Pre-Med Bio Major Interested in Clinical Psychology and Need Advice?

[ConfusedBioStudent]

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Hi All,
As if you couldn't tell by my username I am a Cell & Molecular Biology Major. I have been roaming SDN psychology forums looking for some information about general stats of students who were accepted into psy.d or phd clinical psychology progams and just general information about applying to clinical psychology programs and what to know before hand ( If you know of a thread please post it or send it to me!)

I'm a sophmore so I'm in no rush I'm just trying to make sure the career path I choose I stick with.

The reason I'm considering psychology is that Im picking up a psychology minor after my intro psych professor told me how great of a student I am and wanted me to take more of her classes and asked me to become the Supplemental instructor for the class. I am interested in Clinical Psych because I am currently pre-med and looking into DO school, but again I also would like to look into Psy.d or PHD programs since clinical psychologist can also work in healthcare settings.

I have been doing research with my Chemistry professor for about a year now with proteins. I am planning on volunteering at a child abuse center in my town because I heard volunteering is the best.

I just need advice on what clinical psychology grad programs looks at in a student GPA wise, GRE wise, and likewise what extracurriculars I need? And which schools are the best as far as getting a job after graduation? And if you are a current student could you tell me your stats and schools you got accepted into etc.?

Also I have a 3.2 gpa (which Im working very hard to bring up), Possibly a 3.5 or 3.6 by my senior year. Looking online the average gpa for psych majors accepted was around 3.7-3.8.
Is a 3.5 gpa as a biology equal up to a high gpa as a psychology major? I don't plan on switching majors, just going to take a psych minor but just curious? Thanks for your answers!!

 

[WisNeuro]

Read through some of these first http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/doctoral-applicants-read-first-helpful-threads.714255/

As far as your GPA, there really isn't a boost for bio as opposed to psych. You have to remember that many people with psych who are thinking of grad school choose BSc degrees that have many of the same classes you do. For my psych major I needed a chem, bio, calculus, anatomy and physio, and several stats courses in addition to my psych core.

And it is hard to give advice on which schools to go to. Rankings are inconsequential in psych grad programs. It's more about what you want to research and work with clinically. So, first, it really depends on your career goals, what do you want to do?

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

WizNeuro, First Thanks for taking the time to reply and thanks for the link!!!


Well, career wise, as I said I haven't really deeply looked into graduate school yet, but I do wish to work in the healthcare field, The reason clinical psychology interested me was obviously for that reason since most work in hospital settings or own private practice (correct me if I'm wrong, thats just the information I got from googling around).
Specifically though I was kind of interested in working in a mental health center to help individuals or families coping with stress, mental illness and substance abuse.
But obviously that is very far down the road, first and foremost I need to just get in before I think about pinpointing what exactly I want to do because by that time it might change!

I don't mean to be annoying, but I have a few questions
As far as research, is my chemistry based research in my favor? Or should I take on research within the psychology department if I can?

Although my biology gpa is low, what if my minor in psychology brings high grades in psychology class, will that look good?

And could you tell me a little about yourself as far as what program you applied to and why? Where you are going now and your career goals? How hard it was finding an internship? what made you choose your school?

 

[cara susanna]

Before applying to clinical psychology programs, you need to become involved with research for two reasons. First, clinical psych programs want to see applicants with research experience. GPA/GRE may get you in the door, but what gets you admitted is a strong fit between your research and clinical goals/experience and the program's research and clinical training. Second, you should find out now if you like research because, if you don't, doctoral study in clinical psych probably isn't for you.

 

[WisNeuro]

Specifically though I was kind of interested in working in a mental health center to help individuals or families coping with stress, mental illness and substance abuse.
But obviously that is very far down the road, first and foremost I need to just get in before I think about pinpointing what exactly I want to do because by that time it might change!

As far as this, if you're really interested in only counseling for these populations in a medical center, I'd also look at social work. If you wantt o add a research component to your clinical work, then the PhD route may be helpful.

And could you tell me a little about yourself as far as what program you applied to and why? Where you are going now and your career goals? How hard it was finding an internship? what made you choose your school?

I went to an R1 PhD program. I chose it because the professor I was interested in working with used the methodology that I was interested in studying. It was an affective neuroscience lab and I got a lot of exposure to EEG and fMRI/MRI. I am a clinical neuropsychology fellow waiting for fellowship to finish to move onto the job that I have already secured. Finding an internship was not hard. My school has a match rate in the high 90's and my background for neuro was probably well above average in terms of my prac experiences and my letters writers being well-connected.

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

Before applying to clinical psychology programs, you need to become involved with research for two reasons. First, clinical psych programs want to see applicants with research experience. GPA/GRE may get you in the door, but what gets you admitted is a strong fit between your research and clinical goals/experience and the program's research and clinical training. Second, you should find out now if you like research because, if you don't, doctoral study in clinical psych probably isn't for you.

Thanks for the input!
So in your opinion is my research in Analytical Chemistry a good fit or should I search out for research with my psychology professor also?
And also could you tell me a little about yourself as far as where you attended, why you chose that programs and what you do now? Thanks!

 

[cara susanna]

Thanks for the input!
So in your opinion is my research in Analytical Chemistry a good fit or should I search out for research with my psychology professor also?
And also could you tell me a little about yourself as far as where you attended, why you chose that programs and what you do now? Thanks!

Chem research is a good start but you should also seek out psych research, IMO. The methodology is very different and (if you apply to programs) you will be competing with people who have psych research experience.

I'm in my fifth year at a balanced (meaning equally research and clinically focused) clinical psych PhD program. I'll be doing my internship next year. You did ask about internship, and I will warn you that it is a rough process even coming from a program with a decent match rate.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Chem research is a good start but you should also seek out psych research, IMO. The methodology is very different and (if you apply to programs) you will be competing with people who have psych research experience.

I'm in my fifth year at a balanced (meaning equally research and clinically focused) clinical psych PhD program. I'll be doing my internship next year. You did ask about internship, and I will warn you that it is a rough process even coming from a program with a decent match rate.

I would agree. Unless your chem prof is doing heavy neuroscience-type research, then getting some psych research experience would be the way to go.

To answer some of your other questions that were initially addressed to WisNeuro: As cara mentioned, finding an internship is a fairly harrowing experience nowadays (approximately 50% of applicants match to APA-accredited internships, and approximately 25% don't match at all), although you can certainly do things along the way to improve your chances of matching. RE: the GPA issue, most programs will likely ask for both your cumulative GPA as well as your psychology GPA, so the latter will of course be helped by your good psych grades.

 

[CheetahGirl]

Time is money, buddy. You seem to be asking a lot of personal questions without having read that WAMC thread or doing copious research first. WisNeuro may or may not reply - depending on a Neuropsych fellow's schedule, but note that you can follow everyone's stories for 'modeling' cues, but if you are a bio-chem major, you must *:-* or get off the pot as someone wisely told me with the whole "pre-med maybe" thing. Are you or aren't you? What can you offer the field with your analytic chemistry background? Think of that.

I was a pre-med math major (not many of those) who became pre-doctoral psychology in my last years of undergrad. I use my chemistry background daily to watch Breaking Bad (JK). Seriously - I clinically use it from a psychiatric or psychopharm point of view (To understand them better but those aren't my areas). I use what I've learned in a practical sense, and I can hang with the Biochem/Basic Science Researchers. So spin your chemistry/bio into something useful to our (clinical psychology) field if it's what you want. But do some research for your personal education, and get some research experience in psychology or volunteer in some interpersonal setting (search past SDN threads for "volunteering").

I'm a huge advocate for volunteering services being an excellent addition to applications for doctoral programs.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the input!
So in your opinion is my research in Analytical Chemistry a good fit or should I search out for research with my psychology professor also?
And also could you tell me a little about yourself as far as where you attended, why you chose that programs and what you do now? Thanks!

 

[thewesternsky]

You also might want to take a look at required classes for admission to clinical programs. Although some reputable PhD and PsyD programs don't explicitly require a psych major, you may find a minor isn't enough to get the coursework you need.

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

Chem research is a good start but you should also seek out psych research, IMO. The methodology is very different and (if you apply to programs) you will be competing with people who have psych research experience.

I'm in my fifth year at a balanced (meaning equally research and clinically focused) clinical psych PhD program. I'll be doing my internship next year. You did ask about internship, and I will warn you that it is a rough process even coming from a program with a decent match rate.

Thanks Cara for your input, it's super helpful! So is there any reason you chose a PhD program over a Psy.D? From what I've researched, phD programs are geared more towards candidates who want to do research and teaching compared to Psy.D who want to work in clinical settings (correct me if I'm wrong), but you can work in a clinical setting also with a PhD can't you?

If you can give me some advice, I want to stay in-state because it's cheaper and closer to home but there are no Psy.D programs in my state, they are all PhD programs. Can I still be able to work in a medical/clinical setting? I feel like with all the clinical experience Psy.D gets compared to all the research in PhD a Psy.D would suite me better, but your input would be nice...?

And if you don't mind me asking, is your internship at like a university or a hospital or where?

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

You also might want to take a look at required classes for admission to clinical programs. Although some reputable PhD and PsyD programs don't explicitly require a psych major, you may find a minor isn't enough to get the coursework you need.

Thanks TheWesternSky! Well I might double major and stay a fifth year if I end up having to but I will make sure to look around and see the pre-reqs at these graduate schools. Hopefully my psych minor will match up with them. Do you think the pre-req classes for Psy.D will be different than PhD programs?

Also could you tell me a bit about yourself ( this sounds like match.com haha just kidding) like what program you did, why you chose it, how you got a internship and what kind of internship,etc? Thanks!!

 

[WisNeuro]

From what I've researched, phD programs are geared more towards candidates who want to do research and teaching compared to Psy.D who want to work in clinical settings (correct me if I'm wrong), but you can work in a clinical setting also with a PhD can't you?

This is a huge misconception. On average, PhD students have significantly more clinical hours in grad school than PsyD students. Additionally, most PhD's are working in a clinical job as opposed to research.

 

[cara susanna]

Thanks Cara for your input, it's super helpful! So is there any reason you chose a PhD program over a Psy.D? From what I've researched, phD programs are geared more towards candidates who want to do research and teaching compared to Psy.D who want to work in clinical settings (correct me if I'm wrong), but you can work in a clinical setting also with a PhD can't you?

If you can give me some advice, I want to stay in-state because it's cheaper and closer to home but there are no Psy.D programs in my state, they are all PhD programs. Can I still be able to work in a medical/clinical setting? I feel like with all the clinical experience Psy.D gets compared to all the research in PhD a Psy.D would suite me better, but your input would be nice...?

And if you don't mind me asking, is your internship at like a university or a hospital or where?

PhDs tend to be funded whereas PsyDs are not. Furthermore, I love research and was under the impression that PsyDs are not very research-focused back when I applied. However, I would advise against being geographically restricted if you apply to programs because fit is the most important thing. A program will not be impressed if you have nothing in common with their research/training model but want to attend it because it's in a good location.

PhDs can definitely work in the same settings as PsyDs and, as mentioned above, on average have more clinical hours at the time of internship application than PsyDs do.

My internship is at a VA medical center.

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

Time is money, buddy. You seem to be asking a lot of personal questions without having read that WAMC thread or doing copious research first. WisNeuro may or may not reply - depending on a Neuropsych fellow's schedule, but note that you can follow everyone's stories for 'modeling' cues, but if you are a bio-chem major, you must *:-* or get off the pot as someone wisely told me with the whole "pre-med maybe" thing. Are you or aren't you? What can you offer the field with your analytic chemistry background? Think of that.

I was a pre-med math major (not many of those) who became pre-doctoral psychology in my last years of undergrad. I use my chemistry background daily to watch Breaking Bad (JK). Seriously - I clinically use it from a psychiatric or psychopharm point of view (To understand them better but those aren't my areas). I use what I've learned in a practical sense, and I can hang with the Biochem/Basic Science Researchers. So spin your chemistry/bio into some useful to our (clinical psychology) field if it's what you want. But do some research for your personal education, and get some research experience in psychology or volunteer in some interpersonal setting (search past SDN threads for "volunteering"). I'm a huge advocate for volunteering services being an excellent addition to applications to doctoral programs.

Good Luck!

CheetahGirl your sense of humor cracks me up! Huge Aaron Paul fan right here! Thanks for the input!!
So just a few questions, see my indecisiveness bothers me also in the sense that If I want to pursue a career I need to be firm and committed but likewise I want to make sure the decision I'm making is one that I'm not weary on and can pursue successfully.

What kind of volunteering do you think looks good? Volunteering at a hospital/ abuse clinic/ soup kitchen? If you don't mind, what kind of volunteering did you do?
Could you tell me a bit about what program your doing now (Psy.D or Phd) and just the process of applying and getting in, how hard it was getting an internship and how was the internship, and if you have found a job yet? ( I have no idea if your a current student now or not so my questions are a bit skewed haha).

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

This is a huge misconception. On average, PhD students have significantly more clinical hours in grad school than PsyD students. Additionally, most PhD's are working in a clinical job as opposed to research.

Oh really? See I read Indiana States The 5 Myths about Psy.d vs PhD and that's what one of the myths was. But thats just one article, doesn't mean it's true.

https://web.indstate.edu/psychology/psyd_program/faq.htm

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

PhDs tend to be funded whereas PsyDs are not. Furthermore, I love research and was under the impression that PsyDs are not very research-focused back when I applied. However, I would advise against being geographically restricted if you apply to programs because fit is the most important thing. A program will not be impressed if you have nothing in common with their research/training model but want to attend it because it's in a good location.

PhDs can definitely work in the same settings as PsyDs and, as mentioned above, on average have more clinical hours at the time of internship application than PsyDs do.

My internship is at a VA medical center.

Yeah of course I will apply to various locations of schools but of course money is important for me too! Oh that sounds great! Anyways, Thanks!

 

[WisNeuro]

Oh really? See I read Indiana States The 5 Myths about Psy.d vs PhD and that's what one of the myths was. But thats just one article, doesn't mean it's true.

https://web.indstate.edu/psychology/psyd_program/faq.htm

Wait, what was the myth that you were referencing?

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

Wait, what was the myth that you were referencing?

Wait, what was the myth that you were referencing?

Oh Oh Im sorry it wasn't under the myth section but right above it.
It says,
"Students entering a Psy.D. program often get more clinical training and experience and get this experience earlier in the program than many Ph.D. programs. Our students start their assessment and treatment courses in the first year of the program, begin seeing clients in the ISU Psychology Cinic in the 2nd and 3rd years of the program, and complete a 9-12 month placement in the community during the 4th year of the program. Overall, our students generally accumulate in excess of 800 hours of clinical hours prior to internship."

Now my curiosity was that whether that is concerning just their university or in general?

 

[WisNeuro]

Oh Oh Im sorry it wasn't under the myth section but right above it.
It says,
"Students entering a Psy.D. program often get more clinical training and experience and get this experience earlier in the program than many Ph.D. programs. Our students start their assessment and treatment courses in the first year of the program, begin seeing clients in the ISU Psychology Cinic in the 2nd and 3rd years of the program, and complete a 9-12 month placement in the community during the 4th year of the program. Overall, our students generally accumulate in excess of 800 hours of clinical hours prior to internship."

Now my curiosity was that whether that is concerning just their university or in general?

That may just be their university. From when they have looked at APPIC stats in the past, PhD's had significantly more clinical hours on average. They are misrepresenting their data and generalizing it to the field. Tsk tsk.

 

[cara susanna]

Now my curiosity was that whether that is concerning just their university or in general?

From http://www.appic.org/Match/MatchStatistics/ApplicantSurvey2011Part3.aspx

10. Doctoral practicum hours reported on the AAPI:

Ph.D. Psy.D.
Doctoral Intervention Hours
Median 602 540
Mean 650 576
St. Dev. 348 293

Doctoral Assessment Hours
Median 167 122
Mean 225 163
St. Dev. 202 162

Doctoral Supervision Hours
Median 347 262
Mean 377 284
St. Dev. 186 149

 

[erg923]

Please read every word in every single tab of this website. Return for additional questions and clarifications.
http://psychologygradschool.weebly.com/index.html

 

[AcronymAllergy]

That may just be their university. From when they have looked at APPIC stats in the past, PhD's had significantly more clinical hours on average. They are misrepresenting their data and generalizing it to the field. Tsk tsk.

As cara showed, and as WisNeuro mentioned, Ph.D. applicants actually have a bit more face-to-face intervention and assessment hours than do Psy.D. applicants, perhaps owing in part to spending (on average) about a year longer in school.

My program (Ph.D. at a large R1 university), for example, has an average time-to-completely of approximately 6 years. We fall a bit more on the research side of the "balanced" description (apparently our average student had 8 pubs, which was news to me, although that might've included things like book chapters), but we also start our clinical rotations in year 1.

So it's ultimately all just a matter of finding a program that fits your particular training goals.

 

[QAsPsych]

Everything you are saying about PhD vs. PsyD programs is wrong, in essence. If money is important, you should go a funded program if at all possible, which are almost exclusively PhD's; location hardly matters since most programs cover your tuition. Many PhD's are very clinically oriented, and ending up in a medical position is common even for students from research heavy programs. And we know empirically that on average PhD students receive more clinical training than PsyD students as people have noted above. That all being said, I think honestly if you want to work in a medical environment in a clinical capacity, going to med school and becoming a psychiatrist is the better route. Pay is better, and psychiatry is a non-competitive specialty. In my mind, the only reason to get a PhD in psychology if psychiatry is an option and medicine is a passion is because you want to do research.

You've asked about volunteering and EC's a couple times. That stuff doesn't matter that much for psychology PhD's; there is no space for this on the applications (except for what you put in your CV), and nobody really cares much-- in this way it is very different from med school applications. Volunteering in a clinical capacity to gain clinical experience is specifically what is valued, so that would generally mean things like working for a suicide hotline, a center that deals with substance abuse, or a shelter... but most people who apply for and are accepted to graduate programs in psychology do not have these experiences.

 

[erg923]

Much of that business about clinical training is just plain outdated. 30-40 years ago, much of those psyd bragging rights could have actually been true. But, many, many traditional ph.d programs still provide plenty of clinical training starting in year 1 or 2, and in my experience, the initial experience is much more grounded in shadowing, supervision, and a slow ramp-up vs simply throwing someone into a practicum seeing patients and meeting with a supervisor twice per week.

Nevertheless, I wish the focus on more = better would stop. Its just not true at that grad school educational level. Pre-internship clinical competence should really be about how well informed are you, how thoughtful/critical are you, do you have the basics down, can you integrate EBT protocols into your work without being a robot, is your clinical judgement solid and developing, etc. The focus should really NOT be on how many patients have you seen, how many "hours" do you have, how many tests do you know how to give, etc.

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

As cara showed, and as WisNeuro mentioned, Ph.D. applicants actually have a bit more face-to-face intervention and assessment hours than do Psy.D. applicants, perhaps owing in part to spending (on average) about a year longer in school.

My program (Ph.D. at a large R1 university), for example, has an average time-to-completely of approximately 6 years. We fall a bit more on the research side of the "balanced" description (apparently our average student had 8 pubs, which was news to me, although that might've included things like book chapters), but we also start our clinical rotations in year 1.

So it's ultimately all just a matter of finding a program that fits your particular training goals.

Hey AcronymAllergy,
Thanks for the info. Just curious, how did you find a programs that fitted your training goals?

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

Much of that business about clinical training is just plain outdated. 30-40 years ago, much of those psyd bragging rights could have actually been true. But, many, many traditional ph.d programs still provide plenty of clinical training starting in year 1 or 2, and in my experience, the initial experience is much more grounded in shadowing, supervision, and a slow ramp-up vs simply throwing someone into a practicum seeing patients and meeting with a supervisor twice per week.

Nevertheless, I wish the focus on more = better would stop. Its just not true at that grad school educational level. Pre-internship clinical competence should really be about how well informed are you, how thoughtful/critical are you, do you have the basics down, can you integrate EBT protocols into your work without being a robot, is your clinical judgement solid and developing, etc. The focus should really NOT be on how many patients have you seen, how many "hours" do you have, how many tests do you know how to give, etc.

Thanks for your opinion! Just curious I saw your status as "psychologist" and had a few questions to ask? What programs did you do, PhD or PsyD? What made you choose this program and what was it like landing a internship and then going on to working?

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

Everything you are saying about PhD vs. PsyD programs is wrong, in essence. If money is important, you should go a funded program if at all possible, which are almost exclusively PhD's; location hardly matters since most programs cover your tuition. Many PhD's are very clinically oriented, and ending up in a medical position is common even for students from research heavy programs. And we know empirically that on average PhD students receive more clinical training than PsyD students as people have noted above. That all being said, I think honestly if you want to work in a medical environment in a clinical capacity, going to med school and becoming a psychiatrist is the better route. Pay is better, and psychiatry is a non-competitive specialty. In my mind, the only reason to get a PhD in psychology if psychiatry is an option and medicine is a passion is because you want to do research.

You've asked about volunteering and EC's a couple times. That stuff doesn't matter that much for psychology PhD's; there is no space for this on the applications (except for what you put in your CV), and nobody really cares much-- in this way it is very different from med school applications. Volunteering in a clinical capacity to gain clinical experience is specifically what is valued, so that would generally mean things like working for a suicide hotline, a center that deals with substance abuse, or a shelter... but most people who apply for and are accepted to graduate programs in psychology do not have these experiences.

Well see, I am currently pre-med but realized that if I was going to go through all those years of med school and do rotations in areas that have nothing to do with my interest then why even bother? Of course I'm not implying that graduate school for clinical isn't strenuous enough but it's focus is just on psychology and clinical work, not on pediatrics or oncology etc.
But likewise doing research is something that I have come to really enjoy and find that clinical psychology might be that perfect mix of research and medicine.

But you say psychiatry is a non-competitive specialty, which is true but it brings me to a questions. Is clinical psychology graduate schools as competitive as medical schools? Or even more...?

 

[AcronymAllergy]

...But you say psychiatry is a non-competitive specialty, which is true but it brings me to a questions. Is clinical psychology graduate schools as competitive as medical schools? Or even more...?

Depends on the particular program. If you're just going to look at admissions data, then many/most fully-funded, university-based programs are going to appear harder to get into owing to their often ~5% acceptance rate. However, this is confounded by the fact that funded programs accept significantly fewer people than do med schools. Also, while I'd imagine this is probably also true to some degree with med school applicants, a likely sizable minority of grad school apps are going to be sent in by folks who, frankly, just aren't at all competitive (e.g., have an undergrad degree in psych with no associated research experience, realize there isn't a whole lot you can do with said degree, and figure what the heck, might as well apply).

The ephemeral "fit" variable is somewhat unique to psych graduate study relative to med school, though, in that it's highly personalized from applicant to applicant and advisor to advisor. There's less focus on, "why do you want to be a doctor," and more on, "why do you want to be a graduate student in my lab?"

And to answer your question--I essentially started by looking at faculty at schools in a general geographic region who were doing research in which I was interested. These folks' CVs then generally led me to other folks who were doing similar types of work at other schools, and so on. Although I'll be the first to admit that what I thought I wanted to do and what I ended up doing in psych were pretty far apart, and it was essentially luck of the draw that I've found my way to where I am now, as I feel it's a perfect fit for my interests.

 

[erg923]

Thanks for your opinion! Just curious I saw your status as "psychologist" and had a few questions to ask? What programs did you do, PhD or PsyD? What made you choose this program and what was it like landing a internship and then going on to working?

Pretty broad questions, but in brief:

Ph.D.
Research interests, clinical opps, location
relief
quality of life improved, for sure.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Well see, I am currently pre-med but realized that if I was going to go through all those years of med school and do rotations in areas that have nothing to do with my interest then why even bother? Of course I'm not implying that graduate school for clinical isn't strenuous enough but it's focus is just on psychology and clinical work, not on pediatrics or oncology etc.
But likewise doing research is something that I have come to really enjoy and find that clinical psychology might be that perfect mix of research and medicine.

But you say psychiatry is a non-competitive specialty, which is true but it brings me to a questions. Is clinical psychology graduate schools as competitive as medical schools? Or even more...?

It's impossible to compare those populations on any level. That being said as a personal who completed a psych degree at a major research institute the major is not comparable to the difficulty of of the other. The reason why a psych program has 3.7 averages is because you many times just need to come to class to ace it. Compared to physics, organic chemistry, or many other requirements of being a premed the psych major is incredibly easy and leaves enormous amounts of room for secondary degrees and research credits.

Now regarding your choice of clinical or medicine. If you legitimately cannot see yourself thriving or enjoying non-behavioral medicine or studying the systemic biology of human disease then a psych degree may be a better fit. I think however that if your interests are purely clinical and you find other fields of medicine and biology interesting then medicine may be an effective fit for you.

Personally I think that psychiatry can lead to many of the same outcomes as a PhD in psych. You can teach, do therapy, and get involved in research. It also offers much more in terms of leadership and academic positions in that as a psychiatrist you can easily subspecialize and become a department or hospital head. Just my opinion on the matter.

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

Please read every word in every single tab of this website. Return for additional questions and clarifications.
http://psychologygradschool.weebly.com/index.html

"Vail model programs predominantly award the PsyD degree" The Vail Model being for clinicians in psychology

It's impossible to compare those populations on any level. That being said as a personal who completed a psych degree at a major research institute the major is not comparable to the difficulty of of the other. The reason why a psych program has 3.7 averages is because you many times just need to come to class to ace it. Compared to physics, organic chemistry, or many other requirements of being a premed the psych major is incredibly easy and leaves enormous amounts of room for secondary degrees and research credits.

Now regarding your choice of clinical or medicine. If you legitimately cannot see yourself thriving or enjoying non-behavioral medicine or studying the systemic biology of human disease then a psych degree may be a better fit. I think however that if your interests are purely clinical and you find other fields of medicine and biology interesting then medicine may be an effective fit for you.

Personally I think that psychiatry can lead to many of the same outcomes as a PhD in psych. You can teach, do therapy, and get involved in research. It also offers much more in terms of leadership and academic positions in that as a psychiatrist you can easily subspecialize and become a department or hospital head. Just my opinion on the matter.

Hey Serenade,
Thanks for your opinion! If you don't mind me asking, if you completed a psychology degree your status shows as pre-med. Were you a psych major who went on to medical school or did you get your Phd/Psy.D? And likewise are you working now or interning? What made you choose what you are pursuing as a career now?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

"Vail model programs predominantly award the PsyD degree" The Vail Model being for clinicians in psychology


Hey Serenade,
Thanks for your opinion! If you don't mind me asking, if you completed a psychology degree your status shows as pre-med. Were you a psych major who went on to medical school or did you get your Phd/Psy.D? And likewise are you working now or interning? What made you choose what you are pursuing as a career now?

I was a psych major with a concentration in behavioral neurobiology/ ethology in undergraduate. However I am premed and my desires are to be a doctor and as of now to become a psychiatrist. That being said I enjoy many other sub fields of medicine and science. Oncology for me is a huge push and likewise I find the pathology found in common day family medicine to be very interesting and stimulating.

If you shadow a family practice physician and you aren't still interested then you'll probably know that medicine isn't for you.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

It's impossible to compare those populations on any level. That being said as a personal who completed a psych degree at a major research institute the major is not comparable to the difficulty of of the other. The reason why a psych program has 3.7 averages is because you many times just need to come to class to ace it. Compared to physics, organic chemistry, or many other requirements of being a premed the psych major is incredibly easy and leaves enormous amounts of room for secondary degrees and research credits.

Now regarding your choice of clinical or medicine. If you legitimately cannot see yourself thriving or enjoying non-behavioral medicine or studying the systemic biology of human disease then a psych degree may be a better fit. I think however that if your interests are purely clinical and you find other fields of medicine and biology interesting then medicine may be an effective fit for you.

Personally I think that psychiatry can lead to many of the same outcomes as a PhD in psych. You can teach, do therapy, and get involved in research. It also offers much more in terms of leadership and academic positions in that as a psychiatrist you can easily subspecialize and become a department or hospital head. Just my opinion on the matter.

This is generally true, although you're going to need to concertedly work at it to gain familiarity with research. Psychologists can of course also become department heads and treatment team leads. As for hospital heads, at least in my experience, those often tend to be MHA-type folks nowadays.

 

[ConfusedBioStudent]

I sound so stupid now but what does MHA stand for??

This is generally true, although you're going to need to concertedly work at it to gain familiarity with research. Psychologists can of course also become department heads and treatment team leads. As for hospital heads, at least in my experience, those often tend to be MHA-type folks nowadays.[/quote

This is generally true, although you're going to need to concertedly work at it to gain familiarity with research. Psychologists can of course also become department heads and treatment team leads. As for hospital heads, at least in my experience, those often tend to be MHA-type folks nowadays.

Ok I sound so stupid now , but what does MHA stand for?

 

[erg923]

Mental health administration

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Or Masters of Health Administration. And no, not a stupid question.