<p>So i am a rising HS Senior and i REALLY want to be a Psychiatrist but i have heard Med school and pre med is expensive and very difficult. Thats not going to stop me, but i am a B, B+ student. Is that good enough? and is Pre med as difficult as everyone says? Also is psychiatry a good field to go into? haha thanksss! Also could someone explain the process you go through if you want to become a Psychiatrist?</p>
<p>I would suggest going to college first and getting your feet wet before making decisions as to what you’ll do this far down the road. Honestly, you’re about 5 years out from even seriously considering medical specialties and at least 2-3 years out from any decisions as to medicine or something else. If you’re dead-set on psych, you should really look into all psych fields. If medicine, the same holds true. That being said, you’re going to have to do better than a B/B+ average. People with a B+ average are generally strongly discouraged from even applying to medical school OR doctoral psych programs (which I suspect might also be a good fit for your interests).</p>
<p>A 3.3 future college average isn’t a great start for a medical application but it isn’t entirely impossible.</p>
<p>I think he was referring to his HSGPA?</p>
<p>Yeah he was, but apumic and I were extrapolating on the large assumption that he’d be a B+ college student.</p>
<p>The answer to question “can I get a job” relates to reimbursement rates in our health system which is rapidly changing and really impossible to predict. If the government or private insurer will pay for a service that you perform then there will be jobs. If not, there will not be jobs.</p>
<p>In regard to being a psychiatrist. Are you sure that is what you really want to be?</p>
<p>There are many ways to skin a cat…and some ways are easier to achieve and less expensive .</p>
<p>Perhaps at the top of the mental illness tree is the psychiatrist who is a MD or DO which will typically require 4 years of college, 4 years of med school and a 3-5 year residency. With this certification you will be able to counsel and use medication to treat disease.</p>
<p>In many states, you can function essentially the same as an MD as a Nurse Practitioner in psychiatry. To become a nurse Practitioner you need to go to nursing school (4 year program which includes college) to get a Bach Science in Nursing. Often you then have to be employed as a nurse for several years and then you return to graduate nursing school to get your nurse practitioner certification. In most states, nurse practitioners have prescriptive authority which means like a MD or DO you can prescribe medications.
In the past, physicians have had to oversee Nurse Practitioner although there is a movement to minimize or eliminate the oversight.</p>
<p>If you wish to just counsel, you can become a psychologist which involves college and entrance to graduate school in psychology. The rules for psychology really vary state by state but in general you can work in your own practice. Psychologists cannot prescribe medication.</p>
<p>A graduate level trained social worker can also work in psychology as a practitioner. This track can take 4 years of college and 2 years of graduate social work school. There is also some practice time required before you can be licensed.</p>
<p>While your question centers on being a doctor, please don’t forget that a surprising amount of the counseling in the country is performed by religious officials such as rabbis, ministers and priests.</p>
<p>It is very difficult for straight A students at regular state schools. I do not know how difficult it is for others at other type of schools. There is no label attached to anybody saying you are B ore B+ or A, you are who you want to be. </p>
<p>Nothing is impossible in life. If it is possible for others, it is possible for you. I do not know specifically about Psychiatry, but I have never met unemployed MD looking for a job.</p>
<p>Unemployed MD’s do exist although the market is perhaps better for physicians than for other professions. This does not necessary hold for psychiatry where in the past there were major limitation in insurance for mental illness. I am under the impression that Obama care has removed the ability of private insurance to limit coverage but I do not know this as a fact.</p>
<p>Nonetheless in recent years the marketability of psychiatrists has deminished especially with the advent of nurse practitioners with prescription authority.</p>