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Pre-Med Major for Psychiatry?

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(@Anonymous)
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I am currently a Psychology major at the University of Central Florida. My goal is to become a child's psychiatrist..... However, I am nervous now because after reading some posts it seems like I should be studying pre-med? I was never told this before, and so now I am kind of freaking out. There is no way that I can restart my major from scratch....

Is it necessary to have a pre-med track in undergrad in order to become a psychiatrist?


   
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(@drdave)
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You'll find more info in this thread about undergraduate majors and becoming a psychiatrist.

As I'm sure you are aware, becoming a psychologist is very different from becoming a psychiatrist. You can go on to be a psychologist or child psychologist without going to medical school and without taking pre-med undergrad courses.

In order to become a psychiatrist (and child psychiatrist) you need to go to medical school and do a residency in psychiatry. If you want to be a child and adolescent psychiatrist (the fellowships cover both), you'd need to do a two year fellowship. Most people replace their 4th year of general adult psychiatry residency with the first year of their child and adolescent fellowship; this way they only have one additional year of training overall to do the extra fellowship.

Pre-med is not a "Major" in and of itself. Pre-med just means that you are taking the courses required to go to medical school. The pre-med courses are:

1 year chemistry
1 year organic chemistry
1 year physics
1 year biology

If you want to be a psychiatrist (and not a psychologist), you'll need to take those courses. You can major in any field, but you do need to fulfill the pre-med requirements.

Just remember that you can't take the pre-med courses at a community college as they need to be at the level of a person majoring in those fields (the general chemistry course required of chemistry majors, first year biology for biology majors, etc). The science courses also all need to be with the associated lab.

What year are you in college? I would speak to your school's pre-med advisor ASAP and see if you can still get added into some courses this semester.


   
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(@drdave)
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Based on this article about University of Central Florida's Pre-Health Professions Advisers, I think you should be able to find a good advisor for your next steps.

Good luck and let me know what they say.


   
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