Cardiologist Educational Requirements

Cardiologists are medical doctors who deal with problems related to the heart and the cardiovascular system, such as hypertension and heart failure. They perform stress tests, cardiac catheterization and radiological studies to check patient's heart and cardiovascular-system function.

College/Medical School

• You must go to college and complete coursework in math, chemistry, biology and physics, then pass the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) to enter medical school. The first two years of medical school are spent studying basic sciences, and the last two years students begin hands-on training with patients.

Residency

• Residency is a period of about three years after medical school when cardiologists will spend time refining the skills they have learned, concentrating on internal medicine.

Fellowship

• Cardiologists complete a two- to three-year fellowship for more specialized training to learn how to communicate with patients, understand medicines and use diagnostic tools.

Specialty

• Cardiologists have a primary specialty of internal medicine, surgery or pediatrics and a subspecialty of cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery or pediatric cardiology.

Salary

• Cardiologists earn about $241,000 a year, on average, according to salary.com Those cardiologists specializing in surgery will earn about $275,000, and those work in pediatric cardiology will average $229,000 each year.