<p>If I major in psychology, would this put me on the track of specializing as a psychiatrist?
I want to become a doctor and I'm interested in psychology, but I don't want to be a psychologist/psychiatrist.
would I have to take additional courses in bio (like cell, molecular, etc) to apply to med school since a major in psych wouldn't cover them?</p>
<p>"If I major in psychology, would this put me on the track of specializing as a psychiatrist? "</p>
<p>No</p>
<p>"would I have to take additional courses in bio (like cell, molecular, etc) to apply to med school since a major in psych wouldn’t cover them? "</p>
<p>Yes, or at least additional courses in science like org. chem</p>
<p>Med schools require that you fill the pre-req courses, regardless of major, so yeah, you should have to take the necessary pre-req courses, even if it’s outside your major. I don’t think they really care too much about your major as long as you do well in your pre-reqs/MCAT/EC’s, and other things that med schools require…</p>
<p>*Edit: I do believe people choose their specialty after med school, so majoring in psychology wouldn’t put you on a psychiatrist track I imagine. I’m going to be majoring in psychology since I was thinking about being a neurologist though… but that’s just me.</p>
<p>vic90-
Premed students major in all sorts of things. In fact, and please correct me if I am wrong shrinkrap, some med schools seem to prefer students who major in a non-science. As long as you take all the premed requirements (and do well in school) you’ve met the basic requirements.</p>
<p>Many med students don’t know what they want to specialize in when they start med school. Some even change inthe middle of their residency (I know someone who just switched from a neurosurgery to an ENT residency). So no worries-- its too early to worry about specialties yet. Besides-- who knows-- maybe you will decide to be a psychiatrist!</p>
<p>I might also decide to major in biology, but i think i can get better grades in psych classes. is it better to get good grades in classes of your major or is it more important to get good grades in the premed requirements (or both?)
Also, is college psych courses much more challenging than AP Psychology in high school? Thanks.</p>
<p>Isn’t it also true that med schools don’t like you to major in something like nursing? There is a BS Radiologic and Imaging Science degree at my school and was wondering if this would be considered one of those cases.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s true; yes, it would.</p>
<p>You want to do well both on your major courses and your pre-requisite courses. For psychology, some courses may fit in both (like things related to brain), but basically, you need solid grades in gen bio, gen chem, organic chem, physics, mathematics, and other ones that your school requires.</p>
<p>Medical schools do not always like people who are science oriented because they are looking for versatile students. Interestingly, I remember seeing in AAMC pdf document that biology majors scored lowest in one of the sections (they scored highest in biology; I think the lowest was in verbal — I could be wrong though). I don’t recall the year, but the link was floating in CC sometime ago. Non-science majors force students to open their eyes beyond sciences, and some admissions prefer that. But, really, what you major is not a life-or-death decision. It’s your GPA and MCAT (okay, major might matter little bit but those two factors matter most).</p>
<p>To reiterate the point, that undergrad major doesn’t impact future specialty, here are the majors of people I know in my class and their specialty choice:</p>
<p>Sociology -> Pediatrics (that’d be me)
History -> General surgery (hopefully pediatric surgery when it’s all said and done)
Music -> pediatrics
Political Science -> Internal medicine
Psychology -> Emergency medicine
Biology -> Urology
Chemistry -> Internal medicine
Math -> Psychiatry
Neuroscience -> urology
Chemistry -> Nuerosurgery</p>
<p>Actually, I’m a psych major and I’m more drawn to neurology than psychiatry… But it mostly depends on your interest… I think a psychology major provides background in neuroscience and clinical psychology, so you need to be motivated in an area that interests you and you can follow any path you choose.</p>