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mindfxck

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I am currently a psychology undergrad. I plan to apply for my masters before medical school. However, I am still thinking about whether I should go for a masters in social work or psychology.

My goal is to specialize in psychiatry...I don't know if that influences either choice.

What is more beneficial in the mental health field as an aspiring psychiatrist? What will each option look like on a med school app? Is one better than the other?

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I would start looking into the specifics of these two programs. What do you hope to get out of this kind of education - is this out of interest, or needing time, back-up plan, or an attempt to boost a GPA? A preliminary google search gave me the impression that there are not many Psychology masters programs, and I would guess that this is due to the fact that clinical psychologists need a PsyD or PhD to practice. There seem to be more masters in social work programs, but this is also a "terminal degree", in that it would prepare you to practice social work. Some of them seem like they could be very useful to a future psychiatrist as part of the curriculum is field work.

- If you aren't ready to apply and are doing this to pursue an interest, either of these could serve that purpose and you should start looking into specific programs to narrow your options and focus your interests.

- If you are doing this for a backup plan, I would do the Masters in Social Work because it looks like you would end up with an education that would allow you to take a licensing exam and be able to practice. If you want to practice psychology you would pretty much need to get a doctorate.

- If this is for GPA repair you should search for threads that address this or create a thread asking about the efficacy about using a masters degree for this purpose, from my understanding there are other options for GPA repair especially if you are still an undergrad. Additionally, graduate GPA is not weighted the same as undergraduate (in that, it carries less weight).
 
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