<p>I'm finishing up my BA in psychology from UC Berkeley. Now I'm considering going to medical school for psychiatry. I haven't taken very many science courses because I never thought I would be on this pre-med track. I've taken a year of calculus, foreign language, English, statistics, and a few random classes such as immunity/disease, neuroscience, physiology (none with a lab) and one introductory biology class with a lab, most of which I earned B's in. I know it's not all that impressive. I've also taken the introductory chemistry class, but I had stupidly changed the grade to P/NP because I didn't realize there was a curve (I was a freshman). I know that I haven't had the most stellar science background, but I still want to go to medical school. I have a lot of experience doing research and social welfare related activities, which could help me in admissions.</p>
<p>So, I'm graduating and deciding what to do about making up for the year of physics, the year of biology and two years of chemistry I need. Would taking a few of these at a community college be detrimental? I'm moving away from UCB and I could take all or most of these courses at a local university. The cost is somewhat scary to me, though.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience going from a social science background and then deciding to go to medical school? I think I finally figured out what I want to do, but I know that I didn't really prepare myself during my time as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Clinical psychology is just as -- if not more -- competitive than medical school admissions, and the two are quite different actually. Clinical psychologists do more talk therapy and are not authorized to prescribe medications, whereas psychiatrists are.</p>
<p>Psychology is a great social science from whence to go to medical school, but you will need to take some additional time to prepare for it. Taking the required courses at a community college is an excellent way to prepare. There is also the (better, IMO) option of going to a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program. These programs are designed for non-science majors who didn't take the required pre-medical classes in undergrad but have since decided that a med school career is for them, and they offer all the courses that you need (intro biology and chemistry, micro, etc.) They usually take about a full year of full-time classwork, and then you apply to medical school the following year after taking the MCATs. Many of them also have MCAT preparation workshops and application workshops.</p>
<p>Here is an example of one at Agnes Scott College (which, although the college is a women's college, the program is co-ed):</p>
<p>Juillet, you are sadly mistaken if you think Clinical Psychology is more competitive than medical school admissions. Last I checked, people didn't join groups like "ACPSA" (which I just made up) in droves or any of the other things typical pre-medical students do. There are definitely less clinical psychology spots available in graduate school, but certainly medical school is much more competitive.</p>