Best additional degree before psychiatry?

[EcstaticPanda]

So I am thinking about applying to a master's program if I don't get in to medical school this cycle. I'm starting to get antsy without an acceptance yet and want a backup plan. So far I am considering public health, neuroscience and psychology. A lot of medical schools are pushing their masters in biomedical sciences but I don't see how this would give me anything other than an application boost since most of them are just the first year science curriculum (based on the few I have looked into). Any thoughts on what would be most beneficial, or other programs that I do not know of, that would be helpful some day as a psychiatrist? Thanks!

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[Sushirolls]

Never been a food server, but I suspect the jobs where you get exposed to ridiculous verbal abuse in customer service will help prepare you for that day on the inpatient unit, or ED, or office where you get yelled at because you are the devil incarnate, or the 'bad doctor who won't give me what I need, and I know my body, and I know what works!' 'I need more xanax!!!'

Other than that, have quality life experiences and be opened minded to the scat others experience and how it impacts their life choices.

In summary nothing will truly prepare other than a Psychiatry residency. First step is to focus on getting admitted into medical school and that is real and only question before you to ask. How do I get into medical school?

 

[TexasPhysician]

In-person MBA. Medical school and residency will teach you the rest.

 

[FlowRate]

Master's of computer science / data science. Then you have a lucrative career path if the med school thing doesn't pan out and a useful skillset for medicine-adjacent work (research, startups, informatics) if you do.

Probably won't help you get in to med school tho.

 

[AD04]

I would do a 2-year nursing program, maybe at a community college. Tuition is more affordable than a master's degree. It'll bump up your GPA. During your interviews, you can demonstrate that healthcare is your passion as you're in the field already. And if you can't get into medical school, you can embark on your nursing journey and still make good money. If you are ambitious, learn about business or computer science on your own -- depending on your aptitude -- to become a double threat. If you wow your employer, the institution may even pay for your education (e.g. MBA if the executives are grooming you to climb the ranks of hospital hierarchy).

 

[Stagg737]

So I am thinking about applying to a master's program if I don't get in to medical school this cycle. I'm starting to get antsy without an acceptance yet and want a backup plan. So far I am considering public health, neuroscience and psychology. A lot of medical schools are pushing their masters in biomedical sciences but I don't see how this would give me anything other than an application boost since most of them are just the first year science curriculum (based on the few I have looked into). Any thoughts on what would be most beneficial, or other programs that I do not know of, that would be helpful some day as a psychiatrist? Thanks!

I have a master's in a similar field to one of the ones you mentioned, and I've found the neuroscience classes to be most useful for understanding chemical pathways and all the molecules in psych. I do feel I have a bit better of an understanding than many of my peers. Much of this knowledge is only relevant in an academic sense, but I have had a few cases where understanding the molecular interactions/specific MOAs or receptor targets have been helpful to patients. Psychology could also be useful if you're interested in therapy as well as getting a better understanding of the non-medication (psychosocial) aspects of our patients. Some residencies may do very well at teaching this, some not so much.

In-person MBA. Medical school and residency will teach you the rest.

Tbh I did the first part of an in-person MBA in the past at a fairly solid program (Top 50 nationally) and I didn't find it to be particularly useful other than understanding larger health systems. In terms of runnings a practice or more relevant individual aspects I've learned far more from this forum than I did in that program.

 

[Bartelby]

What was your undergraduate degree? Maybe doing relevant research for a year, or building on the undergrad degree if that is of interest? I think doing something that is a good fallback option (rather than just an application booster) makes sense.

 

[Old&InTheWay]

PhD in philosophy. Actually, the degree doesn't matter at all. Just learn to think.

 

[Merovinge]

I get that everyone here is trying to help you reach the dream of medical school, but if you have not gotten into a school this cycle, I strongly suggest working on something that can lead to it's own career if medical school does not work out.

Nursing-->NP is a reasonable option, although I personally don't find this a great substitute for real medical training, it does keep you in the desired field. If psychotherapy is an interest you can always get a masters to set you up to become an LCPC or do social work through to a LCSW, although again I think the doctorate programs provide the best training, sometimes one just needs to work with what is in front of oneself. Certainly anything in the data sciences is the hottest button right now and if you somehow are inclined in this area, you can't go wrong.

 

[Monocles]

Master's of computer science / data science. Then you have a lucrative career path if the med school thing doesn't pan out and a useful skillset for medicine-adjacent work (research, startups, informatics) if you do.

Probably won't help you get in to med school tho.

Not sure if Flowrate is serious or not but this is actually a pretty financially viable route.

Masters of compsci/data science is about 60k on average for the whole 2 year program (wife is looking into this). When you graduate the salary is anywhere from 100k+ to the sky's the limit.

Let's run some estimates in a perfect hypothetical economic vacuum where there's no interest or inflation

So going the compsci route, your *earnings* (not factoring in expenses yet) will look something like this.

Year 1 -30k
Year 2 -60k
Year 3 +40k
Year 4 +140k
...
Year 10 +740k worth of earnings

Whereas the MD route is on average 200k cost for a 4 year program, assuming 60k+ resident salary, 200k+ attending salary

Year 1 -50k
Year 2 -100k
Year 3 -150k
Year 4 -200k
Year 5 -140k
Year 6 -80k
Year 7 -20k
Year 8 +40k
Year 9 +240k
Year 10 +440k worth of earnings

So it looks like with the MD route your earning potential lags behind even in our perfect "vacuum world". Now accounting for debt interest, investment opportunity costs, etc, it gets too complicated for me to do the mental math but I get the feeling that the compsci person will do just as financially well, if not better than the doctor over the course of decades.

Interesting food for thought!

 

[WisNeuro]

At every non-VA I've worked at, upper management is all clinicians with MBA/MPHs, so if you are masochistic enough to want to get into hospital leadership, that's probbaly one of your high yield choices.

 

[FlowRate]

Not sure if Flowrate is serious or not but this is actually a pretty financially viable route.

Well, serious in one sense but not a serious reply to OP. A master's in CS would probably not be an application boost for med school, which is what OP is really looking for. Might even hurt depending on how annoying any given adcom is about "showing commitment to medicine." But if OP can fathom not being in medicine then it's the same reason I majored in chemical engineering and not bio/biochem.

 

[robellis]

Not sure if Flowrate is serious or not but this is actually a pretty financially viable route.

Masters of compsci/data science is about 60k on average for the whole 2 year program (wife is looking into this). When you graduate the salary is anywhere from 100k+ to the sky's the limit.

Let's run some estimates in a perfect hypothetical economic vacuum where there's no interest or inflation

So going the compsci route, your *earnings* (not factoring in expenses yet) will look something like this.

Year 1 -30k
Year 2 -60k
Year 3 +40k
Year 4 +140k
...
Year 10 +740k worth of earnings

Whereas the MD route is on average 200k cost for a 4 year program, assuming 60k+ resident salary, 200k+ attending salary

Year 1 -50k
Year 2 -100k
Year 3 -150k
Year 4 -200k
Year 5 -140k
Year 6 -80k
Year 7 -20k
Year 8 +40k
Year 9 +240k
Year 10 +440k worth of earnings

So it looks like with the MD route your earning potential lags behind even in our perfect "vacuum world". Now accounting for debt interest, investment opportunity costs, etc, it gets too complicated for me to do the mental math but I get the feeling that the compsci person will do just as financially well, if not better than the doctor over the course of decades.

Interesting food for thought!

If you’re making 200k as an attending in this market, you’re doing things very wrong, those were last decades numbers

 

[Monocles]

If you’re making 200k as an attending in this market, you’re doing things very wrong, those were last decades numbers

1) I meant it more as a floor for comparison purposes

2) I'm doing things wrong

 

[EcstaticPanda]

Thanks everyone, this has given me lots to think about. My undergrad degree was human physiology so its not really useable on its own. I agree, I don't want to waste money on a degree just to look good on an application and I definitely want to stay in the healthcare field.

 

[lemurwithananner]

Well, serious in one sense but not a serious reply to OP. A master's in CS would probably not be an application boost for med school, which is what OP is really looking for. Might even hurt depending on how annoying any given adcom is about "showing commitment to medicine." But if OP can fathom not being in medicine then it's the same reason I majored in chemical engineering and not bio/biochem.

A master's in CS would be super helpful if you have any interest in computational psychiatry, a fascinating and important developing field within psychiatry/neuroscience