Hi there! Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I’m currently a sophomore at the University of Central Florida and when I came in last year I had high hopes of one day applying to medical school and later on becoming a psychiatrist. As the year progressed, I realized that while I loved my major at the time (biomedical sciences) the pre-med requirements in addition to the classes I had to take became daunting. Science, while interests me beyond comprehension, isn’t exactly my strong point. I can get a good grade, but only after really intensely studying, religiously attending tutoring, losing sleep, and making my professor’s office my second home. Needless to say, pre-med put me on a spiral into stress-and-chronic migraine-ville.
Spring semester, I decided to take up undergraduate research in Art History (being it is a field I am really knowledgeable in) just to have an understanding of how undergraduate research is performed and how to excel as a researcher. After wrapping up that research and presenting at a conference I found that I love, love, love research methods and analysis and if possible would like to make a career out of it.
At this point, my degree is Psychology of Neuroscience and my current research is focused on cognitive functions in relation to certain ethnomedicines. I am loving the classes I’m taking, while they are science based I find them more intriguing and manageable. I can see myself continuing along this path in the future as a psychopharmacology researcher.
Ideally, I would apply for PhD programs in neurobiology and psychopharmacology the fall of my senior year but I am unsure if this route is realistic for career opportunities and a stable income. I’ve been told my whole life that becoming a doctor ensures steady employment and a decent salary, and that stability still holds enough appeal for me to go back to pre-med. I am unsure how to proceed in either direction without wasting too much time 