Newbie in need of genuine advice

[atxitchick]

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I am a new member and after reading a lot of the posts on here, I can tell that this is a great community. There is a lot of insight, knowledge, and willingness to help beamed throughout this forum. It is great to be a member!

Anyway, I have always thought of becoming a psychologist, but psychiatry was always in the back of my mind; I just didn't know if I really had the dedication for it. I started college with the mindset that I will just get my pre-reqs done and then I would decide where to go from there. Well, after being swept off my feet by a gorgeous man (now my husband) and running an IT company for nearly 6 years, I haven't even finished one semester! I am now 25 and have started to do some analytical thinking about my life and what goals I have and have not met. College is, by far, the biggest one that I am most disappointed about not meeting. So, even though I have a career and a family, I still feel like there is something missing and the only thing that will fill that void is to meet my goal of going to college and possibly med school.

After that lovely summary of my life 😛, here are the questions that I have for you fine people:

Why did you decide to become a psychiatrist?
Where did you research this field - internet, books, speaking with other psychiatrists?
Where did you research the different types of psychiatry that you could practice?
I am starting out in a community college and plan on transferring to the University of Texas. Is this going to make a significant impact in the future?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, and if you respond, thank you for taking the time to do that as well. 😀

 

[Regnvejr]

Why did you decide to become a psychiatrist?

During the rotation of 3rd year of medical school.

Where did you research this field - internet, books, speaking with other psychiatrists?

Not before the medical school rotation.

Where did you research the different types of psychiatry that you could practice?

Talked with the attendings.

I am starting out in a community college and plan on transferring to the University of Texas. Is this going to make a significant impact in the future?

Don't think so.

 

[michaelrack]

Agree with Regnvejr. Atxichick, you shouldn't decide whether you want to be a psychiatrist; you should decide whether you want to be a physician. In medical school you can decide on specialty.

 

[Tradewind]

So it sounds like you're a 25 yo mother who has almost 4 years of college in front of her. Which means that if you were to become a psychiatrist, at minimum, you would be 29 years old upon starting medical school, 33 years old as an intern and 37 years old as an attending.

While doable, I think all the 30 hour calls, long work weeks and reams of information you'll have to absorb to get through medical school could be torturous. I would only take the psychiatrist route if you really want to be a physician and this desire will outweigh the grueling aspects of medicine. If you don't have to have an MD, there are plenty of other opportunities in mental health.

I wasn't thinking about psychiatry as a freshman in college. Since there are so many steps remaining for your career path, I'd just focus on getting the Bachelors degree first, and getting into medical school. Include premed courses if you want to keep the door open for med school, and do well in them.

While I'm very happy I went into psychiatry, I'm not so happy that I would repeat it all over again if I had to start medical school at age 29. That would be a really tough call.

 

[2tall]

Lots of folks enter medschool with a certain specialty in mind. Please consider that your career goals may shift as time goes by and you attain more life and clinical experiences. I would assume most people began their research on psych upon matriculating to medschool.

During medschool I tried to nurture my interest in psychiatry as much as possible particularly during the first year (attending conferences, finding mentors).

Clinical experiences during medschool really kick into gear during your third year which entails 'comparing and contrasting' each specialty to see what fits you. Each experience in the major specialties (medicine, surgery, etc.) lasts 1-3 mos. If your interest in psych remains after you complete that 4-6 week experience, you would apply for residency during your 4th and final year of medschool.

I didn't read anything related specifically to psych prior to starting school. One of my favorite books for a career in medicine in general was Life after Medical School by Leonard (or Larry?) Laster.

You're a TX resident (a plus in terms of getting into a TX school) so you should check out the TMDSAS website for info on prereqs and to educate yourself on how the process works. Classes at a university are looked upon more favorably than those taken at a CC. You should check out the nontrad forum.

 

[peppy]

Why did you decide to become a psychiatrist?

It was kind of a gradual realization than an "Aha!" moment.
I went to medical school kind of leaning in the direction of psychiatry but also enjoyed several other fields of medicine, so I agonized over making a firm decision on my specialty for a long time (in the end, I had a very hard time choosing between psychiatry and hematology/oncology, my other passion). As the time came where I had to make a decision, I finally realized that my Psychiatry rotations in 3rd year were where I felt the most consistently happy about going to work (in fact, I think one reason I found it hard to firmly commit to psych as a specialty is that I somehow felt like I was cheating or "taking the easy way out" by going with the specialty that was so fun it often didn't even feel like work to me).
I also realized when seeing psychiatric patients on other rotations that mental illness is often very stigmatized and poorly understood, even sometimes among nurses/doctors who encounter a lot of psychiatric patients (like those working in the emergency department). I felt that, since there is a shortage of psychiatrists in general, I could do more good by focusing on my empathy for psychiatric patients than if I had pursued my interest in oncology (a field that a lot of people already understand the importance of and for which there are already many qualified people competing for fellowship spots every year - the same can't necessarily be said for psychiatry).

Where did you research this field - internet, books, speaking with other psychiatrists?

All of the above. There are books out there dedicated to comparing different specialties of medicine that I looked through. I talked to some of the psychiatrists I rotated with in 3rd year med school (it was reassuring that I met several psychiatrists who were happy and enthusiastic about their careers, although I do think it is important not to rule out an entire field of medicine based on just one bad experience with it or meeting one unhappy clinician, as many medical schools do not have particularly positive and engaging psychiatry educational experiences set up).

Where did you research the different types of psychiatry that you could practice?

Since most of my exposure in med school has been to inpatient psychiatry, I learned a lot about the other opportunities/practice settings from this forum. There is a sticky here about all the different fellowship possibilities that is a good place to start in realizing the breadth of the field.

I am starting out in a community college and plan on transferring to the University of Texas. Is this going to make a significant impact in the future?

I can't say much about this since my information on med schools admissions is now out of date by the years that have gone by since I applied for med school (why, back in my day, the MCAT was an 8 hour long paper and pencil test administed only twice a year...you kids don't know how easy you have it 😉 ) I definitely agree with the advice to go talk to the people over at the Non-Traditional sub-forum on this site to see what advice they have.
Good luck with your decisions.

 

[Regnvejr]

While doable, I think all the 30 hour calls, long work weeks and reams of information you'll have to absorb to get through medical school could be torturous. I would only take the psychiatrist route if you really want to be a physician and this desire will outweigh the grueling aspects of medicine. If you don't have to have an MD, there are plenty of other opportunities in mental health.

I didn't start medical school until I was 37, not really that bad

 

[atxitchick]

So it sounds like you're a 25 yo mother who has almost 4 years of college in front of her. Which means that if you were to become a psychiatrist, at minimum, you would be 29 years old upon starting medical school, 33 years old as an intern and 37 years old as an attending.

While doable, I think all the 30 hour calls, long work weeks and reams of information you'll have to absorb to get through medical school could be torturous. I would only take the psychiatrist route if you really want to be a physician and this desire will outweigh the grueling aspects of medicine. If you don't have to have an MD, there are plenty of other opportunities in mental health.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have thought a lot about what age I will be when I can actually start practicing and what an impact it will have on my life and family. I would be lying if I said that didn't play a huge role in my decision. Fortunately, we don't have any children as of yet, so I don't have to worry too much about that. Yes, it kind of sucks that I will be near 40 when I finally get there, but I don't want to look back at my life and say I decided not to go to med school because I started 7 years too late. I believe that your dedication and motivation are what keeps you alive and going. 😉

 

[atxitchick]

Thank you very much to all of those that replied; it is much appreciated. Call it sappy, but I really feel that if you set your mind and soul and heart towards doing something, it can and will be done. Hell, I started a successful I.T. company at 19 with my first client being a MAJOR online travel site (I just love that little gnome in the commercials)! I can't even remember the first time I had the thought of becoming a psychiatrist because it has always been in the back of mind. It seems to me, the best advice that I have heard is to just go for it and prepare for med school. If I decide to go that route, I have the option.

I will most definitely look at the sites and books that were recommended and I look forward to starting school in the summer.

One last question: I plan on taking summer courses between the spring and fall semesters. How much time can I knock off the 4 year undergrad timeline?

 

[Regnvejr]

One last question: I plan on taking summer courses between the spring and fall semesters. How much time can I knock off the 4 year undergrad timeline?

Also depends on credit load during the year. I did undergraduate in 3 years and one quarter without to much difficulty and not really any summerschool, but one 10 credit internship

 

[notdeadyet]

I have thought a lot about what age I will be when I can actually start practicing and what an impact it will have on my life and family. I would be lying if I said that didn't play a huge role in my decision. Fortunately, we don't have any children as of yet, so I don't have to worry too much about that.

It sounds like you're in good shape. I didn't start med school until 35 and feel no worse for wear.

I think you're most likely to get the "wow... at that age... I don't know..." from folks who went directly/near directly from undergrad to med school. For those a bit longer in the tooth, I think you'll find med school is equivalent to a high end professional job in terms of hours and sacrifice. I haven't seen anything so far that I wouldn't expect to see from a starting big firm attorney or driven tech professional. I have yet to meet someone in their 30's/40's in the process who would tell others "don't do it", at least not because of age.

Unlike some of your younger classmates, you'll have the advantage of starting med school as a fully formed adult, rather than somewhat of a work in progress. Upside is that your odds of having made the right decision are higher. Downside is that your odds of being queen of the football intramural are lower. This is the price we pay...

 

[peppy]

Yeah, there is something to be said for being old enough to know what you want out of life. I don't think age is a big factor for an aspiring psychiatrist since, as discussed on another thread here recently, psychiatry is the sort of specialty that you can practice long after the normal retirement age (whereas I would definitely think twice about undertaking a new career in a physically demanding, high stress specialty like neurosurgery or transplant surgery at an older age).

 

[atxitchick]

It sounds like you're in good shape. I didn't start med school until 35 and feel no worse for wear.

I think you're most likely to get the "wow... at that age... I don't know..." from folks who went directly/near directly from undergrad to med school. For those a bit longer in the tooth, I think you'll find med school is equivalent to a high end professional job in terms of hours and sacrifice. I haven't seen anything so far that I wouldn't expect to see from a starting big firm attorney or driven tech professional. I have yet to meet someone in their 30's/40's in the process who would tell others "don't do it", at least not because of age.

Unlike some of your younger classmates, you'll have the advantage of starting med school as a fully formed adult, rather than somewhat of a work in progress. Upside is that your odds of having made the right decision are higher. Downside is that your odds of being queen of the football intramural are lower. This is the price we pay...

I completely agree. Having a few years of corporate/business experience has really nourished my ability for hard work. I guess if you're the type of person that gets discouraged easily, you probably shouldn't be going into this type of field. I am the type of person that likes a bit of a challenge. 😎

"It isn't the destination but the journey that rewards you."

Thanks again for all the replies and encouragement!

 

[2tall]

Also keep it mind that it may not be necessary to complete your degree in order enter medschool. You will need required prereqs and at least ?90 credit hours? (Don't quote me on that number).