I'm only a sophomore in high school, but I'm trying to prepare for my career path & college. My current cumulative GPA is 3.67, & I didn't try my absolute best because I've had many stress-related issues during my freshman year. I fully intend on getting straight A's during the rest of my high school years. I'm leaning towards being a child & adolescent psychiatrist, & going to the University of Michigan. At this rate, my grades are acceptable, so I'll just have to worry about my ACT & SAT. I was wondering what types of things psychiatrists do day-to-day, how tough it would be to get into medical school, & where the best areas to work would be-in the United States or not. I live in Michigan & would prefer to live in either New York or California after I become a psychiatrist. If you can help me with any of this information, then thank you so much. Also if you can add more, again, thank you.
Update:Actually, I have done my research. But I can't depend on what the Internet says, & I was hoping for somebody with actual experience to answer the question. I understand how long it'll take to even just become a blossoming psychiatrist, but I was just wondering if it would all be worth it.
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Verified answer
As the first person said, psychiatrists are medical doctors (MD), so that requires medical school, as you acknowledge. Living in Michigan gives you a lot of options for your undergraduate as basically any of our state schools will give you a bachelor's degree that will enable you to get into medical school (assuming you get very good grades and complete the pre-med requirements). As for medical school: it's VERY competitive. The U-M medical school is quite small, and it's very highly sought after, so it's intensely competitive. U-M undergraduates should be aiming for a minimum of a 3.7 to even stand a chance; Wayne State has probably the least competitive medical school in the state, and a U-M undergrad would need around a 3.4-3.5 to get in there. In addition to good grades, there's the MCAT, which is also very important. To answer your question in short, medical school is very hard to get into.
As for where to work, I'd say that since psychiatrists are needed in all areas, this is not going to be a geographically focused career field like something like political science might be (i.e. New York or DC areas).
You need to get a BA first in either psychology or a science related field. After that, you need to go on to medical school for an additional four years. Once you are out you will be considered a doctor but still have to have on the job training. That's a residency which will last 4-5 years. Then you need to take a test to be licensed to work in the state you want to live.
Don't worry about where right now, states generally pay about the same based on costs to live in the state.
So in NY you could get paid $150,000 a year and get by the same way you would if you were working in Alaska and getting paid $90,000
not to be rude, but your litany list of questions shows you've done little to no research on your own.
complex subject look into onto google that will can assist