cutecumber3
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I’m torn between whether to pursue medical school or a PsyD. I feel like I have a lot of conflicting things to consider. Has anyone ever navigated a similar question? How did you decide?
My thought process:
Has anyone been in a similar predicament? Most of the forums I’ve read can be summed up to, “If you have any interest in medicine at all, go to med school” but I feel like it’s a bit more complex in my situation. Can a clinical psych degree (or possibly a neuropsychology degree) fulfill that itch to study medicine? Is medical school extremely physically demanding (can someone with chronic illnesses survive)?
My thought process:
- I absolutely love clinical work. I despise research and find it monotonous. I primarily want to work with clients/patients.
- Psychology is my primary passion.
- I also love medicine. I could learn about various medical topics, from neurology to urology, all day long.
- I suck at math. Truly, I’m at a fifth grade level. I haven’t taken any chemistry courses yet but I suspect I will do terribly.
- I have a current 4.0 GPA in undergrad, but I haven’t yet taken any chemistry or upper level biology courses. I breezed through my psych requirements. (But maybe if I get a C in ochem, my current GPA will cushion it.)
- I have multiple disabilities that render me unable to stand for long periods of time, unable to bend over (such as to perform CPR), and I have frequent flare ups which leave me bedridden for days. I am generally medically fragile, so I worry that medical school would be too physically demanding for me. I also worry that being matched into a residency program across the country would impossible for me, as I firstly cannot drive, and I secondly need to stay local to my specialists.
- I haven’t felt challenged in psychology in a while. It just clicks for me with minimal studying. I still love the field, but medicine excites me and my future feels somewhat empty without it.
- Within the field of psychology, conducting assessments and evaluating patients for a diagnosis appeals to me above all else. I’ve read that psychiatrists don’t typically do this.
- I would love to dual-specialize in neurology if I take the medical school route, because that will incorporate the physical aspect of medicine with the psychological.
- I can barely get through the biology labs at my university because they’re 100 degrees and require a lot of standing and leaning over, which greatly affects my health.
- I’ve been in a lot of leadership positions, research positions, and had a solid amount of clinical experiences, so I feel like I have a solid foundation to work towards a PsyD or an MD/DO.
Has anyone been in a similar predicament? Most of the forums I’ve read can be summed up to, “If you have any interest in medicine at all, go to med school” but I feel like it’s a bit more complex in my situation. Can a clinical psych degree (or possibly a neuropsychology degree) fulfill that itch to study medicine? Is medical school extremely physically demanding (can someone with chronic illnesses survive)?