I am still currently searching for a career to strive towards and keep getting stuck on Psychology. I only recently learned that in order to become a psychiatrist, you must go to Med School. This makes my initial thoughts a little uneasy as (as of right now) I am not a very good student. I'm smart (could be in my top 5 of my class), albeit I'm very lazy. I'm good at memorization (Not Asperger's good but do well in my opinion) and was wondering if anyone is a Psychiatrist, and if so, can you tell me how med school is, how it relates, and how the residencies are? Or even if you went to medical school or are currently going, if you could tell me how that is. I'm incredibly interested in Psychology, but I don't know how I feel about going to Medical school. Thats just 12 years of my life, that if I dont like it, I won't get back. Not to mention all the money that it costs to do it.

EDIT: I am currently still in High School. Not in college yet. I'm a Junior. Grade 11 if you don't understand what that means!

If you're not interested in the (physically) medical side of things -that is, prescribing medicines and stuff- simply do psychology. Clinical psychology involves diagnosis, therapy, and so on; there are also branches covering various other things, such as research.

No, it's not that I'm necessarily disinterested in the physical attributes of the job, it's that I want to know the rigors of medical school beforehand to make an educated decision. I like learning about Neurology, Endocrinology, and the relations to that of Psychology. Essentially, I'm just asking for the expected workload. Haha

While I'm not a licensed psychologist (yet), I do have a Master's in I/O Psychology. I can't tell you much about the medical side of things, as that was only briefly covered during my undergrad, but I would first recommend that you start out by getting a degree in Psychology from a university that has a strong psychology program. Once you've done that, you will certainly be more well-informed about what choices there are wtihin the field, as well as if you will want to continue on to medical school.

I believe my psychiatrist was first qualified as a psychologist, and later went to med school (in fact, I think I started seeing him just before he finished getting his specialisation [psychiatry] finished).

EDIT: Oh, and if you end up not getting good enough marks to get into the course you're after straight off, remember that there are other ways, if you're willing to look for them and work for them. I know someone who actually started with a management degree and found their way into psychology .

Since you say you are smart but have difficulty with putting sufficient energy into your schoolwork, see if you can find a way to give yourself more of a challenge (extracurricular study, basically )

My sister is actually a Psychologist. I believe sh started college in the year 2003 and just recently got certified. You will be in your late 20's when you become certified in this field.

Cura te ipsum j/k. What I would be worried about is getting in debt for a straight psychology degree that might only be useful for stuff like working in HR. If you can get pumped up for med school that might be the safer choice. Like http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/features/2011/12/scarlett-johansson-201112I find the art of diagnosis pretty interesting. Visualize yourself as Dr. House! If I were going to med school that would be my focus. I hear the hours are killer, but you can do it if you have the motivation.

My parents are both psychologists (my dad has a Ph. D, my mom has a Psy. D). In order to be able to get into any of these careers, you NEED to go to med school. That means you need a typical 4-year undergraduate degree followed by a (roughly) 6 year graduate degree at med school.

Don't let anybody tell you otherwise; there is absolutely no way to make a living as a psychologist or psychologist with an undergrad degree, even if that degree happens to be in psychology. There is an abundance of people who want to go into this profession and have these undergrad degrees. Nobody in their right mind would hire one of these under-qualified people to perform the very sensitive jobs that they do.

Also, make sure you understand the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. The most obvious difference is that the latter is licensed to prescribe medication, while the former isn't.

As somebody who is currently in school and has pursued this field (though ultimately deemed it unsuitable for myself), I can tell you that this is most typically how it works.

Incorrect. You do not need to go to medical school to get a Ph.D or Psy.D in Psychology. You need to do a residency, but that is not medical school - not even close.

Now, if you want to be a psychiatrist, then you need to go to medical school as well as do a residency.

Good point, I confused the terminology, though that's not exactly what I meant.

What I was implying was that you need to go to graduate school (where I mistakenly said "med school"), which requires (on average) about 6 years for a Ph.D.

http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/therapist.htm

Ah, I see. And yeah, Master's usually takes 2 years, and the Ph.D / dissertation takes 4ish.

Psychologists are a dime a dozen because the field of study has essentially become a free pass for NCAA athletes. Because there are so many highly unqualified individuals who sport a degree, the degree has become fairly useless. You will need to pair it with a legitimate degree in order to land a decent job.

Got to it before I could.

Psychology degrees may be a dime a dozen, but Psychology Ph.D's are certainly not. Go for a Ph.D in Clinical / Social / I/O / some other subfield of Psychology and it's a totally different ballgame.

That's exactly right. Think of it this way; would you rather take sessions from somebody with an undergraduate degree from some local community college or from somebody with a Ph.D from Colombia University?

Also keep in mind that in many Psy.D programs, you are required to do a doctoral project rather than a dissertation. On average, a Psy.D program takes 1-2 years fewer to complete than a Ph.D program, though also sometimes gives you fewer options than someone with a Ph.D. However, in today's psychology field, a Psy.D is well-respected and can give you many legitimate fields to work in.

Don't trust em. Bad experience once.

Good luck though!

I dunno much about psychology or what degrees you need to do what job, but having read the thread I think your first concern should be what it is about psychology that interests you. Because there are plenty of jobs related to psychology (at both UG and PG level) which aren't directly concerned with treating patients. From what I understand there's not much point going through Med School if you don't want specifically to be a psychiatrist...

I had a bad experience with a kettle once but it's not put me entirely off tea :/

I get it, and the field isn't completely mired in my view, but if the guy I had seen was just a beverage I wouldn't be saying that.

No, but everyone thinks they are.

That's just your freudian ego talking.

One thing I'd be aware of is that, if it's anything like it is here in the UK, psychiatry is unfortunately used as the medical profession's dustbin for people they can't actually get rid of but who they don't want to employ elsewhere. I've heard a number of professionals complain about this annoying little detail and as an occasional "customer" I can verify that it's most definitely true. Although it needn't get in the way of a vocation, I can see that it would be rather frustrating.

Took some basic layman's courses in college, was going to university for a bachelors of science in psychology but at the time I had no car and I had to drop out due to time constraints. Not sure if I'll go back or not.

I took a few Psychology classes while pursuing my Business Management degree.
I don't know enough to diagnose conditions, but I do know enough to twist your mind into obeying my marketing commands.

Not me, I'm not like most people. But I know lots of... personal entrepreneurs who set up shop with corporations to sell stuff better. If politicians weren't so stupid or paid so well it's likely some of the stuff could be classified criminal.