Cardiologist
❤️Treats diseases of the heart and blood vessels: high blood pressure, arrhythmias, heart failure. Reads ECGs and echo scans, chooses treatment and follows patients for years.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $288.3k a year on average
Physicians — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £100.2k median a year · 164,000 jobs
Specialist medical practitioners — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
AI already reads ECGs and Holter recordings and predicts risk. The doctor still pieces the picture together, chooses the treatment and agrees it with the patient.
Who it suits
Interests: 🩺 Medicine and health, 🧬 Biology, 🤝 Helping and caring, 📐 Maths and data.
Key strengths: science, logic, attention to detail, understanding people.
Where to study
- Medical degree MBBS / MBChB Medicine (UK, EU), MD (US, after a bachelor's)
- Residency Internal medicine training, then cardiology specialty training / fellowship
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Physics.
🧗 UK: 5–6-year medical degree (chemistry, biology, UCAT), 2 foundation years, internal medicine, then 4–5 years of cardiology. US: bachelor's, MD, 3-year residency, 3-year fellowship. Licence required.
Universities
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- University of Oxford Oxford · €43k–72.2k/yr
IELTS 7.5 (7.0 each); subject test (MAT, PAT, TSA, LNAT, UCAT), interview; apply by 15 Oct; medicine takes ≤14 international students/yr - University of Cambridge Cambridge · €33.4k–81.1k/yr
IELTS 7.5 (7.0 each); subject test (ESAT, TMUA, LNAT, UCAT), interview; apply by 15 Oct; plus college fee £12–14.5k/yr - Imperial College London London · €49.1k–52.3k/yr
A-levels/IB or a recognised foundation; IELTS 6.5–7.0; ESAT/TMUA tests; medicine: UCAT + interview, £58.6k/yr
🇺🇸 United States
- Harvard Medical School Boston
MD after a bachelor's + MCAT; without a US/Canadian degree rarely admitted, needs 1+ year of study in US/Canada - Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore
MD after a bachelor's + MCAT; foreign degree needs 1+ year at a US college; TOEFL; prove $76,397 for year one - Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, CA
MD after a bachelor's + MCAT; internationals need 1+ year at a US/Canadian/UK college; one year of funds before I-20
🇩🇪 Germany
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin · free
Medicine/dentistry: 5% of places for non-EU, via uni-assist, selection by grade only; DSH-2/3 or Goethe C2 by the deadline - Heidelberg University Heidelberg · €3k/yr
Non-EU: €1,500 a semester (Baden-Württemberg); German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); medicine: non-EU quota, selection by grades * - LMU Munich Munich · free
No tuition; DSH-2, TestDaF 4 in all parts, telc C1 Hochschule; without it at least B2 to apply; medicine: non-EU quota
🇳🇱 Netherlands
- University of Amsterdam Amsterdam · €17.5k/yr
Certificate + usually 1 university year (Diploma finder); IELTS 6.5 (PPLE 7.0); medicine is Dutch-taught, numerus fixus, €34,700 - Erasmus University Rotterdam Rotterdam · €13.5k–32.2k/yr
Certificate + usually 1 university year; IELTS ≈ 6.5; medicine is Dutch-taught, numerus fixus (400 places), €32,200 - Leiden University Leiden · €14.3k/yr
Certificate + usually 1 university year; IELTS 6.0–7.0 by programme (International Studies 6.0, LUC 7.0); medicine is numerus fixus
🇫🇷 France
- Sorbonne University Paris · €200–2.9k/yr
DAP, French B2; medicine via PASS/LAS with selection into year 2; waiver of €2,902 under university criteria - Université Paris Cité Paris · €200–2.9k/yr
DAP, B2; 2026/27 moratorium — non-EU pay €178; medicine/pharmacy via PASS/LAS - Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 Lyon · €2.9k/yr
DAP, B2; non-EU pay €2,902 (individual waivers up to 30%); medicine/dentistry via PASS/LAS
🇮🇹 Italy
- University of Milan Milan · €1.1k–4.3k/yr
12 school years; Italian B2 (English B2 for English programmes); programme tests; income abroad: fixed fee by country group - University of Bologna Bologna · €1.2k/yr
English programmes: B2 (some B1), selection by SAT, TOLC-E or CEnT-S; 12 school years. Non-OECD citizens: €1,157 a year - Humanitas University Pieve Emanuele
Medicine in English: own online admission test (March), 50 of 200 places for non-EU
🇪🇸 Spain
- University of Barcelona Barcelona · €1.8k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE for score; many classes in Catalan; non-EU €30/ECTS * - Autonomous University of Madrid Madrid · €6.8k–8.2k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; non-EU pay ≈ 7× more (e.g. €6,823 vs €1,015) - University of Navarra Pamplona · €11.8k–20.4k/yr
Private: own admission process; year 1 €11,750–20,400 (medicine); bilingual/International tracks available
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- Charles University (First Faculty of Medicine) Prague · €0–24.3k/yr
Free in Czech (Czech B2, biology/chemistry/physics exam); General Medicine in English €24,250/yr - Masaryk University Brno · €0–16k/yr
Free in Czech; English €2,700–7,500/yr (Informatics €4,500), Medicine CZK 380,000; Czech ≈B2 + entrance exams - Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc · €0–14k/yr
Free in Czech (Czech ≈B2 + exams); in English: Medicine €12,500, Dentistry €14,000/yr
Things to know
🌙 Night shifts and on-call📚 Studying 6+ years
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