Preparing for graduate school- help

[minmoo]

Hi everyone, I've made this account because I'm in need of advice. 🙂

I'm an undergraduate psychology (BA) major in TX and I'm to graduate in December. My goal is to go to grad school in a few years, my interests are developmental/child psychology and counseling psychology. I currently do not have research experience besides taking two research courses and doing presentations over journal articles and using SPSS. I'm also a student officer in a psychology club for the past year. I also have a website with various topics ranging from mental health to college tips and minority stories, though I don't have much of an audience. I've applied to be a mental health ambassador at my university but am waiting to hear back, I've also applied to an internship and a job for online mental health.

The main thing I want to do is work in child psychology and, from my understanding, I would need to get into an APA accredited PhD program. I plan to do psychology-related internships, obtain an associate degree in teaching early childhood education grades 8-12 (only 6 classes since I already have an associates of arts) to find a child-focused job in the meantime after an internship, and do research work afterwards while studying for the GRE before applying to a graduate program.

I took a clinical and counseling class, and it piqued my interest, I have thought of getting a master's in counseling but realized that may not be the best option, I'm looking into social work as well. The main thing is I want to work with children, adolescents, and young adults, which is why I am thinking of doing a PhD instead in a few years rather than a masters.

I'm more interested in reading research rather than conducting research, though I am not entirely opposed to it, and I know I will have to do research anyways for a PhD program.

I'm wondering if I may be thinking of doing too much in internships, an associate degree, GRE, and research.

What would you recommend doing after graduating with a bachelor's degree? Is it a good idea to do an internship over research, what about the associates in teaching as a temporary job for child psychology or childcare/teaching experience?

Is it possible to get a master's in counseling or social work after obtaining a PhD, or would that be a waste of time? Am I able to do therapy somehow with a PhD in Child Psychology? What is the difference between school child psychology and clinical child psychology?

I should include that I may consider moving to another country in 10-15 years' time, such as Canada, how would this affect my license, should I look into PhD programs in Canada as well?

Also, is APA the best accreditation for Child Psychology/Developmental PhD programs? What about CACREP?

I should probably find a mentor as well for all of this, any recommendations for finding a mentor for my last semester?

Thank you for your response and time!

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[summerbabe]

I'm wondering if I may be thinking of doing too much in internships, an associate degree, GRE, and research.

Yes, this is likely too much and you run the risk of doing each thing not great or finishing on a timeline.

The hard part is focus: if the goal is a PhD, I would preference research as that’s required for all good funded PhD programs. And those programs generally preference research experience over clinical experience.

The main thing is I want to work with children, adolescents, and young adults, which is why I am thinking of doing a PhD instead in a few years rather than a masters.

What do you mean by work? There are so many things that you can do. But you likely won’t enjoy all of it and figuring out what you might specifically enjoy will go a long ways to figuring out how to spend this post-grad period.

Is it possible to get a master's in counseling or social work after obtaining a PhD, or would that be a waste of time? Am I able to do therapy somehow with a PhD in Child Psychology?

Yes, since each of those are therapy-eligible licenses, having the PhD would already make you eligible to provide clinical services at the highest level of care, meaning no need to ‘work backwards’.

Each child psychologist is a really just a psychologist and once licensed, it’s up to our judgment to work within a scope of practice that’s appropriate so if you’ve gained some training, you’ll be able to do therapy with kids.

This thread has some great info on school psych: School Psychology

I should include that I may consider moving to another country in 10-15 years' time, such as Canada, how would this affect my license, should I look into PhD programs in Canada as well?

Licenses are governed by each jurisdiction. I think there is pretty good reciprocity between Canada and the US but anytime you move (including states in the US), you would need to apply for a license (or opt into a reciprocity agreement) to practice in that area. Going outside of Canada will bring more challenges.

Also, is APA the best accreditation for Child Psychology/Developmental PhD programs? What about CACREP?

APA is the standard for psychologist licensure standards. CACREP is only for certain counseling focused master’s degrees. Good luck!

 

[Temperance]

Howdy!

I see that you're considering quite a few disparate areas of practice (counseling, social work, child and adolescent psychology). It would be a good idea for you to get an overview of what each area does so that you can better target your efforts. The first section of Mitch's Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School in Clinical Psychology has some information on the similarities and differences between several mental health disciplines. Of particular interest to you might be the subsection about child and adolescent clinical psychology.

In terms of finding a mentor, check your university's psychology department (or counseling or social work departments, if you decide you want to become a clinical mental health counselor or a clinical social worker instead) and go to the office hours of someone doing the job you're interested in. Take that time to learn more about what they do day-to-day and what you should be doing now to prepare. My only caveat about asking what you should be doing now is that the mental health fields have changed substantially in recent years, so take advice from older professors with a grain of salt.

Internships may not help you all that much. I can speak only for clinical and counseling psychology, but, as @summerbabe said above, research experience is required. The reason for internships being unhelpful is the sorts of "clinical" experiences you can get at the bachelor's level actually have little resemblance to what you would be doing as a psychologist. Things like volunteering as a crisis line operator can demonstrate your ability and inclination to be empathic and talk with callers in distress, but I wouldn't spend all of my time on volunteering for a bunch of different things without getting that research experience.

If you do decide you want to pursue becoming a child psychologist, my recommendation for your last semester is to find a lab to join in your psychology department. This may be a little difficult if you can't commit for a year, but you might be able to volunteer without being a matriculated student if you're willing to continue after you graduate; ask first. The goal in getting research experience is to get you exposed to the research process, so you'd likely start out by entering data and then eventually you'll get to look at the data and formulate your own research questions (and present at academic conferences).

Do you *need* an associate's degree in early childhood education? In other words, do you plan specifically to teach after you graduate, or is this degree only so you can get experience working with kids? If it's the latter, you don't need to get an extra degree (and shouldn't; that's time and money), as many people enter child clinical psychology programs without having done an ECE degree. They found experience working with kids in other ways (e.g. working in research labs focused on child and adolescent research).

With regard to practicing in Canada or elsewhere abroad: there's reciprocity between Canada and the U.S. with regard to accreditation (First Street Accord), which means your degree (if you attended an APA-accredited program in the U.S.) should be recognized when you register as a psychologist (and vice versa; American licensing boards should recognize degrees earned from CPA-accredited programs in Canada). That said, if you know for sure that you want to practice in another country, then you should look into going into a program in the country where you want to practice.

 

[borne_before]

Don't forget school psychology if there is interest in childhood!

 

[minmoo]

Thank you everyone for your responses! I will look into all the information you've provided me with, I do agree on searching for research opportunities rather than internships. I'll see what I can find at my university for research labs, although it is almost the start of a new semester, hopefully I can find something. With research in mind, would any research be acceptable, or would it have to be psychology-based? I've come across an opportunity for a remote policy research position, but I'm not sure if this would be good for psychology..

 

[ClinicalABA]

I'm more interested in reading research rather than conducting research, though I am not entirely opposed to it, and I know I will have to do research anyways for a PhD program.

This probably describes most Ph.D. psychologists. We've done and could do research, but most importantly we understand how it's done and how to interpret results. We use research to guide our practice, even if we don't engage in it ourselves.

Good advice above- especially the part about narrowing down your focus. I'd label myself a "child psychologist", but what I do (and have done) is likely not the image you have of what a child psychologist does.

I'd be very cautious about your website- it's something that could just as easily paint you in a negative light as a positive. Presenting anything remotely "psychological" to the public is a slippery slope, especially if you are making suggestions or offering any advice without specific training or oversight to back it up.