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How difficult was it to become a psychiatrist?

Although i don't find school to be much of an interest to me, I know it takes at least twelve years to complete. Was the school difficult for you? Did it pay off in the end? Have you changed your career path since you were in school?

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Subject: Career question for you

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Odun’s Answer

Yes school can be a bit of an effort sometimes, what helped me was knowing that school was necessary for me to get to what and where I wanted to be. I loved helping people learn to take their medicines right so I knew I had to do well at school in order to become the pharmacist that I am today. So yes, school paid off and working hard at it paid off even better because of the opportunities that became open to me. No, I remained in the same career that I went to school for and have risen progressively to higher roles and positions within it.

Since it sounds like you are interested in being a psychiatrist, the first thing is to see yourself as one; you have to believe that dream, feel it and see it in your mind’s eye as really happening.
Then and this is a very important step;

Odun recommends the following next steps:

Take life science course such as biology, chemistry, physics in college for your Bachelor’s degree, takes about 4 yrs
Find out if there are internship opportunities for you to shadow a couple of real life psychiatrist to see what a typical day or week looks like in the life of one.
You will need to take the MCAT exam in order to apply to medical school. Medical school usually takes four years.
Start seeking admission into a psychiatric residency program by the start of your fourth year in Medical school so you are assured of getting into one at the end of your medical school program.
Some psychiatrists do complete additional fellowship training, though not mandatory
Thank you comment icon I appreciate you taking the time to write this and giving me step by step! It was very helpful. josie
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PRASANJIT’s Answer

The MD course in Psychiatry takes three years to complete while the diploma takes two years. There are various institutions offering these courses in psychiatry. Besides the MD and the DPM, there is a third option for study.
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