undergrad majors for psychiatry?

I’m interested in becoming a psychiatrist but I’m not sure what I should major in. I know you can get into Med School with any degree but i want to be prepared haha.
I was thinking about double majoring in psychology and chemistry and double minoring in biology and Spanish. Any suggestions or recommendations? work load?
Thank you! :slight_smile:

Psychiatry - you will need a PhD degree; this will be a long and expensive path. Similarly, psychology and chemistry
With these degrees, you will have a hard time getting a job after the bachelor degree.

Take what interests you as if you like material you’re more likely to do well (GPA wise) which is something med schools will care a lot about. Any major is okay. Although in a very broad sense of taking rigorous work load/strengthening time management skills, your double major/double minor plans may help prepare you for med school, your double major/double minor plans will not save you unless your GPA(s) are competitive. Also college profs don’t teach premed courses (bio, chem, physics, etc) to prep kids for med school, they just teach bio, chem, physics, etc. Very little, if any, of the actual material in your double major/double minor plan will carry over and prepare you for med school.

Psychology is a phd, Psychiatry is an MD.

Thank you!

Psychiatry (MD/DO specialty) is performing the MEDICAL treatment on mentally ill people(s), Psychology (PHD in Psychology) is similar but focuses more on the COUNSELING treatment of people(s).

That said, If you want a fighting chance at Med School DO NOT do Chemistry except as a minor and DO NOT double major because it is going to be hard to keep a good GPA doing either. Medical schools would prefer you to major in Underwater Basket Weaving and have a 3.9 GPA than to major in Astrophysics with a 3.1 GPA as long as you get the Pre Med studies done. I suggest getting An entry level, part-time medical job for work experience as Medical Schools love to see someone with experience. And I also suggest majoring in straight up Biology.

It is true that med schools care a lot about GPA. Doing a double major and a double minor will likely do more harm than good. This load won’t look outstandingly-impressive enough to compensate for the fact that it will likely hurt your GPA, force you to take more time to complete your degree, or come at the cost of other activities. (Med schools care about having medical-related experience, not just grades and MCAT.) Stick to a single major. A minor in Spanish is a useful thing to have in the medical field, though. Ultimablade seems to have an almost hyperbolic response to the issue of majors. If you love chemistry, you’ll do better at that than if you major in something you hate just for pre-med purposes. Having a science-related major I think would be a better foundation for med school than a liberal arts field.

@nanotechnology, I do need to work on that lol

Biological psychology, neuroscience, etc. You’ll have the important foundational courses (chem, physics, throw in anatomy as an elective) but will learn about the brain!