Can I make it?

[opheracco]

I'm a non-trad whom, since he was in his very late teens, has been interested in mental health. I first considered Psychology since, quiet honestly, I didn't even know the difference between it and Psychiatry was. That was years over a decade ago.

At this time, I consider myself a premed. My old GPA from an AAS in Computer Science was about a 3.2. After the .com crash is when I graduated and I couldn't even get a low level job. I was in a rut delivering pizzas for over a year.

To make a long story short(er), I decided to look further into mental health. Again I thought Psychology until I found out that Psychiatrists make much better money for the time spent in academia AND can prescribe medication. I'm in my mid-30's, life has flown by like it does for everyone, yet I haven't reached my goal.

In a short amount of time, I've taken a lot of courses, some necessarily pre-med, some not. The one's that are not specifically pre-med are necessary for my BS in Biology. Here's my list with notation where needed.

Gen Chem I - B (taken over a 4 week period)
Gen Chem II - B (taken over the next 4 week summer period)
Gen Bio I - A
Gen Bio II - A
College Algebra - A
Trigonometry - B
Calculus I - A (needed for BS degree)
O-Chem I - A
O-Chem II - A

O-Chem, out of all of these classes was the hardest, but I also enjoyed it. My current semester is about 2 steps away from insanity.

Calculus Based Physics I - Currently have an A
Calculus II - Currently have an A
BioChem - Currently have an A

Anyway, you can see my grades. I don't believe Adcoms will peer very hard at my 'old' GPA and will look mostly at my current progress.
My question is, if I'm feeling stressed out with my current load, what chance will I have at Med School, and beyond that, passing the Psychiatry boards (which I'm still nearly ignorant about)?

I'm looking for opinions from people who are 'in route' who are either Med Students, Psych Residents, our Psychiatrists who have recently started practicing in the real world (I don't think Phychs who made it into the field 20 years ago represent the current situation).

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[gman33]

I don't believe Adcoms will peer very hard at my 'old' GPA and will look mostly at my current progress.

You couldn't be more wrong about this.
The first thing they look it is your overall GPA.

That being said, recent coursework is looked at, but only after they make the initial cut.

Check out the non-trad forums for advice on applying.

 

[WhoisJohnGalt]

This is not the best forum for your question. The majority of us are at least 5+ years out from med school admissions, and that's your hurdle right now. Your college GPA won't have a thing to do with how you would do in psychiatry specifically, but it will certainly play into med school admission. I would head over to pre-med or the non-trad forum as previously suggested to get the best advice on your situation. Good luck.

 

[pingouin]

Moving to Non-Trad forum.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I'm a non-trad whom, since he was in his very late teens, has been interested in mental health. I first considered Psychology since, quiet honestly, I didn't even know the difference between it and Psychiatry was. That was years over a decade ago.

At this time, I consider myself a premed. My old GPA from an AAS in Computer Science was about a 3.2. After the .com crash is when I graduated and I couldn't even get a low level job. I was in a rut delivering pizzas for over a year.

To make a long story short(er), I decided to look further into mental health. Again I thought Psychology until I found out that Psychiatrists make much better money for the time spent in academia AND can prescribe medication. I'm in my mid-30's, life has flown by like it does for everyone, yet I haven't reached my goal.

In a short amount of time, I've taken a lot of courses, some necessarily pre-med, some not. The one's that are not specifically pre-med are necessary for my BS in Biology. Here's my list with notation where needed.

Gen Chem I - B (taken over a 4 week period)
Gen Chem II - B (taken over the next 4 week summer period)
Gen Bio I - A
Gen Bio II - A
College Algebra - A
Trigonometry - B
Calculus I - A (needed for BS degree)
O-Chem I - A
O-Chem II - A

O-Chem, out of all of these classes was the hardest, but I also enjoyed it. My current semester is about 2 steps away from insanity.

Calculus Based Physics I - Currently have an A
Calculus II - Currently have an A
BioChem - Currently have an A

Anyway, you can see my grades. I don't believe Adcoms will peer very hard at my 'old' GPA and will look mostly at my current progress.
My question is, if I'm feeling stressed out with my current load, what chance will I have at Med School, and beyond that, passing the Psychiatry boards (which I'm still nearly ignorant about)?

I'm looking for opinions from people who are 'in route' who are either Med Students, Psych Residents, our Psychiatrists who have recently started practicing in the real world (I don't think Phychs who made it into the field 20 years ago represent the current situation).

It looks to me like your hurdle is not psychiatry - but med school. And here you are in not bad shape - depending on your residency state. You're GPA is low, but not unbearably so. There are a lot of people who get in with this kind of GPA.

The specialty that you are looking to enter is not a specially competitive residency, so a DO school is a good possibility for you. Since you apparently care more about practicalities rather than titles, DO probably won't bother you.

Everything will depend on your MCAT score. If you can get above 30, you are in good shape. Try out the free exam a e-mcat.com (in a real world environment, this is a limited resource, there are only a few real MCAT's available for purchase, don't waste them).

BTW, several people here will tell you that you should not pick a specialty before entering med school. I don't know if this applies to psych.