What path should I take?

[phoenixreign]

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I am trying to figure out the best route for me based on my life situation, career goals, and financial situation. I have somewhat of an idea of what I should do based on my research, but there is conflicting/outdated information.
I would like non-biased advice specifically based on my situation.

I am 23 years old, 5 years out of HS, and I am applying to start undergrad Fall 2018. I am going to be pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering on the Pre-Medical track. Then, I am going to go to Med School to become a Psychiatrist, and possibly specialize in Neuropsychiatry. I am going to go on to open a holistic practice, as well as conduct research to make advances in non-pharmaceutical treatment of mental illnesses.
My financial situation is that I work full time, I don’t qualify for more than a couple thousand dollars in financial aid, and I don’t qualify for a student loan (no, I do not have anyone to co-sign for me).
I will most likely attend my state university. The base tuition will be 10k. I work at a hospital, so they will give me 3k in tuition assistance annually.

With that being said, I was going to pay for undergrad out of pocket with my full time job and tuition assistance (my gross annual income is around 40k). I plan on going to Med school under the HSPE scholarship, and I’m leaning towards Army (I’m under the impression that that’s the best chance I have to get my desired specialty).
I was also looking into a solution to pay for undergrad, but I don’t want to take another semester off in order to complete BTC. I looked into the option of getting an ROTC scholarship at the university so that I can focus more on graduating and getting the best GPA possible since I already feel so “behind”.

I have a couple questions in order to help clarify my decision:

The requirement for the ROTC scholarship is 4 years active duty, and the HSPE scholarship is also 4 years. If I did both, does that mean that I’ll be required to complete 4 years active duty (as well as the 4 years IRR for HSPE)? Also, would I have to go Active Duty right after undergrad and then start med school after 4 years, or can I do all 8(?) after med school?


Can a Army psychiatrist expect to deploy often, or more likely working at a VA hospital?

Does anyone ever open/operate side businesses while in active duty (ie. see private patients)? Do doctors have to live in barracks?

Intention: I genuinely want to help veterans through research and therapy. I obviously need tuition assistance, and I believe it will be worth it at least for Med School since psychiatrists don’t typically make more than 200k. However, I’m also concerned about what active duty and deployment would actually entail because I don’t know what I’ll want in my late 20s/early 30s. I’m single with no commitments and obligations right now so I’m inclined to jump in, but I’m scared to make a huge commitment I’ll end up regretting even though it’ll serve me well now. It seems like so many say they regret it unless they’re heavily patriotic. I don’t especially feel the need to answer a call of duty, but I do want to spend my life helping and healing marginalized and displaced communities.

With that being said, I would love any kind of feedback, suggestions, testimonies, and answers (with context).

 

[Perrotfish]

I am trying to figure out the best route for me based on my life situation, career goals, and financial situation. I have somewhat of an idea of what I should do based on my research, but there is conflicting/outdated information.
I would like non-biased advice specifically based on my situation.

I am 23 years old, 5 years out of HS, and I am applying to start undergrad Fall 2018. I am going to be pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering on the Pre-Medical track. Then, I am going to go to Med School to become a Psychiatrist, and possibly specialize in Neuropsychiatry. I am going to go on to open a holistic practice, as well as conduct research to make advances in non-pharmaceutical treatment of mental illnesses.
My financial situation is that I work full time, I don’t qualify for more than a couple thousand dollars in financial aid, and I don’t qualify for a student loan (no, I do not have anyone to co-sign for me).
I will most likely attend my state university. The base tuition will be 10k. I work at a hospital, so they will give me 3k in tuition assistance annually.

With that being said, I was going to pay for undergrad out of pocket with my full time job and tuition assistance (my gross annual income is around 40k). I plan on going to Med school under the HSPE scholarship, and I’m leaning towards Army (I’m under the impression that that’s the best chance I have to get my desired specialty).
I was also looking into a solution to pay for undergrad, but I don’t want to take another semester off in order to complete BTC. I looked into the option of getting an ROTC scholarship at the university so that I can focus more on graduating and getting the best GPA possible since I already feel so “behind”.

I have a couple questions in order to help clarify my decision:

The requirement for the ROTC scholarship is 4 years active duty, and the HSPE scholarship is also 4 years. If I did both, does that mean that I’ll be required to complete 4 years active duty (as well as the 4 years IRR for HSPE)? Also, would I have to go Active Duty right after undergrad and then start med school after 4 years, or can I do all 8(?) after med school?


Can a Army psychiatrist expect to deploy often, or more likely working at a VA hospital?

Does anyone ever open/operate side businesses while in active duty (ie. see private patients)? Do doctors have to live in barracks?

Intention: I genuinely want to help veterans through research and therapy. I obviously need tuition assistance, and I believe it will be worth it at least for Med School since psychiatrists don’t typically make more than 200k. However, I’m also concerned about what active duty and deployment would actually entail because I don’t know what I’ll want in my late 20s/early 30s. I’m single with no commitments and obligations right now so I’m inclined to jump in, but I’m scared to make a huge commitment I’ll end up regretting even though it’ll serve me well now. It seems like so many say they regret it unless they’re heavily patriotic. I don’t especially feel the need to answer a call of duty, but I do want to spend my life helping and healing marginalized and displaced communities.

With that being said, I would love any kind of feedback, suggestions, testimonies, and answers (with context).

Variously
1) A very small minority (<10%) of people who enter college as 'pre-med' go to medical school. Be open to the idea that you may switch careers.
2) A very small minority (<10%) of people entering medical school end up in the specialty they thought they were going to go into. Saying 'I'm going into neuropsychiatry' before freshman year of undergrad is probably a leap.
3) If you do the ROTC scholarship, you should expect to serve out your entire 4 year obligation as a line officer (i.e. fighting wars). It is up to the military to grant a waiver to allow you to apply to medical school, and the answer is often no
4) ROTC, like a job, is a time suck. If you take the contract my understanding is that you MUST graduate in 4 years (no extending) and you MUST do all the various ROTC nonsense that your school's command puts together
5) ROTC scholarships are not universally available. Pretty much anyone in good health can enlist in the military, not everyone is allowed to be an officer, and even fewer are deemed valuable enough to get a full ride in exchange for their service. You may not have this option
6) You are correct, if you do ROTC and then HPSP you will owe 4 years for each scholarship, and you begin paying back the debt after you finish residency. So 4 years military residency and then 8 years payback.
7) Military doctors work primarily with people who are active duty (still serving) and their family members. The VA, which focuses primarily on veterans who are no longer serving, is staffed by civilians.
8) Military doctors can either deploy or work in a military hospital. The military, not you, will decide which one you do
9) Doctors do not live in barracks, go to regular boot camp, do group PT in the mornings, or go through most of the other crap you saw when you watched Full Metal Jacket. The military has other ways to make us miserable but that stuff is for the junior enlisted and their leadership
10) 'Holistic' is a branding word used for various kinds of ineffectual scam artistry. If you want to realign Chakrahs, eliminate subluxations, or exorcise Thetans your practice is holistic. If you make people better your practice is medical.
11) US psychiatrists typically make far more than 200K

The only decision you have to make right now is whether or not to do ROTC. Don't worry about whether you're going to do neuropsych vs regular psych, or whatever. Other than that make sure you understand the three pillars of getting into medical school are GPA (average is a 3.8), MCAT score, and research/volunteering. Whatever else you do, if you really want to be premed you need to find a way to maintain those.

 

[phoenixreign]

Variously
1) A very small minority (<10%) of people who enter college as 'pre-med' go to medical school. Be open to the idea that you may switch careers.
2) A very small minority (<10%) of people entering medical school end up in the specialty they thought they were going to go into. Saying 'I'm going into neuropsychiatry' before freshman year of undergrad is probably a leap.
3) If you do the ROTC scholarship, you should expect to serve out your entire 4 year obligation as a line officer (i.e. fighting wars). It is up to the military to grant a waiver to allow you to apply to medical school, and the answer is often no
4) ROTC, like a job, is a time suck. If you take the contract my understanding is that you MUST graduate in 4 years (no extending) and you MUST do all the various ROTC nonsense that your school's command puts together
5) ROTC scholarships are not universally available. Pretty much anyone in good health can enlist in the military, not everyone is allowed to be an officer, and even fewer are deemed valuable enough to get a full ride in exchange for their service. You may not have this option
6) You are correct, if you do ROTC and then HPSP you will owe 4 years for each scholarship, and you begin paying back the debt after you finish residency. So 4 years military residency and then 8 years payback.
7) Military doctors work primarily with people who are active duty (still serving) and their family members. The VA, which focuses primarily on veterans who are no longer serving, is staffed by civilians.
8) Military doctors can either deploy or work in a military hospital. The military, not you, will decide which one you do
9) Doctors do not live in barracks, go to regular boot camp, do group PT in the mornings, or go through most of the other crap you saw when you watched Full Metal Jacket. The military has other ways to make us miserable but that stuff is for the junior enlisted and their leadership
10) 'Holistic' is a branding word used for various kinds of ineffectual scam artistry. If you want to realign Chakrahs, eliminate subluxations, or exorcise Thetans your practice is holistic. If you make people better your practice is medical.
11) US psychiatrists typically make far more than 200K

The only decision you have to make right now is whether or not to do ROTC. Don't worry about whether you're going to do neuropsych vs regular psych, or whatever. Other than that make sure you understand the three pillars of getting into medical school are GPA (average is a 3.8), MCAT score, and research/volunteering. Whatever else you do, if you really want to be premed you need to find a way to maintain those.

I hear you on your first points, and I know this already. I’m not naïve enough to believe that I could never change my mind, but I am 23 with life experience beyond that. I’ve been to college, but I’m starting over at the freshman level. I’ve worked as a CNA in various healthcare facilities and units for 5 years, and in a psychiatric research lab. So I have experience and mentorship that allows me to have a good indication of what my trajectory will be.
Secondly, l’m not branding anything. The word Holistic existed way before the hipsters came around. It literally means comprehensive and whole, so I used it to indicate that my practice won’t just be a place to come get a script after a 15min talk like at most psychiatrists. There will be actual science and engineering involved in the healing of the mental state, in supplement to the current approaches, hence my major. But I won’t over-splain my vision because that’s not relevant to my decision. That was just to give information on what I want to do in case someone has some light to shed on which branch would be the best fit. I was going back and forth between Army or Air Force. I read the Army is making a push to put more resources and research into mental health.
I hear you on just focusing on what to do for undergrad. Thank you for shedding light on what I can expect from enlisting. I found it helpful. It doesn’t sound like ROTC would be the best fit for me, even if I was awarded the scholarship, simply because I can’t take the chance of not being allowed to go to med school after I graduate.

 

[WernickeDO]

I don’t especially feel the need to answer a call of duty, but I do want to spend my life helping and healing marginalized and displaced communities.

If you don't feel a sense of duty to serving your country in the Armed Forces, then you definitely shouldn't join. This is not coming from a "if you're not riding an ATV with a machine gun in one hand and the Constitution in the other, then get the heck out!" angle, but rather one of service. Because joining the military is just that: service. And sometime service means that you do things you hate or live in places you hate or not get to practice medicine. If you don't have a sense of duty to carry you through that, you're gonna have a bad time.

You sound like you have some very, very specific goals in medicine, and the more specific your goals are, the better off you are staying civilian. Keep your autonomy and practice they way you want. I can promise you that if you become a military psychiatrist you're going to be doing a lot of the 15 minute visits that end with a script in hand.

Are you planning on working during undergrad? If so, and if your state school tuition is 10k (Annually? Per semester?), I would recommend you take out loans and put the extra time into your studies. Most important for med school matriculation are grades and MCAT, and those require time and devotion to earn. Trying to juggle a job on top of organic chemistry doesn't usually go well. It seems like you are loath to take on loans (and I don't blame you) but if med school is your goal then you will need to devote time and energy to studies, not working. Just my opinion, unless you're a genius that can read something once and then get an A on the exam.

Good luck.

 

[Perrotfish]

The word Holistic existed way before the hipsters came around. It literally means comprehensive and whole, so I used it to indicate that my practice won’t just be a place to come get a script after a 15min talk like at most psychiatrists. .

So the goal of my piece of advice about the word 'holistic' was to keep you from sounding either offensive or ignorant in front of the physicians you will eventually need to shadow, interview with, hopefully work for. As you move along in your career you will find that psychiatrists are usually practicing in an evidence based, team centered approach that is probably proven to be superior to whatever you view 'holistic' as being.

. I’ve been to college, but I’m starting over at the freshman level.e.

How many credits did you accumulate in your first run through in college? What was your GPA? This might be worth discussing on Pre-allo. You might be starting from a hole that you need to dig yourself out of, and there are very specific ways to do that for the purposes of medical school admissions.

It doesn’t sound like ROTC would be the best fit for me, even if I was awarded the scholarship, simply because I can’t take the chance of not being allowed to go to med school after I graduate..

It is honestly tough to advise premeds about ROTC. From a premed advisor standpoint its almost always a bad idea. On the other hand almost all the premeds asking for advice won't be able to get into medical school even if they sustain their desire to do so, and usually military line officer is a better job than whatever they otherwise would have gotten.

 

[Salamandrina]

Variously
7) Military doctors work primarily with people who are active duty (still serving) and their family members. The VA, which focuses primarily on veterans who are no longer serving, is staffed by civilians.

Fort Knox serves a lot of VA beneficiaries too because of the location. You are right, the mission is AD and their families, but when there is need for a greater pool of patients, VA beneficiaries are often welcomed. Depends on geographic location.

Everything else looked spot on to me.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Engineering degrees are generally a poor choice for a premed due to lower expected GPAs and the inability/unwillingness of medical schools to compensate for that. Your med school admission GPA will count every college level course you've ever taken. You aren't starting over as a freshman. You obviously have strong opinions about the practice of psychiatry. Given that, you need more autonomy than the military will provide. Further, when people who haven't practiced a profession say things like that they will bring "actual science and engineering" to the profession you sound simultaneously naive and arrogant. You may be someone who changes the world but you'll alienate the people you need to help you get there with those sorts of statements.

 

[SirGecko]

Was just going to throw out the same point that Gastrapathy just said about engineering maybe not being the best idea if you are sure you want to be a medical doctor. (This is coming from someone who did biomedical engineering in undergrad) If you already know you want to go to Medical school (and want to do psychiatry to boot) there is not a lot that an engineering degree will do to help you get there that a degree in say chemistry or biology won’t. I’m not saying don’t do it if you really want to and think that there is a possibility you would want to be a working engineer, just understand it’s probably not the best idea from a pure “how do I become a psychiatrist “ standpoint.

Also the other response I was going to say is that ROTC isn’t going to give you any more time to focus on your GPA than any other job. It eats up at least 20-30 hours a week minimum.

 

[dr zaius]

I hear you on your first points, and I know this already. I’m not naïve enough to believe that I could never change my mind, but I am 23 with life experience beyond that. I’ve been to college, but I’m starting over at the freshman level. I’ve worked as a CNA in various healthcare facilities and units for 5 years, and in a psychiatric research lab. So I have experience and mentorship that allows me to have a good indication of what my trajectory will be.
Secondly, l’m not branding anything. The word Holistic existed way before the hipsters came around. It literally means comprehensive and whole, so I used it to indicate that my practice won’t just be a place to come get a script after a 15min talk like at most psychiatrists. There will be actual science and engineering involved in the healing of the mental state, in supplement to the current approaches, hence my major. But I won’t over-splain my vision because that’s not relevant to my decision. That was just to give information on what I want to do in case someone has some light to shed on which branch would be the best fit. I was going back and forth between Army or Air Force. I read the Army is making a push to put more resources and research into mental health.
I hear you on just focusing on what to do for undergrad. Thank you for shedding light on what I can expect from enlisting. I found it helpful. It doesn’t sound like ROTC would be the best fit for me, even if I was awarded the scholarship, simply because I can’t take the chance of not being allowed to go to med school after I graduate..

I worked for quite some time in wound healing/tissue regen before even considering med school and was sure I was going to be a burn surgeon. I ended up in urology. It doesn't matter if you're 30 when starting medical school. You may (and likely will) discover you want to pursue another field after you've been exposed to it. You may end up in psych, but what we want to ensure is that you understand that your mind may change after you rotate through various specialties during medical school.

I have to agree with WernickeDO, though. If you have very specific ideas with regards to how you want to practice (which will change considering you aren't even in medical school) you should absolutely avoid the military.

 

[pgg]

my practice won’t just be a place to come get a script after a 15min talk like at most psychiatrists.

Is that what most psychiatrists do?

There will be actual science and engineering involved in the healing of the mental state, in supplement to the current approaches, hence my major.

Is that what most psychiatrists don't do?

You may wish to put the brakes on what you think you know. You're a high school graduate. You really don't know anything about psychiatry, or medicine, or more broadly speaking, "science" ...

But I won’t over-splain my vision because that’s not relevant to my decision. That was just to give information on what I want to do in case someone has some light to shed on which branch would be the best fit.

🙂

There is NO branch of the military that is a good fit for a soon-to-be-undergrad who has ambitions of becoming a doctor. It's a commitment of time in school, and time after school, that will only endanger that ambition.

The best path is attending a reasonably good quality public university, avoiding excess debt through some combination of choosing a less expensive school / grants & scholarships / work study, getting the best grades you possibly can, doing the best you can on the MCAT, and then applying broadly to medical school. Ideally, choose a major that will be kind to your gpa and set you up for an alternate career you won't be miserable in if you don't get into medical school.

 

[HighPriest]

Echoing the above: regardless of whether or not you'll end up on the path you've envisioned in the long run, joining the military will be a major hindrance if you have plans that are that specific. It is really best reserved for people who have a lot of leeway in their future plans. If you do ROTC and then HPSP, you could potentially be delaying your plans for decades.

If you really want to help veterans, work for a VA. Or just open your business close to a VA and take Tricare. It's amazing how many practices do not (because it has terrible reimbursement).

For a change in the forum, I'll not bite on the chance to yell at you for the holistic medicine thing or the thinly veiled accusation that modern psychiatry is a sham. Instead, I'll say this: If you feel that modern psychiatry isn't doing it's patients any favors, and you'd like to make improvements, that is commendable. Keep in mind, however, that there are always two ways to approach things: you can do what has data to back it up, or you can do something else. Sometimes your hand is forced to do the latter simply because there isn't any data. So if you really feel that your ideas have merit, the best thing you can do to change the way people are managed is to prove that your ideas have merit. Meaning: find someplace to do real research and do the research. It's going to mean less time with patients, and it's going to make it harder to run your own business (but not impossible). But, research isn't glamorous. It's just necessary.

 

[deleted480308]

If the 100% end goal is med school (even admitting you might notnever make it), then don’t take rotc and don’t do a degree that risks your gpa.

Whatever degree gives you enough space to get your prereqs with the highest gpa...

Seperately from that, it’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t know enough about being a doctor that they don’t really know what doctors do yet but you don’t.....and that’s ok, I would just suggest toning down the criticism of stuff you don’t understand yet as you will need those same people to let you into their world

 

[Armyhealth]

As far as the ROTC to HPSP. You would owe eight years after residency. So three years of psych residency + 8 year commitment = 11 years in uniform. HPSP is not hard to get out of ROTC as long as you have the GPA/MCAT score to be competitive applying to med school. I have not seen anyone who had a least the 3.2 GPA / 500 MCAT rejected for a educational delay applying to med school.

 

[SirGecko]

As far as the ROTC to HPSP. You would owe eight years after residency. So three years of psych residency + 8 year commitment = 11 years in uniform. HPSP is not hard to get out of ROTC as long as you have the GPA/MCAT score to be competitive applying to med school. I have not seen anyone who had a least the 3.2 GPA / 500 MCAT rejected for a educational delay applying to med school.

To be clear op this guy is talking only about army. I don’t know anything about army rotc so I can’t say anything about that. I will say that there are people that do Navy ROTC that don’t get to apply to medical school but want to. It can vary from year to year and definitely shouldn’t be looked at as a guarantee.

 

[NG_SpecialBranchRecruiter]

The way forward:

Go to school. Compete for a 4 year minute man scholarship for the National Guard. Get school paid for. Graduate and apply to medical school. Contract under MDSSP/STRAP/HPLRP and receive a stipend through medical school, residency, and receive loan repayment. Expect to spend about 20 years in the guard, at least. You guard won't stop you from applying to medical school.

I got an undergrad degree and a law degree for under $10,000. The Guard has been a good deal for me so far.

Of course, all this could change over the next 5 years. Good luck.

 

[TheEarDoc]

I am trying to figure out the best route for me based on my life situation, career goals, and financial situation. I have somewhat of an idea of what I should do based on my research, but there is conflicting/outdated information.
I would like non-biased advice specifically based on my situation.

I am 23 years old, 5 years out of HS, and I am applying to start undergrad Fall 2018. I am going to be pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering on the Pre-Medical track. Then, I am going to go to Med School to become a Psychiatrist, and possibly specialize in Neuropsychiatry. I am going to go on to open a holistic practice, as well as conduct research to make advances in non-pharmaceutical treatment of mental illnesses.
My financial situation is that I work full time, I don’t qualify for more than a couple thousand dollars in financial aid, and I don’t qualify for a student loan (no, I do not have anyone to co-sign for me).
I will most likely attend my state university. The base tuition will be 10k. I work at a hospital, so they will give me 3k in tuition assistance annually.

With that being said, I was going to pay for undergrad out of pocket with my full time job and tuition assistance (my gross annual income is around 40k). I plan on going to Med school under the HSPE scholarship, and I’m leaning towards Army (I’m under the impression that that’s the best chance I have to get my desired specialty).
I was also looking into a solution to pay for undergrad, but I don’t want to take another semester off in order to complete BTC. I looked into the option of getting an ROTC scholarship at the university so that I can focus more on graduating and getting the best GPA possible since I already feel so “behind”.

I have a couple questions in order to help clarify my decision:

The requirement for the ROTC scholarship is 4 years active duty, and the HSPE scholarship is also 4 years. If I did both, does that mean that I’ll be required to complete 4 years active duty (as well as the 4 years IRR for HSPE)? Also, would I have to go Active Duty right after undergrad and then start med school after 4 years, or can I do all 8(?) after med school?


Can a Army psychiatrist expect to deploy often, or more likely working at a VA hospital?

Does anyone ever open/operate side businesses while in active duty (ie. see private patients)? Do doctors have to live in barracks?

Intention: I genuinely want to help veterans through research and therapy. I obviously need tuition assistance, and I believe it will be worth it at least for Med School since psychiatrists don’t typically make more than 200k. However, I’m also concerned about what active duty and deployment would actually entail because I don’t know what I’ll want in my late 20s/early 30s. I’m single with no commitments and obligations right now so I’m inclined to jump in, but I’m scared to make a huge commitment I’ll end up regretting even though it’ll serve me well now. It seems like so many say they regret it unless they’re heavily patriotic. I don’t especially feel the need to answer a call of duty, but I do want to spend my life helping and healing marginalized and displaced communities.

With that being said, I would love any kind of feedback, suggestions, testimonies, and answers (with context).

I agree with the others that although you have some real life experience, you have no real experience in the field you want to study in. I would suggest becoming an undergraduate Psychology major (easy to keep a 4.0 as a Psych major) and then take the pre-med pre-reqs and if you can live cheap and not work a full time job so you can devote time to studying that would be better.

I went the pre-med route. Took all the hard classes and my GPA took a beating. Who got into medical school without being wait listed? The Psych majors and those with a lot easier course loads and the medical schools didn't care about their majors only their MCAT's and GPA's. Take some advice from folks here (there is a wealth of real world knowledge about pre-med, med school, and medical military life here) and follow it.

 

[Goro]

Engineering degrees are generally a poor choice for a premed due to lower expected GPAs and the inability/unwillingness of medical schools to compensate for that. Your med school admission GPA will count every college level course you've ever taken. You aren't starting over as a freshman. You obviously have strong opinions about the practice of psychiatry. Given that, you need more autonomy than the military will provide. Further, when people who haven't practiced a profession say things like that they will bring "actual science and engineering" to the profession you sound simultaneously naive and arrogant. You may be someone who changes the world but you'll alienate the people you need to help you get there with those sorts of statements.

I'd like to follow up my learned colleague's wise words and add that in my own experience, engineering majors tend to have trouble with our curriculum.

I had one student who struggled throughout his second year. He kept telling me "but as an engineer, I was trained to think this way". He finally shut up when my pathologist colleague pointed out "your days as an engineer ended when you put on that white coat".

In addition, to say that you'll "have a holistic practice" is an insult to all of our Psychiatrist colleagues, because you're implying they don't practice medicine holistically.

 

[John1513]

Truly, best of luck on your endeavors. When a physician reads your post, there is a initial struggle to be kind yet realistic in the advice to be given.

Be careful criticizing medicine when you have not yet walked the path and endured the road to become a physician. I say this specifically when you one day interview for medical school - many of the doctors interviewing you likely will think in their minds, “What the heck do you know about being a doctor...”

Remember this: psychology and psychiatry in the military is very unique - ultimately your employer is the Military —- not the service member. As a military mental health provider, you ultimately must ensure that the service member is deployable. Any “confidential” information that endangers the mission or the command must be reported appropriately.

Like others have said above, if your heart truly is to help veterans then there are other routes possible.

Be weary of being the full time worker and trying to get into Med school. Often, unless you are a Mensa genius, this road takes 110% dedication and sacrifice. This might mean student loans, or post-Bach.

All in all, good luck on your endeavors. I’ve tried to be kind in this reply, and still be encouraging.

Blessings.