Becoming a psychologist

[Yuriynyr]

Hi, my name is Yuriy, I live in NY, and I am 22 years old. I am currently attending my second year at a community college before transfering to a 4 year college. Out of 34 credits, I have accumulated a 3.4 GPA. The 4 year college I want to transfer to is John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The reason why is because I am interested in Forensic Psychology. I have also plenty of interest in Clinical Psychology as well and don't know which to choose at the moment. If anyone has any tips on these two subspecialties of Psychology I'd greatly appreciate it. I believe a Psy.D would be better suited for Clinical Psychology, however I am not sure if I just need a regular PhD for Forensic Psychology, or perhaps the Forensics Psychology branch has it's own PhD.

I also have a few concerns. I have been going through quiet a lot the past 4 years or so. A couple of years back, I had two surgeries done on my shoulder, and recently I have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C for which I just started treatment early January and will need to continue for a year. The reason why this is a concern to me is because during this time I have not been able to work.

In the past, I worked as a teachers assistant at a 3D film school, bus boy at a restaurant, and done other gigs.

I have never been interviewed before. Although these jobs payed well, I never needed to be interviewed because I had connections to the people who worked there. What concerns me is that eventually down the road to becoming a Psychologist, I will need to go to a job/internship interview and I don't know what to expect at all. Not to mention that I am not really a talkative guy. I do however ask questions at class in college though but still, not enough.

This is sort of holding me back and I want to know how to approach this professionally. What can I do? Also if you guys give me some tips about Forensic or Clinical Psychology I will then begin looking at 4 year schools since if I'll be leaning towards Clinical Psychology, I will not need to attend John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

My Psychology professor told me that he was also very shy, not very talkative, but eventually when he realised he wanted to be a Psychologist. He had to overcome that obstacle and that gives me a sign of relieve that I can as well.

How can I develop my communication skill which is required for this kind of field? As well as for any job interviews that I will require later on.

PS: Sorry for the essay, I just don't know where else to ask. 🙂

Thanks all, Yuriy K.

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[AcronymAllergy]

Hi, my name is Yuriy, I live in NY, and I am 22 years old. I am currently attending my second year at a community college before transfering to a 4 year college. Out of 34 credits, I have accumulated a 3.4 GPA. The 4 year college I want to transfer to is John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The reason why is because I am interested in Forensic Psychology. I have also plenty of interest in Clinical Psychology as well and don't know which to choose at the moment. If anyone has any tips on these two subspecialties of Psychology I'd greatly appreciate it. I believe a Psy.D would be better suited for Clinical Psychology, however I am not sure if I just need a regular PhD for Forensic Psychology, or perhaps the Forensics Psychology branch has it's own PhD.

I also have a few concerns. I have been going through quiet a lot the past 4 years or so. A couple of years back, I had two surgeries done on my shoulder, and recently I have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C for which I just started treatment early January and will need to continue for a year. The reason why this is a concern to me is because during this time I have not been able to work.

In the past, I worked as a teachers assistant at a 3D film school, bus boy at a restaurant, and done other gigs.

I have never been interviewed before. Although these jobs payed well, I never needed to be interviewed because I had connections to the people who worked there. What concerns me is that eventually down the road to becoming a Psychologist, I will need to go to a job/internship interview and I don't know what to expect at all. Not to mention that I am not really a talkative guy. I do however ask questions at class in college though but still, not enough.

This is sort of holding me back and I want to know how to approach this professionally. What can I do? Also if you guys give me some tips about Forensic or Clinical Psychology I will then begin looking at 4 year schools since if I'll be leaning towards Clinical Psychology, I will not need to attend John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

My Psychology professor told me that he was also very shy, not very talkative, but eventually when he realised he wanted to be a Psychologist. He had to overcome that obstacle and that gives me a sign of relieve that I can as well.

How can I develop my communication skill which is required for this kind of field? As well as for any job interviews that I will require later on.

PS: Sorry for the essay, I just don't know where else to ask. 🙂

Thanks all, Yuriy K.

To briefly attempt to answer your questions:

1) There are stand-alone forensic psychology degree programs, and then there are clinical psychology programs which offer experiences and specialized training in forensic settings. In order to be licensed as a psychology (and thus provide client/patient care), you would need a degree in clinical psychology. A forensic-only degree, I believe, would not allow you to be licensable, unless the forensic degree is a specialty track offered in a clinical psychology degree program.

2) There are plenty of threads already on the Psy.D. vs. Ph.D. route, so feel free to search the forums for those. In general, though, keep in mind that it's perfectly viable to focus entirely on clinical practice after obtaining a Ph.D., just as it's fine to focus largely on research with a Psy.D. The differences are largely to be had in your training experiences (to some extent), class size, available externship placements, the amount of financial assistance you will receive, the ease/difficulty of admissions to the program, and whether or not you would be required to complete an actual dissertation. In general, university-affiliated programs (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) offer more funding, although this forces them to take fewer students, which causes them to be much more difficult to get into. Stand-alone/professional programs generally take larger classes, and thus the admissions process usually isn't as difficult, but they offer little if any financial aid.

3) Your current school, or the school to which you transfer, should have a career services department. They can likely either directly offer you, or point you to places that do offer, classes or workshops on interviewing. In grad school, your advisors and classmates can help you work on interviewing skills via mock interviews and such. However, you will likely need to attend interviews in order to get into grad school to begin with, so shoring up your skills beforehand couldn't hurt. Just know that a propensity toward shyness/introversion does not necessarily preclude you from graduate school. In my time here, I've seen other students who've run the entire gamut of the introversion/extroversion spectrum--from exceedingly outgoing and gregarious to excessively quiet and shy. While the latter characteristics will need to be adjusted, as social interaction is a requirement, I haven't yet seen a situation in which an individual was unable to complete the program due solely to shyness. It's always possible, if for instance your social anxiety is to the degree that it would cause you to miss class and/or cancel sessions with clients, but short of that, it's probably something you could simply aim to improve while in the program.

4) It is not at all necessary (and perhaps not even advisable) to attend a criminal justice-specific program and/or obtain a degree in criminal justice in order to study forensic psychology. Heck, even for clinical psychology programs, it's not even necessary to have your bachelor's in psychology. You simply need to meet the course pre-requisites for the program (usually some combination of psych classes including intro, stats, research methods, bio/social/cognitive/developmental psych, etc.), do well on the GRE, possibly take the psychology subject GRE, obtain three letters of recommendation, and fill out applications.

 

[Yuriynyr]

Your answer has been very helpful. Thank you very much.

About the bachelor's, John Jay College of Criminal Justice offered a Major in Forensic Psychology, not necessarily Criminal Justice. When I considered going to Medical School before (I changed my mind because it takes too long) I still wanted to transfer to John Jay and major in Forensics as it included all the pre-med required courses.

How do you get letters of recommendation? Obviously you need to do good in the class, but after you get an A or something, you just tell your professor you need one for a graduate program?

Lastly, before entering a graduate program, is it required to have certain amount of hours of work in the field before hand? Like an internship perhaps. How does that work exactly? I mean you are not even trained for anything and certain places would actually hire you temporarily while you're a student?

Thanks, Yuriy.

 

[KillerDiller]

I considered going to Medical School before (I changed my mind because it takes too long)

I hate to break it to you, but it takes just as long to become a psychologist as it does to become a medical doctor. If being in school a long time is a big factor for you, you may need to consider other options.

How do you get letters of recommendation? Obviously you need to do good in the class, but after you get an A or something, you just tell your professor you need one for a graduate program?

It is not a good idea to obtain letters of recommendation from professors when you have only had them for one class. They won't have very much to say besides "So-in-so got an A." Instead, get letters from professors with whom you have worked one-on-one. For example, you could get research experience working in a professor's lab and then ask for a letter.

Lastly, before entering a graduate program, is it required to have certain amount of hours of work in the field before hand? Like an internship perhaps. How does that work exactly? I mean you are not even trained for anything and certain places would actually hire you temporarily while you're a student?

Thanks, Yuriy.

No, it's not required. However, understand that when you apply to doctoral programs, you are asking to be admitted into the highest level of acheivement within the profession. Because of this, schools are going to expect to see more than just good grades. You will need to demonstrate that you have familiarity with the world of psychology and know enough to committ to studying it. Many applicants gain this experience by working in reserch labs. Others volunteer for crisis hotlines. There are some paid positions you can take after you have a bachelor's degree, although they aren't incredibly common.