Hi all. I am new to SDN, still in the pre-med phase and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this. I am a non-trad planning to apply to med school in the next year or 2, so I won't be starting until around age 28 or 29 if all goes according to plan (where, oh where, does the time go? I feel like I graduated from college just yesterday..). I have heard that my age will put me at somewhat of a disadvantage for MD schools, but I may be more welcomed by DO schools which I am ok with. My primary interest has always been pediatrics - most of my clinical volunteering and shadowing experience has been in the field. However, I'm also interested in psychiatry. Developmental psychology and neuroscience were my favorite subjects in undergrad, and I have some idea of what psychiatrists do based on personal experience and some family experiences. I know shadowing a psychiatrist is very difficult/impossible due to privacy issues, but I was wondering if child psychiatrists might be more open to shadowing? I'm guessing the parents woudl have to approve. I've been considering emailing child psychiatrists in my area to inquire about shadowing or just talk to me about their job, but I don't know if this is even appropriate. Any advice? And if anyone in the field would like to share their views on it and feelings about their job that would be great. I know it's an understaffed field so I'm guessing there are some major drawbacks.
Shadowing a Child Psychiatrist?
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I think you would be able to talk to a psych about the job , in order to shadow you might need permission from both the parents and child if they are older 13-17. On an inpatient unit it would be easier to shadow but only if the school is affiliated with a med school or residency. In outpatient it might very hard since there are privacy issues also, most people don't want a stranger listening to there personal live.
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Once you're actually in medical school, you'll have the legitimacy of being a student, and might have an easier time setting these things up.
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Look into Australia med schools. Excellent education, you get the MD and they like non-trads. It's not for everybody, but def some great opportunities and you start in January.
For example, if I wanted I could do my mental health rotation in the most isolated place on earth. Kinda cool to think about. This is because my Australian rotations can be done anywhere in Australia and Australia is home to some of the most desolate human settlements on the planet. It is the same size as US but only 1/14 the population approximate.
For example, if I wanted I could do my mental health rotation in the most isolated place on earth. Kinda cool to think about. This is because my Australian rotations can be done anywhere in Australia and Australia is home to some of the most desolate human settlements on the planet. It is the same size as US but only 1/14 the population approximate.
Yeah, international schools seem interesting. I have an acquaintance who went to Barts and the London (I was shocked she was able to get in there and not an American MD school) and had amazing international experiences there, but I think the cost of attendance is outrageous for Americans in addition to it taking 5, rather than 4 years. I'd be afraid I couldn't come back for residency.
Anyway, back on topic... the inpatient unit in my area takes volunteers so I may look into that.
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Not sure why you say your age would be a big disadvantage for MD schools, 28/29 is not super old to be starting medschool. So unless you have other reasons to think MD schools wouldn't like you then I definitely wouldn't limit myself to DO schools which on average tend to be more expensive than your state MD school and also often have less ideal clinical rotation situations.
I think shadowing outpatient child psych is way easier to set up than shadowing outpatient adult psych because inherently its not expected to be an exclusively one on one encounter. I did some child psych shadowing as a premed, the child psychiatrist just had me come shadow when he was seeing followups where he already knew the patient/family and knew there weren't any sort of child maltreatment type situations. In my very short experience it seemed especially the parents of kids with ADHD were perfectly happy to have an extra person in the room. Also obviously way better to do this in a teaching hospital system because then everyone is used to having extra folks around.
I think shadowing outpatient child psych is way easier to set up than shadowing outpatient adult psych because inherently its not expected to be an exclusively one on one encounter. I did some child psych shadowing as a premed, the child psychiatrist just had me come shadow when he was seeing followups where he already knew the patient/family and knew there weren't any sort of child maltreatment type situations. In my very short experience it seemed especially the parents of kids with ADHD were perfectly happy to have an extra person in the room. Also obviously way better to do this in a teaching hospital system because then everyone is used to having extra folks around.
Interesting. Did you just email the doctors you shadowed? Shadowing was super easy as an undergrad, because we could sign up through our school's official program. Out here in the real world I have found it a bit harder to find opportunities.
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Do you live near your undergrad? I know some undergrads "premed services" (for lack of a better term) will help out alumni. Otherwise I think its best if you kind find something through your personal network, getting involved in some sort of research project is one way to expand your network. Another way is finding non-profits / charities that local physicians are involved in and volunteering at them. If your religious your temple/church/mosque is also a great resource.
All this being said its probably not important for you to do all this, I think most premeds are overkill in what they do as far as getting into medschool.
Unfortunately no, I don't live near my undergrad. I do live in a city with a lot of academic and county hospitals so I've been volunteering and doing some scattered shadowing. I have a full time job in addition to MCAT prep for the may exam so I'm really just focusing on that right now. Are you a psych resident? I was always interested in general peds, but the pediatricians I've been shadowing seem kind of disgruntled about how little time they have to spend with patients, which seems to add a lot of stress. In child psych, it seems that you have a bit more time to spend on each case.
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Their Med school is the same 4 years not 5. The cost is comparable to most usa private schools.
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Im still a medstudent, but have just recentely chose psych myself so I know what its like to think aboit these things.
Its been said a lot on this board, but worry about if you want to be a physician first and then worry about speciality later. If in your mind the difference between going into pediatrics vs child psych is enough to influence if you want to go to medschool then I would advise against medschool.
But if your open to multiple things then I would say don't spend any time trying to choose a specialty now.
