<p>First and foremost, I'd like to be a psychiatrist when I am older. Of course, this means that I would have to take the pre-med classes in college. I'm thinking about majoring in Psychology. Is this a good choice? I know not everything would be related, and it wouldn't help too much in medical school, but it's intriguing and it would help in my field of study.</p>
<p>I was also thinking that if for some reason I was not accepted to medical school, that it would be an idea to go to grad. school for psychology and perhaps get a Master's or Doctorate. If this were the case, would it be a good idea to apply to med. school after receiving my masters in psychology? I should think that it adds depth to an application. If not, is it worth it to continue pursuing the psychiatric career choice, or would it be best to settle as a Psychologist?</p>
<p>Once last thing. Does anybody know if the dual credit courses I take in high school will be accepted by a medical school? I've read that most medical schools don't accept AP credits, which is a bummer, but I'll be spending 2 years taking 4 semesters of dual-credit English.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Heya,</p>
<p>First of all, whilst it is good that you have an interest in psychiatry now, the odds are that you will change your mind during medical school. Also, bear in mind you will have to do rotations in all of the core medical and surgical subjects.</p>
<p>It is a good idea to do psychology in college if you are interested. As you rightly point out, a Masters would be advantageous to your application. </p>
<p>With regards to the end of your second paragraph, I think you need to do some more research into the differences between psychiatrists and psychologists to answer your question.</p>
<p>Right now your undergraduate major doesn’t particularly matter to medical schools so long as you:</p>
<p>1) complete the required coursework</p>
<p>2) have a strong GPA and science GPA (generally in the 3.5 and up range)</p>
<p>3) have a good MCAT score (generally 30 and up)</p>
<p>However, there may be significant changes in the future. Starting in 2015, the material covered by the MCAT is changing significantly which likely means there will be significant changes in the required coursework that med schools expect. It’s going to get much more difficult to major in anything except a handful of sciences (bio, biochem, perhaps neuroscience, chemistry and psychology) and still meet the new requirements. You will need to keep in close contact with the premed advisor at your college.</p>
<p>If you want a clinical practice in psychology, you need to plan to get a Psy.D. (PhDs are research oriented and are not licensed to practice.) A MS in psych will usually not allow you to go into independent practice. You’ll practice under supervision or in a limited scope (like a school psychologist or a private counselor. And there’s a big difference between a counselor and a therapist in terms of your scope of practice and your allowed billing rates.)</p>
<p>It’s much too soon to speculate about going to grad school if you don’t get accepted into med school. You still have to get accepted into college first!</p>
<p>Dual credit courses may be accepted by medical school IF you have a college transcript (i.e. from the CC) with your grades. If you only have high school transcript for your dual enrolled classes, they won’t be accepted. Currently med schools require only 1-2 semesters of freshman composition coursework.</p>
<p>Your dual enrollment credits must be reported on your medical school applications and will be counted in your GPA calculations.</p>
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<p>I know what the differences are. I was just analyzing that if, for some reason, I wasn’t able to be accepted into Medical School after numerous attempts, I could probably get into grad. school. The question was if that was a good idea, or spend more time attempting to get into med. school. </p>
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<p>Getting into college isn’t much a problem. I have an excellent GPA and good test scores, so simply getting into college isn’t a concern to me. What’s concerning at the moment is whether or not I’ll score high enough to be considered for National Merit finalist/semifinalist for a nice scholarship. Then, it’s getting into a prestigious college that I like. Like I said, it wouldn’t be difficult to get into college, just the high-end ones that would give me a better chance at med. school :P</p>