I'm lost about what I need to do.

[pushzgas]

Psychiatry. Its what I want to do. I just have many, many doubts.

I'm 18, and attending a two year community college to earn my H&S Associates Degree in Science. I didn't graduate High School, I have my GED. I don't know what to do/go after I graduate (2010/11), is there someone who can kinda give me a preview of what to expect, and advice of what I should do? Thanks in advance!


-Mandy

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[NewmansOwn]

Psychiatry. Its what I want to do. I just have many, many doubts.

I'm 18, and attending a two year community college to earn my H&S Associates Degree in Science. I didn't graduate High School, I have my GED. I don't know what to do/go after I graduate (2010/11), is there someone who can kinda give me a preview of what to expect, and advice of what I should do? Thanks in advance!


-Mandy

First, I should mention that you would be best served posting this in either the non-traditional students forum or the postbaccalaureate forum.

You need to attend a 4-year college/university. You need to do exceptionally well there academically, while building an impressive list of extracurriculars. You then need to do well on the MCAT and get yourself accepted to medical school. Then, you need to complete a 4-year psychiatry residency to be a board eligible psychiatrist.

Since I doubt you could start at a 4-year university this fall on such short notice, you're looking at basically 13 years minimum before you're a practicing psychiatrist.

Since your status says 'pre-psychology,' I feel compelled to ask...you do know that a 'psychiatrist' and 'psychologist' are two completely different careers with vastly different training requirements and practice environments, right?

 

[billypilgrim37]

You need to attend a 4-year college/university.

It seems very possible that, depending on if the community college work included the pre-med curricium, you could transfer to a 4-year university and complete a bachelor's in another 2-3 years. However, you'll really have to shine, as you'll be compared in medical school admissions with people who took inevitably more competitive courses at the 4-year schools (i.e., an "A" in organic chemistry at a community college won't mean much if not backed up with A's in biochemistry and a handful of difficult, upper level science courses).

 

[erg923]

I would echo all this, but would also stress not to get ahead of yourself here. Frankly, you have quite the battle ahead of you.

Priority number one is getting your premed requirements filled. Then MCAT. Then medical school. Once in med school, your interests might change, you never know. It's not uncommon for people to end up in residencies that they never would have thought they'd be in when they first started med school.

If it is clinical psychology you're really interested in, I would encourage you to browse and search the clinical psych board on here, as there are plenty of discussions about the different degrees and what you need to do in order to be compettitve for admission. Keep in mind that the average acceptance rate for a clinical Ph.D programs is about 5-8 percent. Like medicine, it is a super competitive field for admission.

 

[whopper]

If you want to consider psychiatry, I suggest doing a psychology major at an undergraduate college in addition to the pre-med curriculum. While as a psychology major, take as many of the psychopharm, abnormal psychology, physiological psychology, psychotherapy classes you can, bearing in mind that most of the psychology classes do not deal with treating mental illness, so you'll have to cherry pick the ones that will gear towards psychiatry the most.

During this time, get your pre-med requirements and study for the MCAT.

 

[notdeadyet]

Major in what interests you. See if you still have a passion for medicine as you go along. If you do, take the science prereqs and the MCAT and apply. There's no secret sauce here.

Honest to god, med schools will not give a rats ***** what you major in, so you should really major in something you enjoy. You'll have years of studying what you're told, so you should enjoy your undergrad studies as much as possible.

 

[CAPBonanza]

Major in what interests you. See if you still have a passion for medicine as you go along. If you do, take the science prereqs and the MCAT and apply. There's no secret sauce here.

Honest to god, med schools will not give a rats ***** what you major in, so you should really major in something you enjoy. You'll have years of studying what you're told, so you should enjoy your undergrad studies as much as possible.

I totally agree with this. Don't pick something just because you think it will look good on a med school app or whatever else. If you want to take psychology, do that. But try to take as broad a course load as possible. Take literature. Take philosophy. Take a foreign language. You'll learn something about the human psyche that's not taught in medical school or in a clinical psychology program. Otherwise, at the end of all this, you'll be someone with a job and very little outside knowledge. Plus its the journey in education that's important, not necessarily the biochemistry, cell bio, or whatever else you'll quickly forget. For full disclosure, I was a Spanish Lit major in undergrad. It's one of the better decisions I made and I don't regret it for a second.

 

[billypilgrim37]

Plus its the journey in education that's important, not necessarily the biochemistry, cell bio, or whatever else you'll quickly forget. For full disclosure, I was a Spanish Lit major in undergrad. It's one of the better decisions I made and I don't regret it for a second.

That's all fine and dandy, but a med school admission committee is going to look down on pre-med classes from a community college. You don't have to major in a science to take more upper level science courses.

 

[CAPBonanza]

That's all fine and dandy, but a med school admission committee is going to look down on pre-med classes from a community college. You don't have to major in a science to take more upper level science courses.

Yes, he should take the course work at a 4 year university, I thought this had been addressed in a previous post. However, I took 4 upper level science courses. Most schools only require two. You probably don't need more than that if you do well in those courses. If not, yeah take more. But the idea that you need to take zoology or whatever BS class to get into med school is just that - BS. If you have an interest in Biology, you should take Biology. Or Chemistry. Or Classics. Or whatever. 80% of my med school class is filled with Bio/Chem majors. These kids don't know **** about the real world (where they will undoubtedly practice) or real people (who will be their patients) that didn't dwell in a fluorescent-lighted lab for 4 years. Psychiatry of all the fields in medicine is more interested in the human experience as opposed to the biochemical processes of the liver. It's important to be able to relate to our patients, and to their condition. It's a grave disservice to our patients and to ourselves if we don't strive to become well-rounded.

 

[billypilgrim37]

It's a grave disservice to our patients and to ourselves if we don't strive to become well-rounded.

Hey, I was a creative writing major, my wife a classics major. We met over a gerund in Catullus.

I think the caveat is that you can major in whatever you want to, provided you can formulate a rigorous study plan. Classics can be an entirely rigorous major if you spend your years reading primary texts until your eyes bleed. Or it can be pretty easy if you just take the minimum language requirements and take a lot of culture and history courses.

 

[notdeadyet]

That's all fine and dandy, but a med school admission committee is going to look down on pre-med classes from a community college.

Do you really think so? I've heard that a lot on SDN, but never heard it during actual admissions discussions. I interview for my school and I don't recall anyone every mentioning prereqs done at a community college. No one really cared, from what I could see. If you don't have the science ability, it shows on the MCAT.

But this could vary from regionally, I suppose. In California, a sizable number of UC graduates come via the community college system. At one point there was talk of even requiring it and converting all UC campuses to two year schools, having community colleges deliver the first two years. But I have heard that in some other states, the community college system can be pretty dire.

You don't have to major in a science to take more upper level science courses.

Agreed. Upper level science courses are a good idea, but not for community college transfers. They're a good idea for all applicants. A lot of schools require them now.

I think the caveat is that you can major in whatever you want to, provided you can formulate a rigorous study plan.

If you're a liberal arts major taking the solid year of science courses not required by your major, you'll probably end up with a pretty rigorous schedule. I wouldn't advise people to design intentionally masochistic study schedules. There's really no need. Get the most you can out of college.

There might be med schools out there looking for how many credits were taken each quarter and what class was taught by who, but they're probably pretty rare. I think most schools would rather have a well rounded candidate who had a healthy course load and lots of volunteering, research, clinical experience. I think one of the problems with so many applicants is that they focus so hard on taking every type of science course they can that they end up being pretty weak on the non-academic portion of their application. That can make for looking a little cookie-cutter, which can be a pretty bad thing with the volume of applications a school gets.

 

[whopper]

That's all fine and dandy, but a med school admission committee is going to look down on pre-med classes from a community college.

This is a complicated issue.

1-several schools--despite giving the same classes-the difficulty of the class varies dependingon the school. I went to a pre-med weed out college. An A or B in physics, organic chemistry, biology, chemistry or calculus was actually easier at the neighboring Princeton University (which was not a weed out school) vs my alma mater--Rutgers. (not based on a study, but on the anectdotal experiences of several of my friends who attended Princeton, then took a summer course at R.U.)

2-whether or not an admissions board is going to look down upon a community college class or not, the numbers game is what gets applicants past the initial filters--which pretty much are all determined by raw numbers, not by which school one attended. If someone has a 4.0 from a community college, and a 3.0 from a top school, the 4.0 student will likely get past the initial filters, while the 3.0 student will probably get tossed out.

Yes, when the pack is largely thinned, will admissions boards start to look at more personal things such as the personal statement, the interview, and perhaps even which school one attended, however, I've rarely seen anyone be able to truly know which out of the thousands of schools their candidates attended-which graded more difficult vs easier, and therefore several schools look to the MCAT as the equilizer, not the school.

So, yes perhaps going to a community college will be a disadvantage, but it can provide several advantages. Taking a CC course in a weed out school can provide some well deserved relief, and help a student get past those initial weed out filters. There could also be some very understandable factors as to why someone attended a CC such as lack of money, problems at home, etc.

its not like out of the 10,000 applicants will a admissions board start factor a school. Perhaps when its down a few candidates will they do such. If a person's made it to that point, then attending a CC probably didn't weigh them down.

 

[Indryd]

I barely graduated high school (as in 80% remedial work my senior year), then went to community college at 25 for 2 years. After that I went to a small state college and graduated as a Literature Major. I got into the H, the other H, and Cornell, which were the only places I bothered to interview because with those acceptances in the bag I thought I'd save money.

So, being a bad student early on isn't a death curse. Just work hard and be VERY patient.

 

[Doc Samson]

I barely graduated high school (as in 80% remedial work my senior year), then went to community college at 25 for 2 years. After that I went to a small state college and graduated as a Literature Major. I got into the H, the other H, and Cornell, which were the only places I bothered to interview because with those acceptances in the bag I thought I'd save money.

So, being a bad student early on isn't a death curse. Just work hard and be VERY patient.

What's "the other H"? Hopkins?

 

[Indryd]

What's "the other H"? Hopkins?

The other H is Harvard lol. THE H would of course be Hopkins

 

[notdeadyet]

The other H is Harvard lol. THE H would of course be Hopkins

I was thinking Humboldt State.

I've really got to head east more...

 

[Indryd]

I was thinking Humboldt State.

I've really got to head east more...

LOL! that's hilarious because I'm from Cali (didn't get a single interview at any Cali medschool despite what East Coast schools seem to think) and was on vacation and actually in Humboldt County a couple dozen miles from Humboldt state when I posted that post.

Small world.