Okay, So I’m only a junior in high school but it’s never too early to begin learning. So, I’ve began researching things for my future career path and I understand the gist of how I will get licensed as a psychiatrist but I feel something is always left…its the fact I would love to hear from someone with real life experience! If a child psychiatrist or even anyone with knowledge in the psychiatry field to please, please and even more please aide me in deciding if this may be the correct path for me.
If you could, please just tell me how long it personally took for you, where you attended, difficulty and general experiences within the field. Also the courses and what you majored.
Another question, inside of this question, would majoring in biopsychology be a good idea for being on the path to becoming a psychiatrist? I understand that a BS in psychology is a lot more flexible than a BS in Biopsych as that is more geared towards the medical field by it being a combination of Biology and Psychology.
However, I still am trying to decide from now which major I would want to take.
Thank you for your help! 
I don’t know if majoring in psychology will give you the needed pre-reps for medical school. I’m not 100% sure but you should check with some medical schools before you pick a major
So, a undergraduate degree in biology would be more beneficial? I would suggest Chemistry but I’m more inclined to avoid as much chemistry as possible if I can help it. Biology is perfectly interesting to me though.
The first question you need ask is do you want to be a Dr? If not, you can consider child psychology with a PhD. You can also be a clinical counselor. You do not need to be an MD to work in the psychiatric field. I worked as an occupational therapist in child and adolescent psychiatry for 8 years. If you go to medical school, you will take a heavy science course load .
I am a psychiatric nurse- in order to become a child psychiatrist you need college, then medical school, then a psychiatry residency of 2-3 years then a child fellowship of at least another year. You should probably do the pre-med/science major in college. It is doubtful that a psychology degree will have enough of the medical school pre-reas. Good luck to you!
OK, you can absolutely complete the pre-med requirements with a psychology major. You can do them with an English major, or a philosophy major, or an art history major. Pre-med is not a major; it’s a sequence of required classes. Some of them are already incorporated in a biology or chemistry major, but that’s only like 2-3 classes each - so it’s only marginally more difficult to be a psychology major and do all the pre-med requirements than it is to be a biology major and do them. Most medical schools ALSO require one or more semesters of the social sciences or humanities - for example, UW-Seattle Medicine requires 4 semesters of social sciences or humanities courses in addition to 6 semesters of chemistry and biology and 2 semesters of physics.
Most colleges don’t offer a biopsychology major; some colleges will offer a little coursework in physiological/biological psychology. So you’d have to double major in psychology and biology, or major in one and minor in the other, or create your own independent major combining these two.
As was mentioned, being a child psychiatrist will require an MD, which will require you to take the med school prerequisites and complete four years of college + four years of med school + 3 years of residency + a child psychiatry fellowship. Being a child psychologist is different; that will require a PhD in psychology (clinical, counseling, or school psychology - depending on the kind of practice you want to have) plus a one-year clinical internship in psychology. PhD programs in psychology usually take 5-6 years to complete.
Another career to consider is being a psychiatric nurse, either as an RN or as a nurse practitioner. NPs (who are advanced practice RNs) provide primary care and can do a lot of the same things that a primary care psychiatrist would do, include prescribe psychiatric medication. To do this, you’d either need to get a bachelor’s in nursing (either in college or in an accelerated post-baccalaureate BSN program after you finish) and then do a master’s of science in nursing with a concentration in psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, OR you can get your bachelor’s in whatever and then do a three-year direct entry program that culminates in an MSN with the PMHNP concentration.
The people telling you that a psych major wouldn’t provide the knowledge you need for a psychiatry career are wrong. If you are interested in child psychiatry, then a psychology major would be the best approach, but keep in mind, no matter what major you select, you’ll have to complete your premed requirements (bio, chem, orgo, physics, math, etc) and take the MCAT. The reason I say psych over another science major is because psychology would be geared towards the basics of, well, psychology, which will help you in the future. Then you’ll have medical school, where no matter what specialty you pursue, you’ll be taking the same courses and doing the same rotations as everybody else. You might get lucky as a MS3 or MS4 and have the opportunity for a psychiatric rotation. Then once you finish med school, there’s the residency specific to your career path. So psychiatry for you and then the fellowship. That’s the gist of it, and I highly recommend a psych major if you’re gearing towards child psychiatry. However, you could always be a child psychologist instead of psychiatrist if you think med school wouldn’t be for you. And for that, you just need a PhD.
My boyfriend’s mom is a psychiatrist so let me know if you have any questions (: I’d be glad to help. Plus I’m looking into forensic psychiatry, but I’m looking to transfer from a community college next fall.