The shortest surgical residencies are generally General Surgery, typically 5 years, or sometimes shorter pathways like Vascular Surgery (Integrated) at around 5 years, while other specialties like Ophthalmology (4 years) or Otolaryngology (5 years), often including a prelim year, offer some of the quickest routes to becoming a surgeon, but true surgical residency minimums often hover around 4-5 years, with primary care surgery fields being shorter than subspecialties like Neurosurgery (7 years).
In summary, the longest residency, without including any additional research years or further fellowship, is neurosurgery (7 years) and the shortest are for 3 years with family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and emergency medicine (depending on the program).
Becoming a surgeon takes least 13 years. Required steps include completing a four-year bachelor's degree, a four-year medical degree, and a minimum five-year residency requirement. Other steps, like AP or honors classes in high school, gap years, and fellowship experience, differ depending on the student.
Orthopedic surgery and certain areas of plastic surgery are frequently cited as relatively easier due to their straightforward nature, compared to more intricate specialties like neurosurgery, cardiovascular surgery or trauma surgery.
Operating times, like surgery recovery times, are the shortest for vasectomies and appendectomies. A vasectomy averages around 20 – 30 minutes while an appendectomy usually takes about an hour.
Which medical specialty requires the shortest training time to become a qualified doctor? Family Medicine is the medical specialty with the shortest training time, typically requiring a three-year residency after medical school.
"In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful," Kate said. "However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present.
Plastic surgeons are typically thought of as the surgeons with the lowest stress levels and lowest burnout in surgery as a whole, though they scored one percentage point higher than orthopedics.
Robert Liston is known as the one-time fastest surgeon in London, the first to use anaesthetic, and for conducting a surgery that had a 300% mortality rate.
Yet it is widely agreed that most surgeons reach their peak of overall performance around the second half of the fifth decade (45–50 years of age).
Is residency harder than medical school? In some ways, yes. Medical school is academically demanding—think lectures, exams, USMLE Steps 1 & 2. But residency adds real-life pressure: critical decisions, physical exhaustion, patient emotions, and your own self-doubt.
Least Competitive Residencies
Average age of an M1 is 24 in the US. Therefore 31-35 would be the average age graduating from residency.
Akrit Pran Jaswal was born on April 23, 1993, in Nurpur, Himachal Pradesh. He became an internet sensation because of his extraordinary talents. At just 7 years old, Jaswal performed surgery on an 8-year-old burn victim.
22 + (4 undergrad+ 4 medical school + 5 general surgery residency) = 35 years old is when you'll call yourself a surgeon if everything goes smoothly.
Akrit Jaswal: The Youngest Surgeon Globally. At the tender age of 7, when most of the children were busy playing with dolls and guns, he performed his first surgery!! Meet Akrit Jaswal, whose IQ was tested to be 146, making him the smartest in India.
Which medical specialty is hardest?
According to a 2025 Medscape-based survey, some of the happiest specialties reported are Allergy & Immunology (94 %), Pathology (88 %), Dermatology (87 %), Public Health & Preventive Medicine (87 %), and Psychiatry (87 %).
Yes, Prince William and Kate Middleton sleep in the same bed, often with their dog Orla, a revelation Prince William shared, highlighting a more modern, relatable approach to royal life compared to past generations who sometimes used separate beds for status or privacy. While they have separate bedrooms for some downtime and might use separate beds when traveling on the royal train due to its layout, their usual arrangement at home is together, with their dog as a regular bedfellow.
The "baby brain" comment refers to a widely reported incident from Prince Harry's memoir Spare, where Meghan Markle allegedly told Kate Middleton she must have "baby brain because of her hormones" following Kate's birth of Prince Louis in 2018, causing a significant rift because Kate found the comment offensive, leading to a dispute about appropriate ways to speak within the Royal Family, although Meghan viewed it as a lighthearted comment she'd use with friends.