Future Psychologist

[Yalebound13]

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Right now im only a sophmore in high school and my dream has always been to go to Yale and become a psychologist. I was just wondering how i could help my chances of getting into a good school for phychology. And also things i should be studying, or learning now to better prepare myself. Anything would help.

 

[Anon15]

Right now im only a sophmore in high school and my dream has always been to go to Yale and become a psychologist. I was just wondering how i could help my chances of getting into a good school for phychology. And also things i should be studying, or learning now to better prepare myself. Anything would help.

Try speaking with your guidance counselor. Often they are options for students who are trying to learn more about a profession


**T4C--Please move thread to BA/MA forum**

 

[Yalebound13]

but this is what i wanted all my life. and its getting time I need to start preparing. so can you give me any advice on what i can do right now to help me get accepted into a top college in the nation.

 

[Ollie123]

For starters, don't plan on Yale for graduate school. They accept < 1% of applicants, so even if you do everything perfect its a huge crapshoot.

Its great that you're thinking about this already. Best things you can do at your age are get great grades and do great on your SATs. Take the hardest classes you can (every AP that is available). Earlier on you get involved in research, the better, so if there's a local science fair or anything, do something related to psychology!

Also, don't underestimate the importance of connections. If you know anyone in the field, talk to them. See if you can take university classes while still in high school, or get involved there somehow.

Don't let any of that get in the way of schoolwork though. Grades matter more at this point than they will later on, so you need to do well to get in.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

I agree with Ollie: it's awesome that you're already so motivated. Connections are key; being in high school there's not much you can really do because grad schools don't look back at HS grades...but, that doesn't mean they don't matter. They will matter for where you go to uni and scholarships and the like. See, if you get scholarships to uni, then you won't need a job to help pay, and if you don't need a job to help pay, you can get more involved in research.
I don't agree that you shouldn't aim for Yale. Do it. But the process is so random - I think that's what Ollie was getting at. But, basically aim for the top school, if it happens that you're accepted to Yale cool, if not, then that's ok, you might get accepted at some other top school.
But I think it's really awesome that you're already thinking about this stuff. I was too (wanting to become a psychologist) when I was your age -- I just had no clue about anything (that I'd need to go to grad school). It's good you're getting advice already.
Connections are always key. So go go go and make them as best you can. You never know who might remember you from way back when.

High Five. 👍 and Good Luck

 

[psychanon]

You can aim to go to Yale for undergrad, but for grad school you apply according to how well your interests match with the faculty's research, and who knows how your interests will evolve. So it's entirely unclear as of now if Yale is even the right grad school for you (let alone the simple fact that they except about 2 applicants out of 500, literally). All you need to do is to stay motivated, get good grades & SATs, and do your best to get into a good college (Yale or elsewhere) where you can get research experience in psychology.

 

[Yalebound13]

is getting into yale undergraduate a lot easier than yales graduate school

 

[Quynh2007]

is getting into yale undergraduate a lot easier than yales graduate school

it is for clinical psych. didn't they only accept like 3 or so last year?

besides, you never know about sticking w/psychology. I found undergrad a great place to explore what I wanted by taking classes from different areas.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

Okay this is going to be harsh.

You really really really need to think outside of the Yale box. Yes it would be great to go to Yale for undergrad... but that's a hard thing to do and honestly it won't help you THAT much when applying to grad schools.

As for going to Yale for grad school... you can't even think that far ahead yet 'cause you don't know what your interests will be. You go to a clinical program based on your fit with the prof interest-wise, not because you've always wanted to go to that school. For example, I've always wanted to go to school in New Mexico but come time for applications there was nobody there who was doing the work I wanted to do so I had to think outside the box.

When you're a psychologist it won't matter whether or not you went to Yale. It's really not the kind of field where people harp on your alma mater.

 

[scienceisbeauty]

I replied too quickly and although remembering, I also forgot -- you're in HS. I thought you knew your research interests, but of course you don't.
Aim for Yale. Yes. But only if your research interests are there.

 

[GiantSteps]

Yalebound13,

I agree with some of the advise offered to you on this Thread. Especially, the ideas of reading about psychology on your own (textbooks, journals, etc.), taking college course while in H.S. (some may count for high school credit while you are getting college credit - I did that years ago), and finding volunteer positions in psychology labs or mental/ social service agencies.

As far as Yale goes, people that attend Yale undergraduate basically know that they have a good chance of admissions as they are applying. I have met many Yale graduates over the years. They all told me about their high SAT scores, their high grades, EXTREME extracurricular achievements, and (sadly) family connections. So if you feel that you are in contention apply.

However, if you really want to set yourself up to be a top psychologist, I would forget about Yale. Go to the biggest state univesity you can find (UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, West Virginia, Kansas, etc. - all of those places which also have great college football teams). These types of schools all happen to have the finest psychology departments in the country - far superior to what any of the Ivy's have to offer at present. Go to one of these schools, major in Psychology (try to add a second major in a Science or something else to broaden your outlook and give you other options). While you are at one of these schools, immediately start volunteering at psychology labs so you can get experience and get to know the famous psychology professors (many of whom attended these very same state universities themselves years ago. Get the message?). These are the people who can really help to get you into a graduate school. Often, they bring in their own students or send them to their friends at other schools.

So good luck!

 

[Ollie123]

Just wanted to say, for the record, that I didn't say "Don't aim for Yale" I said, "Don't plan on Yale". Big difference😉

No harm in shooting for it, I'd encourage you to do so. Planning on it is roughly equivalent to planning on winning the lottery though. Its a lovely goal, but I'd make sure I was open to other options as well.

 

[Aura5]

yeah. Make sure not to waste the undergrad college years. Go to a bigger university that will have research options. Volunteer for several psychology research opportunities as you have time for in undergrad (as others said). You can also look for opportunities to volunteer clinically, if you want more hands-on experience. Be a psychology major and do these things, and do that research experience! Find out what your interest area is, and do good in those classes in college, etc. I wasn't a psych major, and I lack most the things above that I just mentioned, which is why I'm stressing their importance 😉

I think it's good you have such a clear idea now. Yes, be flexible, and who knows - later you might find certain areas of research you want that Yale doesn't offer anyway... but it's good that you actually know what you want now and have a direction and passion. You'll learn more of the nitty-gritty stuff later, and college advisors should be able to help once you are there as well.

 

[Yalebound13]

wouldnt it be better for me to go to a college thats known for psychology? wouldnt this help me when going to graduate school?

 

[Ollie123]

Probably yes, because you'll likely have access to more well-known researchers and their labs, which could translate to better LORs. I'm unsure whose post you are replying to - I looked through and didn't see anyone suggest you go anywhere that isn't known for psychology.

In most cases, this DOES mean bigger research universities. U Minnesota, and Wisconsin-Madison are not exactly two big-name schools (at least not compared to, say, Harvard or Yale), but within psychology they are about as highly respected as you can get. I applied to both Wisconsin-Madison and Yale and would have chosen to attend Wisconsin-Madison over Yale if I had been accepted to both because Wisc-Mad was a slightly better fit for me (I didn't even get an interview at either school, but that's another matter entirely!). Alot of it is about fit, which is another reason people are telling you Yale might not seem right for you down the line - depending on what your research interests are (for example, what aspect of what disorder you want to focus on), Yale might end up being a bad choice for you. Maybe you want to study schizophrenia - if Yale doesn't have a professor who specializes in schizophrenia (I don't think they do, but its been awhile since I was looking at Yale so don't quote me on that) - then Yale would actually be a terrible choice. If you want to have your own private practice rather than be a professor, again Yale is probably not a good choice.

Go to a school that's well-known for psychology, just know that well-known for psychology is not the same as well-known in general🙂

 

[GiantSteps]

wouldnt it be better for me to go to a college thats known for psychology? wouldnt this help me when going to graduate school?

The larger schools which myself and other are refering to have very strong psychology programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level. There are good psychology departments at colleges and prestigious private universities but the larger state universities have huge departments which spend money to bring in the top professors to build many research labs and clinics. You would not tend to find so many research opportunities and the same level professors who are publishing all the time at smaller schools or even at prestigious schools which are better known for other areas of academics. I am sure there are good psychology departments at Swarthmore, Vassar, and Williams but there is no way that they can offer the amount of psychology opportunities as the big schools. If you said you were dead set on becoming a lawyer or businessman, I would not hesitate to tell you to go to Harvard or Yale, if you could gain admissions, since there is a disproportionate number of students at the top law and business school who have this type of undergraduate education. However, in psychology the most famous places are primarily the large state schools. In addition, from a practical standpoint, you are not going to make it rich as a psychologist so accruing massive undergraduate debt is not so wise a decision.

 

[Quynh2007]

look at the school's coursebook from years past. it'll give you a good idea of the breadth and depth of each psych program. some programs are very narrow in that most of the faculty is doing one type of research (for example, ADHD/autism) so even if there is a lot of variety of classes, the people who are teaching them may not experts in that area and are just teaching to fulfill their teaching requirements.

you can usually tell about depth and breadth by looking at the upper level classes as those are often specialized and taught by someone who is a relative expert. also, keep in mind that there could be other department that are psych related and have psych related classes (neuro/cog/sociology,etc). I didn't major in Psych but in Human Development, which at my school is basically applied psych.

in my experience, I find larger schools slightly better than smaller ones because you're more likely to have a larger selection of classes, but of course the potential downfall of larger schools is more competition for out of class experiences like research/lab assistants, etc.

 

[char111]

take a look at their coursework outline that should be available online. then use the internet and your local library to start preping for different subjects.

you need to appreciate the value of statistics.

*MOD NOTE: link to website removed. Please don't refer people to your site. -t *

maybe volunteer in an area you think you would like to go into, such as an aged care home, school counselling area, or a research project; you can then apply the theories you are learning about online to real world contexts

travel as much as you can before you start uni, meet people, reflect on the sames and differences to you, your hometown, your country.

observe animals and learn their languages. they can tell us alot about ourselves

*MOD NOTE: link to website removed. Please don't refer people to your site. -t *

 

[CheetahGirl]

Yalebound13,

My 2 cents: Don't pigeonhole yourself into the image surrounding one Ivy League university - my Harvard friends would be upset if they read this. Broaden your horizons. It's an important lesson to learn about psychology...there are no absolutes.

Your HS guidance counselor is the best starting point. And not to appear overzealous, but contact Yale's admissions department (as well as other universities).

If you are related to Yale alumni, then this may be a different story. Ask them for support. Learn the art of networking. Find a psychologist (the type you want to be: clinical, social, neuro, forensic, enviornmental, etc.) and try to meet with him/her to discuss the specifics of your desired career.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a psychiatrist, and entered college as a pre-med math major (go figure!). When I finished undergrad, I knew clinical psychology was for me. It sounds like you have a general idea, don't be discouraged - just more open minded. Also, unless money is no object, save money by kicking butt now with grades, etc. and look into scolarships or grants. I had a former coworker who loved her Yale degree, but was always so stressed about paying back her undergraduate loans.

I'm a huge advocate for volunteering, start volunteering now...and chose positions that will deepen your prespective on the human condition.

Good Luck!

 

[ipsychologist]

Why do you want to be a psychologist? Instead of answering "because I want to help people..." what would your answer be?

 

[socialcog]

Why do you want to be a psychologist? Instead of answering "because I want to help people..." what would your answer be?

I once asked an arrogant PhD candidate who disparagingly scoffed at my Master's level license, why they NEEDED to be a psychologist. Their response was, "because of the prestige."

I wonder how many nose-bleeds she got due to her high horse.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I wonder how many nose-bleeds she got due to her high horse.

I needed that laugh (seriously).

Thanks.

-t