How to Become a Psychiatrist

Contributor

By eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating:

(269 Ratings)

It's not easy to become a real-life Dr. Frasier Crane. At a minimum, you have to complete four years of college, then four years of medical school and, finally, four years of psychiatry residence training. After all that hard work, you'll have to put up with being called a "shrink."

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Psychology Magazines
Career Counseling

Step 1

Take lots of science courses in high school to best prepare yourself for a college premedical program. Include physics, chemistry and biology.
Step 2

Visit the Medical Schools Web page (aamc.org/medicalschools.htm) for a list of U.S. and Canadian medical schools. Contact your top choices about the college premedical courses that you'll need for admission.
Step 3

Peruse the Princeton Review Web site (review.com) for a listing of colleges and their programs. Send for catalogs and applications. Be certain that the colleges to which you apply offer all the prerequisite premedical courses.
Step 4

Maintain a high grade point average, especially in your science courses. The competition for medical school is intense.
Step 5

Take the Medical Admission Test (MCAT) at the end of your junior year in college. Ask your adviser how to best handle the paperwork involved in medical school applications.
Step 6

Complete four years of medical school, pass your medical boards, and you will have your Medical Doctor (M.D.) degree and, most likely, an enormous loan to repay.
Step 7

Begin your four-year residency in psychiatry, which is actually on-the-job training for which you will receive a salary. Depending on the state in which you work as a resident, you will take your medical licensing examination sometime during this period.
Step 8

Consider continuing your training to receiving board certification in a subspecialty such as forensic psychiatry, child psychiatry or geriatric psychiatry.

Comments

princessp3056 said

Flag This Comment

on 10/27/2009 The person that wrote this article does not seem to be a credible source. He jokes about the fact that you will have a huge debt to repay (which is true but not a joking matter.) They also joke that after all of the schooling you can not call yourself a "shrink." There is a stigma out there that goes along with counseling and mental health. Everyone has mental health the same as everyone has physical health.

chrisbeth3913 said

on 10/23/2009 Im a junior and I really want to be a psychiatrist.
but I'm hearing all these different anawers on how to do it and I'm so confused about what classes I have to take and everything. I need help asap. HELP!!!!!!!!!!

jkhamlin said

on 10/5/2009 This article is not entirely true. The AAMC website doesn't list all accredited medical schools in the US, only the ones that are members of the AAMC. You don't have to get an MD degree to become a medical doctor, you also have the option of getting a DO degree, which fully qualifies one to practice medicine and psychiatry. Those schools are listed here: http://www.aacom.org/people/colleges/Pages/default.aspx

earlhamite said

on 7/15/2009 To: dasmoke (2007)
bri924(2009)

I about to graduate with a major in Economics and I am not holding the required GPA for a medical school. If you decide to become a Psychiatrist at the age of 20, there are still options for you to become one. However, instead of four years of medical school, you need to go for a Post-bacc. program which has all science classes and will help you increase your grade point average. I am in the situation and pretty discouraged at this point because although I have a high GPA, i do not have the required science classes. I am even willing to take MCAT in a few months, but the pre-health advisers I contact mention how it is almost impossible for me to get in medical school.So yes, there are options to get in , you just need determination and effort. A strong advice would be to contact your pre-health adviser at school or the college you are attending.