Do Psychologists have to go to med school in orther for them to be an official Psychologists practioner?
September 282009
Im thinking about studying psychologie in college. Help me.
No, psychologists do not have to go to medical school. Psychiatrists do. Psychologists do not prescribe medications; therefore, medical school is not necessary. Psychologists do have to obtain a Ph.D though and become licensed in there state before they can start practicing. You will first need to go to undergraduate schooling for 4 years and get your bachelors degree (preferably in Psychology). During your Junior or Senior year of college you will have to take the GRE test and score high on this. This is the test that along with your GPA, which should be at 3.5 or higher, will determine if you get into graduate school. Once in graduate school you will work on your Ph.D. This will take you another (minimum) 4 years.
If you decide that Psychiatry is your better route, you will go to undergraduate schooling for 4 years, medical school for 4 years, choose the specialty (psychiatry) and then finish out 3 years of residence and 1 year of internship (minimum). So it is a minimum of 12 years for Psychiatry vs. 8 years for Psychology.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:51 am
No. To be a practicing psychologist, you will need a PhD. This will actually take about a year longer than med school. It is a psychiatrist who goes to med school. They basically just give people medicine to make them feel better rather than counseling. A psychologist cannot write prescriptions, so it is somewhat common to do a dual program with both a PhD and med school. The combination would add an additional year or two of schooling.
References :
September 28th, 2009 at 8:40 am
No, psychologists do not have to go to medical school. Psychiatrists do. Psychologists do not prescribe medications; therefore, medical school is not necessary. Psychologists do have to obtain a Ph.D though and become licensed in there state before they can start practicing. You will first need to go to undergraduate schooling for 4 years and get your bachelors degree (preferably in Psychology). During your Junior or Senior year of college you will have to take the GRE test and score high on this. This is the test that along with your GPA, which should be at 3.5 or higher, will determine if you get into graduate school. Once in graduate school you will work on your Ph.D. This will take you another (minimum) 4 years.
If you decide that Psychiatry is your better route, you will go to undergraduate schooling for 4 years, medical school for 4 years, choose the specialty (psychiatry) and then finish out 3 years of residence and 1 year of internship (minimum). So it is a minimum of 12 years for Psychiatry vs. 8 years for Psychology.
References :
B.A. in Psychology.