Career crisis. Giving up on MD/DO for psychology?
Hi guys, I recently finished undergrad and am now facing a huge career crisis. I was originally on the premed track. I have the GPA and experience, but I can’t get myself to study for the MCAT anymore (it is soul crushing and I hate it).
- GPA: 3.97 cumulative 3.94 science
- 1000+ paid MA hours with a lot of hands on experience. It’s probably more hrs but I stopped counting once I started full time.
- 225+ hrs non clinical volunteering (150 from CTL, 50+ and counting from a mental health nonprofit. The other 25 were from a homeless shelter
- 4 posters at state or national conferences across 3 labs. 3/4 posters were psych related
- I was a TA for a psych course for 1.5-2 yrs
- I minored in psych.
I need to make a decision now because it’s prime time for MCAT studying but I lose sleep and time stressing about my future. I haven’t studied in 2 weeks because I’m sick of IUPAC.
I really hate o chem and biochem. Not sure how I earned the grades that I did because I retained nothing. Really only interested in psychiatry if I do med school. Could probably tolerate endo. I did enjoy some of my premed courses (gen bio, microbio, anatomy, and physio). I also liked my psych courses though, and the info is easier to retain bc it’s actually interesting.
My problem is that I can’t study consistently. Maybe it’s bc I’m drained from work but idk I feel like other ppl manage to work and study simulaneously. I have awful time management and value my free time a lot.
ADHD + anxiety. Medicated but I don’t think the meds are helping with motivation. I never developed good study habits and crammed for everything. I did not retain anything from o chem and am rapidly forgetting Biochem. I’m a slow learner imo and am always making tiny mistakes when it comes to procedural stuff. Slow processing time. Undergrad wetlabs were a nightmare bc I find heavily procedural stuff very very overwhelming and confusing.
So yeah all of this has led me to believe that I should ditch med school for my mental and physical health. I feel like the MCAT is an indicator of whether or not I’m built for this much studying.
Looking into PsyD and will apply next cycle. I’d love to do forensics or neuropsych (but that one is hyper competitive from what I’m hearing). I don’t want to take any more gap years for extensive postbacc research required to get into clinical PhDs though.
I can’t tell if I’m being dumb and impulsive. It feels like I’m sacrificing all of my undergrad efforts and potential bc I can’t lock in for a few years, but at the same time I’m genuinely concerned about the workload and M3 especially (I get overwhelmed in fast paced, high stress novel clinical situations). I also genuinely think I’d be happy working as a psychologist. Obviously med school has a higher ROI though.
I’m not doing NP or PA bc if I do medicine I might as well full send (I need autonomy and confidence in my training. PA doesn’t provide autonomy in my state, and psych NP doesn’t feel comprehensive enough for my personal comfort level bc I’m the type to overthink and doubt every single one of my decisions, even at the medical assistant level).
Can someone pls give me a reality check abt switching over to PsyD pls? What do you giys think of this decision?
I’m sorry if this is convoluted and I appreciate any input that I can get. Thank you.