<p>My son is just starting to visit colleges. Any suggestions in the NJ, NY, PA, DC, DEl? We will meet with his councilor after the holidays for some suggestions. He'd like to be a Psychiatrist. I'm not really sure what direstion we should go. He'll be my first to go to college so this is new to me.</p>
<p>To be a psychiatrist you first have to become an MD, so considering schools with pre-med programs will matter. If it is the diagnostics/psychotherapy/research aspects, he could be a clinical psychologist, which also requires a graduate degree but allows a broader undergrad focus often....There is a lot of good occupational prep information out there and hopefully the counselor will help him use the schools' resources to do some groundwork...good luck</p>
<p>I'm one! To be a psychiatrist you have to be an MD. To be an MD you need to go to medical school. Therefore, your kid needs to go to a school that will prepare him for medical school admission. That means a good school. He will need to get good grades in the good school. I would not recommend majoring in something like psychology which is seen as a pretty light weight major. I don't think anyone in my med school (Cornell) majored in psych in college. Either major in a science (bio is good) or if he's really an amazing kid and going somewhere like Harvard he can major in something odd like philosophy or history. Must take the classes required for med school, however. Get to know a prof so you can get a good letter of rec for medical school. do well on the MCAT and get admitted to Medical School. do 4 years of medical school. Then apply for a psych residency. It's not the most popular specialty so you can get good residencies fairly easily. Do a 4 year residency, pass the boards. You are now an official shrink!</p>
<p>On the other hand, many people change their mind between HS and residency. It's a long road to hoe. I, myself, thought I'd be an internist before I took my clinical psych rotation in medical school and changed my mind.</p>
<p>Pencil-pusher, where did you do your undergrad??? We have visited Cornell. He liked it there. We also looked at Vassar. We are just this process. He loves English but doesn't want to give up his sciences and maths. He has a very high GPA. Self motivated ,Taking AP Physics, AP Cal BC, AP Chem. , I think I got them right. His other classes are all honors. Takes the hardest class his school has to offer. He goes to a small private school. He is top of his class. We live in NJ and really would like to stay with in 3-5 hours of home.</p>
<p>At this point, then, he's on his way.</p>
<p>I went to Cornell for undergrad also. I think there were about 15 people at cornell med who had also gone to cornell undergrad, by far the largest group from any one school. I think they did give a slight advantage to Cornell Undergrads for medical school admission to Cornell. There were also a large number of med students in my class who's parents were faculty at Cornell Med. This seemed unfair to me, but there you go.</p>
<p>We also had people from all the other Ivy's, many top lac's. a fewer number from state schools.</p>
<p>Cornell is (or was, I went there in the late 70's) a great place for a premed education. I was accepted at 3 medical schools (applied to 4.)</p>
<p>Cornell is a great school, with lots of premedical students and others interested in science. But I wonder whether your son, with his interest in psychiatry, might be happier at a college in a larger metropolitan area, where there might be more opportunity for mental health-related volunteer work or internships.</p>
<p>I just want to warn you, srinaldi, that psychiatry is kind of a stepchild in the medical community. I think it's kind of neat that a high school kid is even thinking out becoming one. However, he can't possible know what it's really all about, plus he is likely to change himself in the upcoming years.</p>
<p>I would really advise against going overboard on the psych stuff in college. some, OK. Making that the major focus of college work is, I think, ill advised. Better to do some neurobiolgy work. If it turns out a surgeon is the one evaluating his medical school application, well, he's just not likely to be too impressed. And if you son really wants to go into psychiatry he will have to accept this fact about psychiatry.</p>
<p>Personally I love my field. I don't give a hoot that some other docs think I'm a light weight. When they have an out of control psych patient on their hands, they are plenty friendly, lol.</p>
<p>As the other posters have stated, the major hurdle for anyone wanting to become a psychiatrist is getting into medical school. I went to a college that had a lot of premeds and though many were science majors, there were many who were majors in different areas. They did all have to take the premed core required courses, regardless of major, in order to be in line for med school and to be prepared for the MCAT, required for entry to med school.<br>
The type of student and person your son is should determine his college. The one issue that is important for those who are seriously are considering professional school, is that they get good grades in college. Something that many excellent highschool students do not continue to do. Better he do well at a school that is not so highly rated as Cornell, for instance, than than fall below acceptable levels for med school. THough the undergraduate school is often taken into account, particularly at the most selective med schools, the state med schools where most students do end up going, are not as picky about the difficulty of the undergrad school as they are about the grades. A "C" at Cornell (NY) in Organic Chem does not an "A" made at Cornell (Iowa), for instance. Difficult undergrad curriculums have squelched the dreams of many a premed. If your student is a top flying student with very high scores and lots of motivation, revved up to work hard at college, a research type school like Hopkins or Cornell may be his best option. A more well rounded type who is not so grade and goal oriented might do better in a nurturing LAC. Some even have Premed area majors that are designed to help aspiring premeds get to their goal. </p>
<p>I would take a few psychology classes if I were interested in becoming a psychiatrist, simply because it would give general info on the area of interest. I do know a number of psych majors who have gone on to become doctors, but I know even more kids who have changed their majors and career goals many times during college. I would keep the options open while feeding this interest.</p>
<p>My husband did a psych/bio double major and went on to med school. He went in thinking he might want psych, but ended up in cardiology. I don't know much about this major as I don't think it was even offered "back in the dark ages", but a friend's d. majored in neuroscience and is planning on medical school.</p>
<p>There's some good info in this thread and some not so good info.</p>
<p>1) as far as school choice - it really doesn't matter. Pre-med is simply an advising category and is not a major, and I think you'd be hardpressed to find a school that didn't have 2 semesters of bio, 2 of gen chem, 2 of organic, and 2 of physics available - along with a semester of calc. Those are pretty much the standard requirements for all 125 medical schools in the US. That's really all he needs to "be" pre-med. Quality of school isn't really "important" per se, so much as his fit there. The pre-med curriculum is big on breadth and short on depth, so few schools are likely to have great programs in all areas, and students are unlikely to benefit from one fantastic program.</p>
<p>There are many threads on the importance of school quality but the gist is that the things offered by an undergrad institution that will actually help with admission to medical school are not easily identifiable from an outsiders perspective - advising, opportunities for volunteering/research/involvement/leadership, interview preparation, etc. "Better" schools (top 25 or whatever) or ones with smaller enrollments may have more readily available resources, but even huge state schools (>30000) will have the same resources - only students will have to put a little more effort into finding them on their own.</p>
<p>2) Major - also doesn't matter. Recent stats from the AAMC have shown that the majors of matriculants are in nearly identical ratios to the majors of applicants (like within 0.1-0.2% across the board for all major categories). Your son should pick something he enjoys and something he can be passionate about. It doesn't have to be sciences, and most science majors that would seem to be applicable (Biology, Biochem, Neuroscience) are either too broad (ie Bio majors have to learn about plants, and phylogeny, and ecology) or too in depth (Biochem in undergrad is far more indepth than medical school biochem) to be of any real practical value. I honestly think that my sociology degree has given me more insight into the issues that I'll face as an MD than anything my science major friends have experienced...</p>
<p>Major may matter for the MCAT, but Humanities majors actually tend to do the best on the MCAT - likely because the test is reading intensive, even the science parts. Being a good, fast reader is a huge advantage. But the point is that plenty of evidence against being a science major (unless your son absolutely loves that part - which if he's thinking psych is less likely).</p>
<p>For the record, in my medical school class, people had the following majors in undergrad: Sociology, Music, PoliSci, Pyschology, Neuroscience, Biology, Genetics, Chemistry, Biochem, Art, English, History, Business, Economics, Photography, Physics, Nutrition, Exercise Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Math. </p>
<p>When I worked for Kaplan teaching the MCAT prep course not one of the other instructors (all medical students) had been a science major in undergrad (I had a bio minor and that was it).</p>
<p>3) Specialty choice - It's great that your son has an idea, but as others have said, keeping his options open is always good. Most medical students change their minds on specialty/residency path more often than undergrads change their major. I've personally gone from Orthopedics (which I was initially dead set on) -> Pediatric Ortho -> General or Peds Surgery ->Peds Cardiology -> Peds -> Critical Care/pulmonolgy -> Peds Cardiology. Now I'm kind of developing an interest in Endocrinology. The only thing I've settled on is I'm pretty sure on peds (though the Endocrine stuff on my test tomorrow morning IS interesting and it's more adult orientated). I'm way ahead most of my class mates just by deciding on peds.</p>
<p>4) So what's it all mean?</p>
<p>Your son should go to the school where he has the best chance to succeed. And I mean succeed not only academically but socially, physically, and emotionally as well. And that's whether he ends up going through and applying to medical school in 4 years or if he drops the whole pre-med thing the day after his first general chemistry exam. The absolutely worse thing he could do is choose a school he doesn't like as much b/c he thinks it will help getting into medical school over a school that he absolutely loves but thinks is "weaker". Make sure he's going to the best school for him, regardless of what he ends up pursuing as a career.</p>
<p>I second the info above! Let me add that advising is very, very important. Lots of students get good MCAT scores. Your student will be distinguished by recommendations --- and, like anything else in life, good connections don't hurt. A school with a reputation for great faculty-student interaction is a good bet. </p>
<p>In terms of what to study, most med schools state that they encourage non-science undergrad degrees (of course, the prerequisite science core is needed). They want well-rounded, well-educated students who can COMMUNICATE!</p>
<p>Let me add one more element:</p>
<ul>
<li> The dropout rate from pre-med to anything else is huge. There are some classic "weeder" courses in the usual curriculum, a biggie being organic chemistry. So focus on a school that offers the right environment, whether or not the kid stays on a pre-med track. You'll avoid a lot of frustration that way.</li>
</ul>
<p>As others have said, few schools have a pre-med major. You just need to pay attention to the pre-recs the med schools want, because they are notoriously unflexible about them.</p>
<p>I'm a psychologist and if I was going back to school/work now it would be in the area of brain research. Unbelievably fascinating!! Your child should know that lots of psychiatrists get caught doing 15 minute "med checks" while other people do the interesting work. You may get paid more for the "med checks" but I always wanted to do the person-to-person work.</p>
<p>What are Med Checks??? I think he would like the person to person interaction. He thinks he'd like to work with kids. Research, who knows at this stage of his life. He has worked countless hour at camp with kids. He has tutored kids for years and is also a teacher aid is some of his spare time. He refereed soccer for 4 years and after experiencing many rude adults he likes working with the kids better. Working with kids as a Psychiatrist is what he feels hed like to do. I know he is only 17 and may change his mind but I hope to give him every advantage to make his dreams come true.</p>
<p>I liked working with kids best too--they're so hopeful! Med checks are patients coming in for 15 minute sessions to have their medications reviewed. Since basically only MDs can prescribe, they often get stuck doing med checks because it is very profitable for a clinic or hospital. Other people often do the face to face work with clients. Jump in, psychiatrists, if I'm wrong. The ones I know mostly do med checks (an important job, but maybe not what your S is thinking of).</p>
<p>check out studentdoctor.net - basically a cc for med schools. there is a forum for psychiatry that can answer all of your questions</p>
<p>I have a friend who is on the admissions committee for a top ten med school. They are reviewing their admissions policies because they are NOT getting enough well rounded students who like to communicate with humans. They are getting too many super competitive numbers crunchers.</p>
<p>I also have a couple of good friends who are doing interesting research at university hospitals. They seem to love their work. LOVE it. I also have a friend who is a top researcher in the field of child psychiatry. Where do you live? If you live near a university hospital your son might make inquiries about doing lab work for a research scintist/psychiatrist. Many of them have a few private patients as well. </p>
<p>Huge discoveries are happening in that field with the advent of newer imaging technology and refined medication routines. Also, the NIH has recently revised it's funding policy toward research to try to see if it can obtain significant changes in the health of the overall population. That's a good thing for psychiatry.</p>
<p>We Live in NJ. Any where close to you? I'd love to hear more. Thanks</p>
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<p>srinaldi, your son should heed bigred's advice. Since he is smart and accomplished he will most likely end up at a college with rigorous academics. ALL colleges with rigorous academics send students to medical school. Some more than others, of course, but the determining factor is how well the student does in the environment he chooses and this includes recommendations from professors as well as his grades and scores.</p>
<p>I'd suggest that your son think more about the environment and learning style that he most wants in a college. He should consider the basics like size, location and intangibles like personality and ambience. Then come up with a short list that includes different degrees of selectivity in admissions. </p>
<p>After he's done this he can begin to research the pre-med programs at the individual schools he interested in. How's their counseling? How about research and interning opportunities? Their track record for getting their students into medical school?</p>
<p>Good luck and let us know how he does.</p>
<p>Re the "med check" issue: I actually didn't want to repond the the psychologists post because it touches on a sore spot in the psychiatric community. But since you asked and (s)he brought it up. . . .</p>
<p>In addition to not getting a large amount of respect from the MD community, psychiatrists also have to put up with the psychologist community who on the one hand have lobbied insurance companies to cut them out of the ability to do psychotherapy (by convincing insurance comnpanies to only allow MD's to give meds while the allied help people do the psychotherapy, and at the same time are lobbying state legislatures to be allowed "perscribing privaledges." In other words, psychologist have been attempting to become psychiatrists for some time now. This is, I think, one of the reasons why few people are going into psychiatry these days. I think there is a big fear that the specialty will pretty much be turned over to psychologists.</p>
<p>I, myself have a traditional psychotherapy practice. I seem to be highly sought after because so many of the psychiatrists in my community are either only doing medication managment or don't speak English as a native language. I'm not saying this to be prejudiced. You really need to have a good command of a language to practice psychiatry in it. I don't do nearly as well with non-native English speakers. . . they are better off with psychiatrists who speak their native tongue.</p>
<p>I am not a child psychiatrist. However, most of my friends are. They are all hugely booked. There is a major shortage of them in my community and I live in a very popular, and populated place. All the child psych docs I know do not do med managment only. I don't think that's really possible in a child psych practice. Child psych includes interacting with the child, the parents, and the school. It's very rewarding, from what my friends tell me.</p>
<p>I agree with all the above posters about the need to do well in college. It's essential to getting admitted to medical school.</p>