Decided to do pre-med; I can be a Psychiatrist by 45! Woop! Woop!

[BeGladNonTrad]

Two years ago I contemplated being a doctor and decided against it for a a few different reasons. I felt I could make a change by doing an MBA and going into consulting then working with non-profits and using my skills to establish true socially conscious businesses. I said it out loud about 4 months ago and decided I'd rather give med school a jab💉.

Took an online Intro to Human Bio and Biological Psychology course and really enjoyed learning. It was a bit tough due to these courses being 5-week summer courses. I'm currently signed up for online Physics with lab (I work full time), and am waiting to be allowed to sign up for an in person chem w/ lab at a local 4-year.

Due to the late start, I'm trying to plan this out so I'm not being inefficient with my time - I really would like to be a psychiatrist by 45 instead of 50. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction with some questions I may have.

Goal: Psychiatry (Possibly combo Residency for IM/Psych - long time to decide)

Background:

• Completed undergraduate business degree 8 years ago (3.14 GPA), was unemployed for two years, worked at a local regional bank (Commercial/community banking credit admin) for the remainder
• I did a lot of volunteer work in undergrad, I do some when time allows after work.
• As noted above, I jumped on two summer courses as soon as I decided to try studying again. I barely got A's in both, but I think I can manage med school.
  • Signed up for Online Physics with Lab (only because UC San Francisco asks for physics labs still 😐) and I'm trying to get a spot for an in person chem with lab course at a local 4 year.

The plan: (Rough Draft)

1. If I can handled phsyics and chem at the same time; I'm going all in. I'll probably use my work vacation time to study so I'm not too overwhelmed.
   • I wanted to speed run things, but decided against it. I know medical school and residency will be stressful, so I'd like to treat my self as best I can as I prepare for the decade and a half endeavor.
   • I took Calc, Stats, and Philosphy courses during my undergrad.
2. I'll continue to take Chemistry and try to snag an in-person phsyics with lab at a local CC. I'll be taking chem at a school that uses a quarter system, so I could meet my year of Chem by Spring quarter if things worked out.
3. I'm thinking of quitting my full time job and taking on a part time (I live with roommates as in anyway). Then trying to mimic the curriculum of a Post Bacc program in terms of scheduling my coursework to speed up the process. I'll be living on a budget, but I plan to really treat myself with hobbies, exercise and learning. I've worked for 6 years and could use the break.
   1. An alternative to the part time job would be applying for a full time role at a lab that offers such opportunities, such as the ones at Stanford.
   2. The course plan for my "Gap year": (BioChem +Ochem1) (Summer Sociology and/or Psychology Course) (Ochem2 + microbio or physiology)
      1. During this time I'll also do volunteer work. I really want to work with Court Appointed Special Advocates, but will also look at health specific stuff.
4. Sit for the MCAT by fall of 2025 and pass.

I'm going to sit down and work an actual timeline.

Random Thoughts

• This is scary. I hope it works out well and it allows me to enrich my life.
• I still don't know how the course selection works despite researching a few different curriculums for med school
  • I want to be a good physician to give my patients the best quality of care. I'm thinking I should try to get in some undergraduate Endocronology, Neurology and/or microbio courses.
• This is a lot to learn. A lot of which I might forget ... I don't want it to go to waste. I wish I could be a GP to my psych patients - really make it a whole person treatment.
  • What if I do a double residencey so I can help out in both fields? online psychiatrist and community clinic physician?
  • What if, I just did psych, but partnered with a local physician and I could take on a role of a PA or NP for my psych patients, and some of their patients?
• I visualize myself working with teenagers and adults.
  • I sit in an office, a teenager is my patient, the parents are confused about what the medication does or doesn't. I try to destigmatize psychiatric conditions and provide reassurance that I'm doing my best.
  • I try to encourage my patients to become involved in their treatment, present them with options, suggest journaling to see how treatments are working and so we can track progress.
• I'm 40 in med school, still don't have my own apartment(?) I'm happy. Glad I took it easy with the years of pre-reqs. School is challenging, but I had enough time to set healthy habits, and practice my hobbies, so that I don't feel like I'm "missing out" on life. I can work on a painting because I already took the time to develop sufficient skill so I can get into a meditative flow state and produce a satisfactory product. I can play along to songs I like on the drums to destress, because I already put in the effort to learn the skills and I'm just maintaining. Maybe I can destress with an ocasional morning surf too?
  • Hoping I'm not stressing out being in a financial hole, worried about the future of healthcare for people, my ability to crawl out of debt and be happy, so that I can live long happy life serving my community as a physician. I won't be sitting in an apartment with three loud dirty roommates, wondering if I made the wrong choice while my peers/ old friends are developing their careers and relationships with each other.

Thanks for reading this post. I appreciate any feedback or other ciritical opinions about anything I wrote. This also served as a freewriting exercise to get my thoughts on "paper" so I can start organizing them.

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[premed19876787]

1. Good for you for deciding to go back to school
2. Don’t make life plans at 12:43 am
3. That gpa is low. Your goal is to get straight A and raise that gpa as much as possible. Go where that will be easiest (community colleges etc.) Before signing up for any class make sure you’ve researched the professor and their grading.
4. I don’t believe psych is too competitive so can easily get there from a DO.
5. Stop thinking 15 steps ahead. It’s a waste of time and chances are something will change. Start with pre med courses and getting A’s, then come back here when you’re almost done and ready to start prepping for mcat. Your grades now are the most important thing and thinking of anything else is useless/a waste of time.

6. Good luck!

 

[Dral]

Some thoughts on your random thoughts:

You seem to express a desire to get on with it and get to practicing. Talking about taking unnecessary undergrad classes and dual-residencies do not align with that. I would argue that undergrad endocrinology will not translate down the line to making you much better of an endocrinologist or GP for that matter. It will give you a better base for medical school, and someone may argue that a better base of knowledge can translate down the line to a better practitioner, but overall any benefit is not worth the time invested.

While some people can excel at two or more different fields, if you want to really excel, I'd generally recommend sticking to one thing (at least from my personal experience). While a GP can focus on psych and treat patients, and vice versa; you may not be as proficient at both as you desire. Decide which you want to be (A psychiatrist who is ok managing a few GP things like blood pressure and diabetes or a GP who is ok managing a few psych conditions like depression and anxiety). Again, don't sell yourself short if you think you can really excel at both, but it's not easy.

Patients on average read at the 8th grade level. The AMA recommends patient materials be at the 6th grade reading level or below. Unless you are in a geographic area that lies significantly outside that average, your patients will not be a part of reading journal articles.

 

[BeGladNonTrad]

Patients on average read at the 8th grade level. The AMA recommends patient materials be at the 6th grade reading level or below. Unless you are in a geographic area that lies significantly outside that average, your patients will not be a part of reading journal articles.

I meant them making a personal journal.

 

[Dral]

Gotcha. That's a good idea.

Anyway, best of luck. Stay focused and you should be able to get to where you want to be. If for some reason you change course, MPH or PsyD training may be other options for you if you have a desire to make healthcare improvements in the realm of psychiatry.

 

[gyngyn]

I don’t believe psych is too competitive so can easily get there from a DO.

Psych has become quite competitive. There were only 21 unfilled spots this year (2,164 were offered). Yes, DO's did match, but many fine candidates (including MD's) did not.
My advice is that applicants need to be open to the likelihood that they may well be a generalist. Proceed if they would be content with that outcome.

 

[BeGladNonTrad]

Psych has become quite competitive. There were only 21 unfilled spots this year (2,164 were offered). Yes, DO's did match, but many fine candidates (including MD's) did not.
My advice is that applicants need to be open to the likelihood that they may well be a generalist. Proceed if they would be content with that outcome.

Generalist is my backup! But things change, times change. Maybe I'll decide something different? (Maybe I fail O'chem and pack it up )

I have no doubt this competitiveness is due to the remote work opportunities and the current salary estimates. Ideally, it is also driven by the awareness and desire to provide relief to those with psychiatric conditions.

I bet there will be a downtrend in salaries so maybe this will influence competitiveness? I wonder how the role and medicine will change in general over the next decade. The neurobehavioral, nuerological and pharamacological research that's been going on this past decade has been exciting; hopefully it allows us to develop better, accessible treatment plans!

I'm curious about why they specifically mentioned that I can get into psych easily from a DO?

 

[PeteytheFish]

I'm curious about why they specifically mentioned that I can get into psych easily from a DO?

Because they are misinformed. Psych had a run where it was less competitive, but in recent years, it has picked up considerably. The point wasn't that DOs specifically had a good route into psych but rather that psych was so not competitive that even DOs would have an easy time matching into it. This is not the case. It is increasingly competitive for both MDs and DOs and many applicants fail to match every year, even from the most reputable medical schools.