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What majors/minors should I pursue if I want to become a Psychiatrist?

I would like to become a psychiatrist to work with people and the brain, but also to be in the medical field. I am planning on majoring in psychology, but wondering if I should major in pre-med or neurobiology or anything like that. #pre-med #clinical-psychology #psychiatry #psychiatrists

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Richard’s Answer

Pick a major that interests you because you will spend countless hours studying this subject. You will need to get good grades in college in order to apply for medical school. At the medical school I attended, the average GPA is reported to be 3.85, so even one or two B's can hurt your chances of acceptance.

Aside from this, any major is acceptable as long as you complete the prerequisite courses.

Typical medical school prerequisites include:
Biology: Lecture – 4 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
General Chemistry: Lecture – 2 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
Organic Chemistry: Lecture – 2 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
Biochemistry: Lecture – 1 semester
General Physics: Lecture – 2 semesters; Lab – 1 semester
Math: Statistics – 1 semester
English: Rhetoric (Composition) and Literature – 2 semesters
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Rachel’s Answer

Major in whatever field interests you and will allow you to maintain an excellent GPA. I majored in Spanish literature and had no trouble with my med school applications. You do need to complete the pre-med requirements that vary from school to school. These include at least a year of biology, 1 year inorganic chemistry, 1 year organic chemistry + labs, physics, calculus, and biochemistry. Your junior year, you will need to take an MCAT study course prior to taking the MCAT. With a solid GPA and MCAT score, you should be a competitive applicant.
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Susan Delphine’s Answer

A lot of pre-meds are majoring in Neuroscience, also taking the Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math requirements for the med schools they plan to apply to.

Psychiatry shares a certifying Board with Neurology, and our work is more and more about neurophysiology, so it makes sense on a lot of levels to major in Neuroscience.

If you can, take a few business courses. It will come in handy when you go into practice. You can take those at your community college on breaks or in "MayMester" or "WinterMester."
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Dr. Ray’s Answer

Dear Kaylynn,


If you want to be a psychiatrist, which is a medical specialty, I strongly recommend that you major in premed and perhaps minor in psychology. Medicine is so biologically oriented that I think you will need all the biology and chemistry courses in the premed curriculum to survive academically in medical school. While medicine is the more prestigious field you might consider cognitive science or neurosciences as career fields, since they specialize in brain research.


Whichever route you choose I wish you the best in your studies.


Ray Finn
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Estelle’s Answer

One of the most valuable things to know about applying for medical school is that it does not matter what you major in, and this is great news because it means you should earn your undergrad degree in whatever you like best! An important thing to know is that you simply need to complete the premed requirements to apply for medical school, but that can be done with any degree. Richard's answer outlines some basics for that very well. For example, you could major in biology, business or even music and still apply for medical school. Once you are in medical school, it does not matter what your undergrad degree is in, so you can go into any field of medicine after that.
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