I/O Psych to Clinical Psych?

[simplybaroque]

Interesting question that one of my psych major friends had; we were discussing pro/cons of specific psychology paths and this came up. Wanted to get SDN's thoughts!

My friend and I were both interested in doctoral programs and have been trying to prepare our application packages for fall 2017 matriculation - I for a Counseling Psych PhD and she for a PsyD in Clinical. We both plan on getting masters in the interim to improve our GPA / get more research experience.

Said friend currently works in management consulting for a big firm and likes the pay scale there. She was considering doing an I/O Psychology masters that would allow her to advance in her current firm and collect more savings / pay off debt before going into the PsyD program. She's not worried about time to completion, so most likely she'll get her masters, work for 5-7 years, and then switch into a PsyD or PhD. Her path is appealing (esp since I have LOADS of debt) and I almost considered doing something similar (I work in the business world too, so it would be easy to tie in an I/O Psych degree to my work experience).

However, I'm pretty sure it will be difficult to make the switch from I/O to Clinical since they're such different fields (corporate application vs clinical focus). Am I wrong? Has anyone heard of someone switching specializations so dramatically before?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm a psychology newbie

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[deleted343839]

Some schools have clinical respecialization programs for people who have doctoral degrees in other fields of psychology. But for someone with a terminal master's degree we don't typically think of it as "switching" specialties. Even with a clinical master's degree, you generally start from square one in a doctoral training program and your previous coursework doesn't count toward the doctorate. For instance, a friend from my cohort entered our training program with a master's degree and experience working as a professional counselor, but her coursework and practicum requirements were the same as mine (I had a BA and no clinical experience outside of clinical research studies) and we spent the same amount of time in school before internship.

At first you said your friend was aiming to start a clinical training program in fall 2017, then you said she thought she might get a master's in I/O and work for 5+ more years in management consulting. I understand the financial motivation, and people have certainly returned to clinical psychology as a "second career," but I think you'd have a harder time making the jump.

 

[simplybaroque]

Interesting, especially the bit about a doctoral program considered a bit of a "clean slate" from the masters. I honestly didn't realize it was like that.

(My apologies for the poor wording - Friend's intent was to matriculate in fall 2017, but then she found out about I/O and was considering switching up her plans. I think she's pretty set on the I/O path, so I'd be interested in seeing how she ends up. Maybe she'll like it so much she won't even want her PsyD haha!)

 

[deleted343839]

Maybe she'll like it so much she won't even want her PsyD haha!

She should look carefully and realistically at the typical salary range for PsyD graduates. She may very well want to stick with I/O.

 

[simplybaroque]

She should look carefully and realistically at the typical salary range for PsyD graduates. She may very well want to stick with I/O.

Careful... you might end up persuading me to change my plans as well!

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Careful... you might end up persuading me to change my plans as well!

I believe the comment was more in regards to the debt-to-income ratio of the average Psy.D. (and non-funded Ph.D.) student, rather than solely to the salary of psychologists as a whole.