Pre-med considering psychiatry

[Suprachiasmatik]

I realize that I am putting the cart before the horse here, but I don't have anybody in real life with whom I can reasonably discuss the following...

I was premed in undergrad and graduated with a 3.6 with B.S Biochemistry/B.A in chemistry in 2010. I had a really bad time my senior year with a huge flare of an (undiagnosed) autoimmune disease, so I didn't even have a chance to think about applying to medical school. I still don't know how I managed to graduate on time given my health issues, but I did it. My great GPA took a hit, but I think I'm still ok with the 3.6.

In the years following graduation, I managed to eek my way into a lab tech position and co-authored a paper. But *desperately° needing health insurance and a decent paycheck (only made about 12$/hour as lab tech), I fell into the post-recession software development gold rush, which truthfully is not a good fit for me. I've never been a big computer guy...I just took up the craft out of necessity and leveraged my intelligence and hard work (70 hours per week for months to learn it from scratch) to make it work. I've been doing it full time for about 4 years, and now I'm balancing it with MCAT studying (bleh), which truthfully has been very physically and emotionally taxing.

So, approaching age 30, I am in a somewhat precarious position. My current industry is volatile and not a great fit for me. My health has more or less stabilized, with my conditioning waxing and waning as time goes on. I do struggle with it from time to time, though. Looking down the road, I feel that my realistic window of opportunity for applying/matriculating to medical school is starting to close a bit, especially considering that I already am making decent money in another career and therefore have a higher opportunity cost than a 21 year old with a biology degree and limited useful skills.

Now, you may be asking why I am posting on the psychiatry board as 30 year old pre med, lol. First, I really enjoyed neuroscience and psychopharmacology in undergrad. Many late nights were spent scouring textbooks learning about psychoactive substances and how they have been integrated into medicine and society. Second, I have personally benefitted greatly from a dash of psychiatric expertise in the management of my own condition, and I seem to have an innate interest in subjects that (afaik) are important in the field. Third, as a non-traditional applicant nearing the age of 30 with my own health problem, I have a very practical approach to making career decisions. My 20s consisted of me reading about how grueling medical school is and how residency is even worse, which honestly discouraged me from applying. I realize now, though, that much of this is written by kids who have probably never had a real job and are shocked once they get to m3 and have to grind it out day in day out. Well guess what, people are working very hard in other industries too! So I've been doing my own due diligence lately, and I realize now that, if you choose the right specialty, residency does not have to be 100 hours per week cutting people open during 36 hour shifts. Psychiatry, for instance, is mostly cerebral and is known for a relatively relaxed residency. The pressure in m1/m2 should be lower since I won't have to score 99th percentile on the USMLE so I can fulfill my childhood dream of being a dermatologist. I don't care if I go M.D. or D.O, so that takes a little bit of pressure off my MCAT and GPA, although not enough haha (I'm looking at you, new MCAT). Finally, once out of residency, psych jobs out in the wild are known for being lifestyle-friendly and very receptive to part time work or even telemedicine (which I think is awesome, as a patient and an IT professional). Private practice is even an option, too. Hell, I could even get back into academia. These options are very important for somebody like me who is not suited to the grueling surgery specialties and knows firsthand the problems that can arise working in an inflexible environment with a chronic health condition.

So I guess I'm just looking to hear from some people working in this field if they think it might be a good fit for me and to perhaps reinforce or dispel the conclusions that I have reached above. It's pretty much impossible to get any kind of shadowing in a psychiatric setting, so I don't place any weight in my volunteer/clinical experiences thus far. Also, I come from a background of limited exposure to medical professionals, so a little encouragement would be nice

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[FlowRate]

Don't go into medicine to do psychiatry. See other recent threads for details.

 

[TexasPhysician]

You have put the cart way before the horse. Step 1 is about getting through med school. Med school can be grueling just to pass. Rotations may include 100+ hour weeks.

While I enjoy psychiatry, I started med school thinking I would do another field.

You have minimal exposure and are pre-MCAT. Your preferred specialty may change a dozen times.

Psychiatric shadowing is possible.

As being a good fit for psychiatry starts with being a good fit for medicine in general, I'm moving the thread to pre-allo.

 

[Catalystik]

1) Psychiatry, for instance, is mostly cerebral and is known for a relatively relaxed residency.

2) It's pretty much impossible to get any kind of shadowing in a psychiatric setting, so I don't place any weight in my volunteer/clinical experiences thus far.

1) Keep in mind that the first year is typically a general medicine internship. After that, you're probably right, though you'll still see more action than you'll care for during night calls.

2) Not impossible, especially in group therapy sessions. If there is a VA near you, that might be a good place to ask. But you'd probably want to shadow a primary care doc too (to get more exposure to acutely ill and injured folks), too. Other relevant experiences might be as a volunteer on a suicide or crisis hotline, homeless shelter, women's shelter, VA clinic, addiction clinic, psych ward.

While having a specific specialty in mind is fine, it's probably best not to advertise that on a med school application. You need to seem open to other possibilities. And you'll find that there are others that suit your current goals.

Besides some recent active clinical experience and some shadowing, you might consider getting in some nonmedical community service for a cause you care about. But perhaps you've already attended to these expectations considering you're studying to take the MCAT?

 

[bbbcccppp]

I don't really see any problem. My only real one was addresssed as you are open to MD OR DO. You might try to do a little shadowing in a primary care setting if you can't get psych. I am an internist but half of my visits have some degree of stress component. I find psych fascinating but ended up detouring to pcp. I am guessing the total money will be similar if you do vs don't mAke the change Ps rare to see med school drop out


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[Suprachiasmatik]

Don't go into medicine to do psychiatry. See other recent threads for details.

Links?

 

[PreMedMissteps]

I think many premeds have a distorted view of psychiatry because of how it's portrayed on TV and movies....a doc sitting in a chair while the patient lies on a couch for an hour telling their tales of woe.

The above advice is correct. Don't focus on a particular specialty right now. If you get into med school, be open to all the specialties (and more!) that you're exposed to. Many med students don't really hone into their path until 3rd year, and often it's a surprise to them and their families after years of saying, "I'm going to be a ____________."

 

[Suprachiasmatik]

1) Keep in mind that the first year is typically a general medicine internship. After that, you're probably right, though you'll still see more action than you'll care for during night calls.

While having a specific specialty in mind is fine, it's probably best not to advertise that on a med school application

Oh yeah my application makes no mention of specialties. I'm just doing my own research given the enormous financial and time investment of medical training. I want to make sure that I will be well-suited to a few different options once I actually go to work in the field.