KCOM and Psychiatry?

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Starfire

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I have a couple of questions. I'm going to work with kids with various disorders and to do this I need to be a doctor. All the docs at the hospital where I am a psych tech are MDs but being a DO makes sense (holistic healing). In addition, I've heard it is easier to get into a DO school. I had planned on being a psychologist (am a psych major) but I see I need the medical degree and I'm excited about it.
First question: I have a 3.9 in psych, and a 3.5 in science classes but a 3.25 in math. I have a 3.21 in GE. I've taken a practise MCAT and I did better than average. I believe I can score very well on the MCAT. I have a double minor in religion and chemistry. I will only meet the basic biology and physics requirements. I'm not strong in Math -- have to work very hard for the grade I get. I will not have any contact with a DO to get a reference letter. I will have excellent letters from the nurses and therapists and two doctors I work with. Do I have a shot at medical school, especially KCOM. Also what influance will the fact that I only want to be a psychiatrist not a GP have on my chances? And my referance will all by from the mental health field. How much is this going to hurt me? Basically, brutally do I have a chance? Any advice? Thanks

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Just do well in your MCAT's and you'll probably do fine....

BTW, don't use the word "holistic"....

Another thing...

WELCOME TO SDN!!! :D
 
One more thing... It would really help if you can get a letter of recommendation from a graduate of KCOM.... Good luck :cool:
 
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KCOM does not require a letter of reccomendation from a DO. I didn't have one. Heck I didn't even have a letter of rec from a doctor. Instead I went with a letter of rec. from an employer instead. I guess it worked ok as I got in.

As for not wanting to do general practice, just be honest when you apply. KCOM actually turns out a fairly large number of non Primary Care Graduates (for a DO school).

If you can find a DO or even a KCOM grad to get to know and talk to or at least a DO psychiatrist. The KCOM admissions office might even be able to help you in contacting a KCOM grad in your area. I think they are working on developing that program though I don't know if it is up and going yet.

good Luck.
 
A couple of suggestions from a current KCOM student: How high is 'better than average' on your trial-run MCAT? I'd recommend that you check your practice scores against the published average at KCOM, then figure your score when you actually take the MCAT will be a little lower (everyone's nervous, it's stressful), and that in order to be safe, you should score on the higher side of the mean.

Sometimes when students apply who are really turned on to doing one thing ('working with children'), the critique becomes that the applicant is too narrow, and that medical training is so broad, you like to take people who have curiosity in a lot of different spheres. If you want to get around that, probably the best thing to do is get some shadowing/volunteer clinical experiences in OTHER areas, to prove what a well-rounded doctor you are going to be. Just remember, it's partly a game, and it's partly reality.

Overall, there's no single one thing that's a guarantee. I know people who had double-digit MCATs across the board, and still had a difficult time getting in. But I think at least some of the people at KCOM are interested in improving Psych at the school; on the other hand, in my experience, the other medical schools I've been at all had better Psych curriculum than KCOM. I don't know if it's a DO school thing or just a KCOM thing or what. You might want to broaden your search pattern a bit, find schools that have excellent and strong Psychiatry faculty and curriculum and try to snuggle up to them. In any case, good luck.
 
The "Diplomate" program at KCOM is up and running. When I expressed interest in KCOM, they sent me contact info for a graduate in my area, but when I tried to reach him, his info had changed since he provided it to the college. I didn't bother to tell the school, because I already knew several DOs, but I'm sure they would have given me info on another. The admissions office can help you if you just tell them you aren't familiar with DOs in your area.
 
Thanks, everyone. I love my college but frankly they seem to know nothing about going to medical school unless you choose the pre-prossional 3 year pre-med program (as either chem, bio, or biomed major). I advisor told me to call KCOM to find out what math and physics classes to take.
Question regarding the word holistic -- I got the idea from the KCOM web site itself where they mentioned that osteopathic medicine involves the person as a whole list treating mind, body and I think they said spirit or emotions. Why is holistic a bad word to use? Does it have a meaning other than "whole" that I'm missing? I like the idea of treating the body in addition to the mind and looking for causes in the person as a whole. I thought it was brillent, so I prreciate the warning :-D

Sadly, I couldn't find any P-doc listed on my insurance that were DOs. There are two big health systems COX and St. John so I'm going to check COX now and see. On my insurance there were only three DOs -- my own doctor is a DO. To get a ref do you need to work with the DO or do they just need to know you?

I appreciate everyone's help. I'm am so new to this. I never thought about medical school but the more I think the more it seems a perfect fit. Thanks again. Hope to see some of you at KCOM in two years :)
 
Starfire,
I don't know what was wrong with using the word holistic either. As for the KCOM website it is "Mind, body, Spirit"
 
Thanks Carrie, I guess I should know that since KCOM is my #1 choice huh? <G>
 
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