. Make sure to study hard for it, giving yourself lots of time to prepare, rather than trying to cram or wing it.
   • Get a tutor if you need one. You can hire a private tutor or attend a test prep class offered by a private company.
4. Apply to medical schools. In order to be a medical diagnostician, you’ll need a medical degree. To do this, you must attend medical school. Most medical schools in the US use the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), which centralizes the application process. This way, you can choose your preferred medical schools and submit a single application that will go to all of them.
   • Apply to several medical schools. The application process is highly competitive, so it’s good to have a backup plan if you don’t get into your top schools.
   • Most students begin the application process for medical school during the summer after their junior year in college. Some choose to take a year off after completing their undergraduate degrees before applying.
5. Complete medical school and licensing exams. Medical school is generally four years of intensive, full time study. The curriculum includes classroom-based instruction as well as hands-on work that will bring you into a clinical setting.
   • You’ll also need to receive a passing score on the first two parts of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). This is a three-part exam.
   • You must pass the first part of the exam before entering your third year of medical school. The second part is taken during your fourth year. This second part focuses more heavily on patient diagnosis, which is key to becoming a diagnostician.
6. Complete a medical residency. Your medical residency is generally a three year period after medical school when you work intensively in a specific field of medicine. It’s during this time that you get most of your experiential education to be a professional doctor. The process of matching with a residency program is complicated, but all doctors in training must go through it.
   • If you’re planning to be a diagnostician, aim for a residency that will support that aim. Areas of specialization that are heavily focused on diagnostics include: internal medicine, emergency medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, radiology, radiation oncology, dermatology, and pathology.
   • Once you’ve completed your residency, you’ll also need to pass the third part of the USMLE and get a state license in the state you plan to practice in.
   • You may also choose to become certified by a board in a specific field. This is not always a requirement in order to practice in a field, but it boosts your credentials and can make you eligible for jobs such as being a medical director in a hospital or clinic.
7. Apply for jobs that emphasize diagnostics. Many doctors begin looking for jobs during their residencies. It’s also common for residents to transition to full-time positions wherever they’ve done their residencies.
   • If you’re looking to do something that would give you more experience in diagnostics, you can search for jobs elsewhere.
   • Recruiters from hospitals and private practices often seek out young doctors to hire for open positions.
8. Practice differential diagnosis. Differential diagnosis is when you take a given symptom and from that determine what it could be caused by. Diagnosticians are familiar with a range of symptoms and their possible causes. When a patient presents a given symptom, use your knowledge of medicine to determine what probably and unlikely causes are.
   • There are online tools that offer "instant differential diagnosis." These can be useful and interesting to the lay person, but nothing replaces a doctor's thoughtful and experienced opinion.
9. Continue to practice diagnosis as much as possible. The way to build a career on being a diagnostician is to hone your skills and practice. Whether you work at a hospital or in a private practice, you can become well known as someone who does excellent diagnosis by taking your time with patients, asking the right questions, and remaining curious.
   • Pay attention to the context in which a patient’s symptoms arise and the background story they tell you.
   • Don’t discount uncommon possibilities simply because they’re not the most obvious.
   • Master the art of physical examination and reading any kind of diagnostic tools, such as electrocardiography machines and medical imaging.

Tips

• In any field, becoming a diagnostician requires curiosity and patience. Diagnosticians are good listeners who like to think things through and solve puzzles.
• Develop your ability to ask questions and listen critically to the answers. Patients or students might not realize how much information they’re giving you with simple answers to broad questions.

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