How did you know that this was the right path for you?

[neurom]

Hello again all of you wonderful people on this forum, it's me, the psychology undergrad.
I've recently been doing some introspective work and toying with the idea of switching my career goals around. Basically, I'm conflicted on whether to pursue a psych PhD or a neuroscience PhD. I am extremely interested in both, but I just want to do a lot of science in my career, and I'm worried I won't necessarily get that with the psych PhD. I have always been drawn to research and hands on work much more than I am to clinical work, and if I were to do a psych PhD, I'd like to pursue research interests in my free time if possible. I want to work with severe mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar, borderline etc.) and neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD, autism, conduct disorders, etc.) preferably focusing on children and young adults.

I guess I am becoming conflicted because I just don't know that much about the field. Even typing this, I think that I'm more drawn to the life of clinical psych, but I'm just not sure. I'm trying to give it time and join a research lab next semester to see if this is what I like, but I'm just so worried I'm going to go through my whole undergrad and then realize in my last semesters that I actually want to pursue something else, so I'm trying to become firm in my goals now. So, my question to all of you is: how did you KNOW, with 100% certainty, that a psych PhD and becoming a psychologist was for you? Did you struggle with other potential pathways, and if so, how did you decide not to pursue those and ultimately settle on psych? Thanks everyone

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[summerbabe]

Basically, I'm conflicted on whether to pursue a psych PhD or a neuroscience PhD. I am extremely interested in both, but I just want to do a lot of science in my career, and I'm worried I won't necessarily get that with the psych PhD. I have always been drawn to research and hands on work much more than I am to clinical work, and if I were to do a psych PhD

When I think of STEM careers, I think of work that is largely happening alone. Even if you’re in a lab with a bunch of other people physically present, actively working on something with a partner, or have the ability to converse with a team.

Doing clinical work in psychology more akin to 1-on-1 tutoring IMO. I think you mentioned having kids. Or even if you don’t, maybe you’ve done some tutoring in the past. If you hate this, it might be important to consider why and if those elements will manifest in a clinical career.

Whereas you can largely do science on your own timeline and to your own preferences, clinical work means you’re essentially trapped with your patient(s) for the duration of the appointment. And they are going to have a lot of influence on how that time is spent and their pathology will also very much manifest during that time (unpleasant interpersonal stuff with clients who have personality disorders, avoidance behaviors with trauma disorders, feeling the air is being sucked out of the room with deep depression, etc).

The cool thing is that like tutoring, sometimes you can help this other person from a basis of scientific evidence to have something click and then work with them to apply what they just learned/realized to the rest of their life, which may even eventually move towards eliminating them meeting criteria for that pathology.

And sometimes that doesn’t happen at all and you’re stuck potentially feeling some degree of annoyed/disappointed/incompetent.

The dynamic is somewhat different if you’re doing pure assessment instead of therapy but what I’ve experienced and tried to describe above is still pretty relevant for me when I’ve been assessment focused.

 

[PsyDr]

I looked at the lifestyle of academia, and realized it sucks unless you’re in the top 5% of other academics in your field. I saw adults in their 50s who were still chasing grants and some of them were scraping by. Their work was fascinating, but I noticed their career advice was just… sad.

This did not apply to math, engineering, and economic related PhDs.

 

[tr]

Depending on your area of focus and institution, a psych PhD can set you up for either a research career or a clinical career, or even a blend of the two.

The options coming out of a neuroscience PhD are much more limited. Most people who do this degree want basic research careers, but the competition for these is cutthroat. Alternatives for those who don't make it (which is most of them) are pivots to industry, government, commercial data science, or science publishing; but those pivots themselves are not straightforward also require a fair amount of effort to accomplish.

Whereas the pivot from research to a clinical career for an appropriately equipped psychology PhD (meaning you did all the necessary clinical training including internship, not a PhD focused on basic research with rats etc) is essentially effortless.

 

[ClinicalABA]

N=1 anecdote, so take it for what it's worth. When I was in grad school (clinical Ph.D.), one of my classmate's boyfriend was a in a neuroscience Ph.D. program. We hung out quite a bit. While we worked hard in our program, his program was grueling. Now, he was a Berkeley undergrad, getting his Ph.D. at MIT in a Nobel winning lab, so maybe an extreme example- he was probably in the top 5% of the top 5% that PsyDr mentions abouve). He was working mainly with mice brains, and when things needed to happen in the lab, he had to be there. This meant leaving the party at midnight on the weekend to go to the lab and put something in the freezer, do some sample prep, etc. Our mentors could be rough on us at times and there were some unrealistic expectations, but his mentor RULED HIS LIFE. Now he liked his mentor a lot, and respected his work even more (it was/is legitimately pretty cool stuff), but it was a slog. Upon finishing his Ph.D., his career options were more limited (both in number and geographic location) than ours- compete for a handful of hard science academic jobs or work for a drug company. He ended up going to work for his mentor in his research lab in Japan. Our salaries are equivalent, but he took longer to get there and is dependent to a large extent on soft money that he needs to hunt down. I think we're both probably equally happy, for what it's worth. I certainly have more geographic flexibility (though somewhat constricted by licensure), and have been able to carve my job into what I want it to be (e.g., only seeing kids under 3 and doing the tests that I want to/have fun doing, with a pretty sweet adjunct gig on the side). FYI- the classmate who was dating this guy is a adult clinician at Kaiser in CA, and her room mate who we hung out with is a neuropsych/geriatric researcher in Chicago. I assess toddlers for autism. Pretty much all of the other guys classmates are hard scientist in an area closely related to their graduate studies. Again- this is an anecdote, and maybe an extreme one at that, so take it for what it's worth. Both trajectories can lead you to really cool places. To use an analogy, I'd say the clinical Ph.D. is more of a shotgun, with a wide spread of where things could potentially end up. The neuroscience Ph.D., was more of a rifle, with a more targeted trajectory (and both are pretty dangerous in the wrong hands and if you don't give them appropriate respect and care!).

 

[Harry3990]

Depending on your area of focus and institution, a psych PhD can set you up for either a research career or a clinical career, or even a blend of the two.

The options coming out of a neuroscience PhD are much more limited. Most people who do this degree want basic research careers, but the competition for these is cutthroat. Alternatives for those who don't make it (which is most of them) are pivots to industry, government, commercial data science, or science publishing; but those pivots themselves are not straightforward also require a fair amount of effort to accomplish.

Whereas the pivot from research to a clinical career for an appropriately equipped psychology PhD (meaning you did all the necessary clinical training including internship, not a PhD focused on basic research with rats etc) is essentially effortless.

one thing I would add here that I have seen many examples of, is that people who "don't make it" in cutthroat academia might also get teaching-focused jobs as adjunct professors or teaching professors at non-research focused schools. Both of these options seem entirely unfulfilling to me in that the pay is so low it is basically criminal (though slightly less so for full-time, "tenure-track" teaching jobs).

 

[Dazen]

I know this might be a frustrating thing to hear since you’ve been working to figure out your ideal path, but you do have so much time! I was genuinely helped so much by working in a few different fields after undergrad because it 1. helped me narrow down my research focus and 2. convinced me that I wanted a PhD. I’m not sure I would have been able to confidently choose this path without exploring other options. You’ve likely had so much more exposure to academia than to other careers and it can be hard to know whether you’ll like the 9-5, more corporate (most places) lifestyle without trying it. I love the flexibility of academia because it lets me work more than 40 hours a week, but on my own schedule, I have both the freedom and responsibility of selecting my research projects. It’s imo a harder life than many careers but it’s one that I know is the best fit for me.

This might be a bit extreme, but I generally recommend only pursuing a PhD unless you’re SURE it’s what you want despite hearing all the negatives and having people in your life repeatedly tell you not to do it. For the right person, it’s amazing but it’s statistically unlikely that’s true for any one person.

 

[Harry3990]

So, my question to all of you is: how did you KNOW, with 100% certainty, that a psych PhD and becoming a psychologist was for you? Did you struggle with other potential pathways, and if so, how did you decide not to pursue those and ultimately settle on psych? Thanks everyone

I very much remember feeling similar to you when I was figuring out my path (started on a research-focused path and pivoted strongly towards clinical focus a couple of years into graduate school). I received feedback/advice along these lines from several mentors along the way: You can't predict any of your path with that much certainty, you can give your best guess and go with your gut and gain knowledge and then move in the direction that seems like the best fit with what you're drawing from. Data sources to draw from might be how you feel when you imagine the path, what your "gut" tells you, talking extensively with people in the field to make your imagined scenerios for your future-self slightly more accurate, etc. While it sounds great to somehow achieve 100% certainty regarding something that is such a high-stakes choice, this is almost certainly unattainable for literally everyone. We can't know for certain how we will feel in the future or exactly what will happen to us along the way. Life isn't that certain.

All of that said, if I had to pinpoint an experience that was most illuminating for me with helping me decide, it was falling in love with therapy (and later consultation, assessment, other parts as well). I had always guessed that I would enjoy therapy, but until I had the opportunity to actually experience providing it while on practicum, I didn't really know for sure. Once I had those experiences, I fell in love with the art of it and made a slightly more educated guess that I could do this work as a career for a long time. It has worked out for me so far, and it also helps that when therapy gets tiresome, I am lucky to be in a job that has many other duties as well that help keep things more varied and interesting.

 

[psycho1391]

how did you KNOW, with 100% certainty, that a psych PhD and becoming a psychologist was for you? Did you struggle with other potential pathways, and if so, how did you decide not to pursue those and ultimately settle on psych?

I can't say I knew 100% that a psych PhD and becoming a psychologist was for me. What I can tell you is that I knew in undergrad that I enjoyed my research classes in psychology more than my other research classes (anthropology, biology). My psychological measures class and psychopathology classes solidified those interests in clinical psychology. That is, case conceptualization became the center of what I found exciting. For me, clinical psychology also offered a variety of career options (teaching, research, clinical roles, admin) which I found important to me.

I also did some job shadowing (recreational therapy, speech pathology, neuropsychology, physical therapy, psychiatry) that helped me narrow down my career choice.

 

[Ollie123]

I still don't know with 100% certainty a psych PhD is for me, despite having one.

I'm indecisive and for me it offered the most flexibility. I could do clinical work or research. Within research, I could do anything from neuroscience to public health/policy. I could go to industry and get a stats job. It was effectively a way of kicking the can of indecision down the road. I feel like I'm continuing to do that in some ways in my professional life and still don't feel like I quite have an "expertise" despite having multiple large federal grants and going up for Associate Professor/tenure.

Indecisive is probably the wrong word. A more senior colleague described his career trajectory as something like "having a golden retriever on faculty" - effectively meaning they spent their life chasing down shiny objects, being distracted by whatever new thing appeared and loving all the everything rather than developing a programmatic line of work. That is absolutely me too and arguably even a more extreme case than him.

 

[Sanman]

I was actually choosing between these clinical and neuroscience PhDs when I applied. My undergrad coursework had a bit more of a neuroscience bent. At the end of the day, becoming a tenured professor in some fields is akin to becoming a rock star or a professional athlete. So, I would compare the careers outside of academia and see what you like to do. If you make it great, if not have a backup plan. I once had a mentor tell me, you can either have your weekends to yourself or be a well-known researcher. I knew, early on, that I could only work so many hours and took myself out of the competition early as I most enjoyed teaching and clinical work. I loved the process of research, but I hated the grind of publishing and grant funding. In the end, my choices had more to do with the life I wanted outside of my work. For example, I make double what my first academic mentor makes. He is a great guy and very smart, but stuck in the lower/ non-tenure academic ranks. I also have much more geographic flexibility, which means that if my wife gets a good job offer I can support that. If I were making the decision today, my choices might be different. However, that is mostly due to my interests in data mining, neural networks, and AI. The industry jobs were not there 20 years ago as they are today.

 

[R. Matey]

The options coming out of a neuroscience PhD are much more limited. Most people who do this degree want basic research careers, but the competition for these is cutthroat. Alternatives for those who don't make it (which is most of them) are pivots to industry, government, commercial data science, or science publishing; but those pivots themselves are not straightforward also require a fair amount of effort to accomplish.

Agree with this poster the most. Clinical psych is much more flexible and the OP's goals are 100% achievable with this degree. Heck, I can think of two clinical psych labs that even specialize in neurodevelopmental research that include imaging work right off the top of my head. I've met way more neuroscience Ph.Ds. in industry, doing marketing jobs than clinical Ph.Ds. presumably because it pays better than academia, but there's no reason a clinical Ph.D. couldn't do this also.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I would agree that in terms of flexibility, a (licensable) psychology Ph.D. is likely going to be tiers above a neuroscience Ph.D., at least based on the current job market. I suspect a lot may hinge on the type and topics of research you want to do within your identified interests. I strongly suspect you'd get more training in, and exposure to, SMI in a clinical psych program than a neuroscience program, particularly in terms of working with these populations outside of a lab. One of the other advisors in my graduate program focused exclusively on SMI and there was no shortage of research to go around in their lab; I believe there was a fairly even split in terms of folks who went on to clinical vs. primarily or exclusively research careers from that lab.

 

[neurom]

When I think of STEM careers, I think of work that is largely happening alone. Even if you’re in a lab with a bunch of other people physically present, actively working on something with a partner, or have the ability to converse with a team.

Doing clinical work in psychology more akin to 1-on-1 tutoring IMO. I think you mentioned having kids. Or even if you don’t, maybe you’ve done some tutoring in the past. If you hate this, it might be important to consider why and if those elements will manifest in a clinical career.

Whereas you can largely do science on your own timeline and to your own preferences, clinical work means you’re essentially trapped with your patient(s) for the duration of the appointment. And they are going to have a lot of influence on how that time is spent and their pathology will also very much manifest during that time (unpleasant interpersonal stuff with clients who have personality disorders, avoidance behaviors with trauma disorders, feeling the air is being sucked out of the room with deep depression, etc).

The cool thing is that like tutoring, sometimes you can help this other person from a basis of scientific evidence to have something click and then work with them to apply what they just learned/realized to the rest of their life, which may even eventually move towards eliminating them meeting criteria for that pathology.

And sometimes that doesn’t happen at all and you’re stuck potentially feeling some degree of annoyed/disappointed/incompetent.

The dynamic is somewhat different if you’re doing pure assessment instead of therapy but what I’ve experienced and tried to describe above is still pretty relevant for me when I’ve been assessment focused.

Interesting comparison to tutoring. I do have stepchildren, and I love to tutor them and other people. I would like to conduct therapy as well as neuropsychological assessments and such, because I really want to help those with these illnesses/conditions learn to manage themselves successfully. Especially the pediatric population, as I think that by them learning skills to help themselves early on, it will set them up for a more successful life. I think I may be realizing what the right path is for me right in front of your very eyes... lol

I know this might be a frustrating thing to hear since you’ve been working to figure out your ideal path, but you do have so much time! I was genuinely helped so much by working in a few different fields after undergrad because it 1. helped me narrow down my research focus and 2. convinced me that I wanted a PhD. I’m not sure I would have been able to confidently choose this path without exploring other options. You’ve likely had so much more exposure to academia than to other careers and it can be hard to know whether you’ll like the 9-5, more corporate (most places) lifestyle without trying it. I love the flexibility of academia because it lets me work more than 40 hours a week, but on my own schedule, I have both the freedom and responsibility of selecting my research projects. It’s imo a harder life than many careers but it’s one that I know is the best fit for me.

This might be a bit extreme, but I generally recommend only pursuing a PhD unless you’re SURE it’s what you want despite hearing all the negatives and having people in your life repeatedly tell you not to do it. For the right person, it’s amazing but it’s statistically unlikely that’s true for any one person.

Thank you for this I'm 22 now, and I feel so old in regards to where I'm at in school! I think it's simply because I see these 18 year old juniors at my school who did the things I should have realistically done in high school (dual enrollment to get my AA before I graduate) and I kick myself for that. I know a girl who is 23 and about to defend her dissertation in I/O psych, absolutely crazy to me! I'm graduating in fall of '24 and I plan to take a gap year to explore different avenues and beef up my application since I'm going to have less than 2 years of research experience and I don't have any clinical or shadowing experience yet.
I should be starting my PhD at 26 (or 27 if I can't get in the cycle after my gap year and have to wait another year), which isn't bad, I know, but I feel so behind in comparison to my peers. Everyone I know has already secured a respectable job, or is in medical school, or vet school, or their PhD or masters. I'm still working on my bachelors, and I work at a crummy retail job with nothing to show for myself except for all the talk that I want to become a psychologist and get my doctorate. Sorry for the little rant!

I very much remember feeling similar to you when I was figuring out my path (started on a research-focused path and pivoted strongly towards clinical focus a couple of years into graduate school). I received feedback/advice along these lines from several mentors along the way: You can't predict any of your path with that much certainty, you can give your best guess and go with your gut and gain knowledge and then move in the direction that seems like the best fit with what you're drawing from. Data sources to draw from might be how you feel when you imagine the path, what your "gut" tells you, talking extensively with people in the field to make your imagined scenerios for your future-self slightly more accurate, etc. While it sounds great to somehow achieve 100% certainty regarding something that is such a high-stakes choice, this is almost certainly unattainable for literally everyone. We can't know for certain how we will feel in the future or exactly what will happen to us along the way. Life isn't that certain.

All of that said, if I had to pinpoint an experience that was most illuminating for me with helping me decide, it was falling in love with therapy (and later consultation, assessment, other parts as well). I had always guessed that I would enjoy therapy, but until I had the opportunity to actually experience providing it while on practicum, I didn't really know for sure. Once I had those experiences, I fell in love with the art of it and made a slightly more educated guess that I could do this work as a career for a long time. It has worked out for me so far, and it also helps that when therapy gets tiresome, I am lucky to be in a job that has many other duties as well that help keep things more varied and interesting.

Thank you, I'm happy I'm not alone in being confused about my future. These comments also made me consider taking an undergrad practicum. I was originally going to, but I wasn't sure if I could fit it into my schedule. I really think that I should though to get experiences like these.
I definitely feel inspired and motivated when I think about my potential life in this field, what it could be like and how I could be helping so many people (hopefully I'm that good, lol). The work life balance amount seems perfect for me, and by the time I finish my doctorate and fellowship my stepchildren will already be teenagers/young adults, so I could hopefully be a source of inspiration to them to continue their education and pursue their interests (or they could be rebellious teens, who knows).
I have been told by every mentor I've had in life to go into psychology, before I even thought myself of going into the field. They have all said I have a natural talent for talking to others, but that only covers the therapy side, right? I am wondering if I'll be good at the other parts of clinical work, or if I'll be good at research, or just so many other things that don't involve therapy. I like research so far from what I have done, but it's been so minimal. I get a lot more experience starting next semester, this is only my first semester in my R1 university and in the fall I'm joining a lab. I'll probably have a clearer understanding of what I want to do then.

I was actually choosing between these clinical and neuroscience PhDs when I applied. My undergrad coursework had a bit more of a neuroscience bent. At the end of the day, becoming a tenured professor in some fields is akin to becoming a rock star or a professional athlete. So, I would compare the careers outside of academia and see what you like to do. If you make it great, if not have a backup plan. I once had a mentor tell me, you can either have your weekends to yourself or be a well-known researcher. I knew, early on, that I could only work so many hours and took myself out of the competition early as I most enjoyed teaching and clinical work. I loved the process of research, but I hated the grind of publishing and grant funding. In the end, my choices had more to do with the life I wanted outside of my work. For example, I make double what my first academic mentor makes. He is a great guy and very smart, but stuck in the lower/ non-tenure academic ranks. I also have much more geographic flexibility, which means that if my wife gets a good job offer I can support that. If I were making the decision today, my choices might be different. However, that is mostly due to my interests in data mining, neural networks, and AI. The industry jobs were not there 20 years ago as they are today.

Nice to meet someone who was in a similar boat, and thank you for the insight! I definitely want to work outside of academia, and that is what made me wary of a neuroscience PhD. While it is extremely interesting, I've learned through more research and reading of this forum that it probably is not for me. I do, however, most likely want to pursue neuropsychology, because I think it would put my interest in neuroscience to very good, applied use. And I DEFINITELY want my weekends to myself, I haven't had a weekend to myself since I started working once I graduated high school, lol. I have a family to take care of, and I eventually want a child of my own, so grueling over work in a lab all day is probably not something I'd be happy doing. I need a career that suits my interests as well as pays the bills, and hopefully gives me a little cushion. Although, considering the fact that the stipends for the schools I'm looking at are nearly double what I currently make, it can't get much worse, can it...

Can I ask you all a question? Once you are in your career, do you have time to study interests outside of work? Like, for instance, if you have an interest in physics, or a certain math concept, do you have the time to self-study this for your own personal gain? Or do you go as far as to take a class on the subject? I'm just wondering how much free time you actually have as a practicing psychologist, and I've got a lot of interests that I might not get to explore while I'm in school.

 

[PsyDr]

Four things:

1) One of the things they don't tell you about pediatric psychology is that sometimes you're in a hopeless situation. You can't do too much in those situations. Obviously, most people benefit. But you should be aware of the downsides too.

2) One of the things they don't tell you about pediatric neuropsychology is that many of the neurological illnesses are beyond bad. "Timmy is not going to college, he is not going to get better. "

3) Many neuropsychologists write their reports after normal business hours. It is somewhat of an industry standard. You can schedule writing time, but that does not always work. People can have low productivity days, a complex case that requires more thought, or other things come up .

4) One of the fascinating things about clinical work, is that you are REQUIRED to learn about outside things. Patients will reference things, journal articles will use unfamiliar methods, etc. What the hell is a Yugioh? What is the standard pressure of the celiac artery? Is the monte carlo simulation an applicable approach here? Who was that artist he kept talking about?

 

[ThatPsyGuy]

4) One of the fascinating things about clinical work, is that you are REQUIRED to learn about outside things. Patients will reference things, journal articles will use unfamiliar methods, etc. What the hell is a Yugioh? What is the standard pressure of the celiac artery? Is the monte carlo simulation an applicable approach here? Who was that artist he kept talking about?

I have an ungodly amount of TikTok lore and drama from a client I had seen in the past. It hasn't gone away yet.
The knowledge that can diffuse into you is astounding...and terrifying.

 

[Sanman]

I have an ungodly amount of TikTok lore and drama from a client I had seen in the past. It hasn't gone away yet,
The knowledge that can diffuse into you is astounding...and terrifying.

I see your TikTok lore and raise you old people watching Fox News all day. Talk about anxiety provoking...

 

[WisNeuro]

I see your TikTok lore and raise you old people watchng Fox News all day. Talk about anxiety provoking...

You kind of get inured to it at the VA when it's on in every single waiting room.

 

[R. Matey]

I have an ungodly amount of TikTok lore and drama from a client I had seen in the past. It hasn't gone away yet,
The knowledge that can diffuse into you is astounding...and terrifying.

My favorite is when Gen Z asks me if I know what Reddit is.

 

[WisNeuro]

My favorite is when Gen Z asks me if I know what Reddit is.

Just ask them if they know what a 401k or "debt free" are.

 

[tr]

Just ask them if they know what a 401k or "debt free" are.

Ouch.

 

[WisNeuro]

Ouch.

When it comes to the game of snark, I play to win.

 

[texanpsychdoc]

I question at times if this is the right career path for me....so, there's that.

 

[thebalmofhurtminds]

I was recently going over a chronic pain strategy with a patient, who replied with: "Oh, that's really interesting! I haven't seen that on TikTok." Ah yes, because TikTok is where I'd expect to find comprehensive chronic pain tools.

 

[quickpsych]

When it doesn't feel like a "job." I mean sure it's work. There's pros and cons to everything. But, as someone who does and has done almost exclusively direct clinical work, it doesn't feel like work. Some settings and job roles more so than others. But overall, it feels like I'm helping someone, making a difference in some way. Whether it's helping reach a diagnosis through assessment that helps the patient or sitting down in a session with a patient, it's never felt like "a job." No two work days are ever the same and I'm connecting with a patient on a 1:1 level regularly.

Neuroscience is fascinating but , as others said, it's going to be heavily research and academia oriented.

Personally, I always need a direct path of work face to face with patients. I don't hate research or academics and would enjoy some teaching, but I would feel disconnected from the work if I wasn't interacting with day to day patients.

 

[neurom]

When it doesn't feel like a "job." I mean sure it's work. There's pros and cons to everything. But, as someone who does and has done almost exclusively direct clinical work, it doesn't feel like work. Some settings and job roles more so than others. But overall, it feels like I'm helping someone, making a difference in some way. Whether it's helping reach a diagnosis through assessment that helps the patient or sitting down in a session with a patient, it's never felt like "a job." No two work days are ever the same and I'm connecting with a patient on a 1:1 level regularly.

Neuroscience is fascinating but , as others said, it's going to be heavily research and academia oriented.

Personally, I always need a direct path of work face to face with patients. I don't hate research or academics and would enjoy some teaching, but I would feel disconnected from the work if I wasn't interacting with day to day patients.

I really like the idea that no work days would ever be the same due to different patient interactions day to day. I think that's the biggest thing that drew me away from research-only fields, like neuroscience. I do like the idea of face to face interaction with patients that I am directly making an impact on and (hopefully) helping, but I also have interests in teaching and research. But this thread has really helped me understand the field better and now I'm pretty set on the psychologist route. I just wish there were minors in grad school where I could take additional neuroscience classes, lol.

 

[singasongofjoy]

I know this might be a frustrating thing to hear since you’ve been working to figure out your ideal path, but you do have so much time! I was genuinely helped so much by working in a few different fields after undergrad because it 1. helped me narrow down my research focus and 2. convinced me that I wanted a PhD. I’m not sure I would have been able to confidently choose this path without exploring other options. You’ve likely had so much more exposure to academia than to other careers and it can be hard to know whether you’ll like the 9-5, more corporate (most places) lifestyle without trying it. I love the flexibility of academia because it lets me work more than 40 hours a week, but on my own schedule, I have both the freedom and responsibility of selecting my research projects. It’s imo a harder life than many careers but it’s one that I know is the best fit for me.

This might be a bit extreme, but I generally recommend only pursuing a PhD unless you’re SURE it’s what you want despite hearing all the negatives and having people in your life repeatedly tell you not to do it. For the right person, it’s amazing but it’s statistically unlikely that’s true for any one person.

Yes to the above. It's definitely worth taking a more roundabout pathway to graduate school in order to be certain that other things aren't going to scratch that itch before making the plunge.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

I struggled a lot with deciding between clinical psych and medical school (psychiatry). At the end of the day I knew that there was no ideal option, I would always have regret, because I only have one life to life and more ambition that is much larger than ~75 years. (Especially since I'm already in my mid 30s and still haven't finished undergrad--it's been a VERY long road).

To me it was about finding a path that would give (me personally) the most flexibility and opportunity, and being a physician did that. Since I had equal interest, and felt I could contribute equally to both.

So accept the fact that there may not be a "right" answer, but you will be blessed to have the opportunity in either, and select the one that gives you the most advantages and flexibility.

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

As an aside to my above post, I also struggled a lot between picking Psychology or Neuroscience for my undergrad. I wanted to do Neuro but ultimately wound up in Psychology as all things considered between the school offerings felt it would put my application to professional school in a better place, and I didn't want to stray too far from the Emotional/Social aspects even though there were a lot of good classes in Neuro regarding it. (One was on the Neuroscience of War which sounded fascinating).

The lab I'm in is also a great mix of both!!