Deciding if Psychology is the Right Field

[Kestra]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here, so please forgive me if it's not an appropriate one. Basically I am someone who took a break from undergrad, is trying to go back and finish my English major, but I'm not sure what to do after that.

I'm interested in psych. I had taken a few courses in undergrad, but never considered it as a career choice. Now I'd like to consider it, but don't know where to start. I'm not sure what degree is needed (Bachelor's, Master's, PhD, etc.) in this field. I don't know what psychologists really do, to be perfectly honest.

I'd like to explore this and see if any of this could be a valid career choice for me, but I don't know where to start. I'd really appreciate it if anyone could offer me some insight, or point me towards some resources that would help me better understand the field.

Thanks!

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[erg923]

Please do a search for topics that you have specific questions on in the Ph.D/Psy.D psych forum section. Pretty much all your questions can get answered if you search correctly. All of this has been covered before in numerous threads, I guarantee you. I would also recommend talking to a psychologist at your school about the field.

In sum:
1.What do you want to do? An applied branch of psychology such as clinical, counseling, or I/O? OR, one of the the experimental (all research) branches of psychology (ie., social, cognitive, behavioral neuroscience, etc)? This is the first question you must ask yourself.

2. Masters level clinical grads can do some counseling, but not all types, and in some states you still have to work under a doctoral level psychologist. If you solely want to do therapy, have NO interest in psychological testing/assement and NO interest in research, doctoral level clinical psychology is probably not for you. You can do therapy with masters in social work.

3. Clinical Psychology is not just therapy. Alot is research, assessment, diagnosis, program eval, and C/L type work, etc. There are many subspecialties in clinical psych (clinical neuropsychology, clinical health psychology, etc)

4. There are 2 doctoral level degress in clinical psych: Ph.D or Psy.D. There are vast differences between the 2 degress even thouguh they are both training you to be a clinical psychologist. Please read the sticky thread labled "Ph.D vs Psy.D." on the doctoral forum for more information

5. Doctoral level clinical psych is very competitive (more so than med school statistically) with average acceptance rates for Ph.D programs being 3%-10%. Psy.D programs can range from 5-30%. In order to be competitive for admisssion you need a GPA of 3.5 and above, GRE of at least 1200 (V + Q) and research experience with a psych professor during your undergrad years. If you did not get any reseatch experience as an undergrad, you will have to get some sowehow before applying. Likewise, if you did not major in psych as an undergrad, you would have to at least complete the standard prereqs before you can apply to grad school (usually these are multivariate stats in psychology, abnormal psych, experimental psych, among a couple others). Ph.D. programs are usually funded and tuition remission (you dont pay any tuition to attend the program). Most Psy.D programs are not funded at all and their tuition can cost an arm and leg. Obviously, these are less comptietive and easier to get into on average.

 

[Kestra]

Please do a search for topics that you have specific questions on in the Ph.D/Psy.D psych forum section. Pretty much all your questions can get answered if you search correctly. All of this has been covered before in numerous threads, I guarantee you. I would also recommend talking to a psychologist at your school about the field.

I did many searches and read many topics, actually. The problem I'm encountering is that I don't even have questions specific enough. I don't know enough about psychology to even know what I want to do. I realize you can't answer all of those questions for me, but I was hoping someone could give me a broad overview or point me toward a resource that might help me.

I've done lots of searches on the web and on this forum and others, and I don't even understand the lingo much of the time. I'm not currently enrolled in classes so I do not have a university department that I can speak to concerning this subject.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond, but since this probably isn't a place for me to get any answers, I'd like to let the mods know they can feel free to close the thread. Thanks!

 

[erg923]

read the entire second part of my post. Is that not informative? If you ask me a question I will answer it

 

[AryaStark]

A problem that a lot of people have is that they don't understand the term psychologist. It can mean a whole lot of things to a whole lot of people. For example, you could be a psychologist who does therapy (you would need a clinical phd or psyd degree for this) or you could be a developmental psychologist (researching children or teaching classes on this subject) you could be a developmental clinical psychologist (doing therapy assessment etc on young children). You could be a cognitive psychologist and research the brain and behavior etc. I think the majority of the time when people think of the term "psychologist" they only think of a therapist. However, that is just ONE degree to get. There isn't just one PhD to become a psychologist. You could get a PhD for clinical, experimental, cognitive, social, etc etc. What is it that interests you about psychology? Is it how people behave? Is it how people behave when given a particular treatment? Is it how the human brain develops? Is it how different health problems change your mood?

There are so many aspects of psychology, so saying you're "interested in psychology" really makes it pretty difficult to give you adequate advice. I would recommend that you at least go on something like wikipedia and learn about what one can do with a degree (phd, psyd, masters, ba) in psychology. Typically if you get a degree with a B.A you can do some work with people, but it is not what one thinks of when they think of "psycholoist". With a masters you get a little more leeway, and with a doctorate degree you can do a lot.

Here is the PsiChi website (the national honor society in psychology) that tells you what you can do with a BA in psychology
http://www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_50.aspx

Typically you don't HAVE to major in psychology to get an MSW or a MS in psychology. However, it doesn't HURT. The majority of the time, if you didn't study psychology in school, taking the Psych GRE will show schools your knowledge in psychology.

http://www.psychwww.com/careers/masters.htm
I think that this will be a good resource for you. It gives you an overview of what many fields of psycholoy cover. All I typed into google is "masters psychology job". Keep doing searches like that until you find what you're looking for.

Good luck, and if you need more help, feel free to continue.

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here, so please forgive me if it's not an appropriate one. Basically I am someone who took a break from undergrad, is trying to go back and finish my English major, but I'm not sure what to do after that.

I'm interested in psych. I had taken a few courses in undergrad, but never considered it as a career choice. Now I'd like to consider it, but don't know where to start. I'm not sure what degree is needed (Bachelor's, Master's, PhD, etc.) in this field. I don't know what psychologists really do, to be perfectly honest.

I'd like to explore this and see if any of this could be a valid career choice for me, but I don't know where to start. I'd really appreciate it if anyone could offer me some insight, or point me towards some resources that would help me better understand the field.

Thanks!