Where Do I Start?

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Hey Everyone,

My situation is a bit peculiar. I have just graduated rabbinical college with a Bachelors in Talmudic studies (if anyone knows what that is I would be pleasantly surprised). I have well rounded background of philosophy, however very little in psychology.

I would like to pursue a career in psychology, however I have no idea where to start. Where do i go from the equivalent of a High school education? Do you think the above mentioned bachelors is worth anything? Must I go to undergrad? what classes should i take in undergrad? Can I go directly to a graduate program?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[erg923]

First of all, what aspect/area of psych are you interested in?

You will need a background in psychology in order to apply for graduate work in psychology. That is, you will either need to a get a bachelors in psychology, or at least take a sufficent amount of prereq classes such as experimental, stats in psych, abnormal psych, developmental psych, social psych, etc.

Doctoral programs in psychology are very, very competitive. You dont just walk into them. Similiar to med school, the acceptance rates are low (5-10 percent). For example, the typical applicant for a ph.d program in clincial psychology has a GPA above 3.5, a GRE V+Q over 1200, and years of clinical research experience.

 

[Aura5]

I don't think the bachelor's you had was a waste. It shows you successfully can handle college work, etc. (Assuming you did well!)

But like erg said, undoubtedly you will need some prerequisites in psychology. You might want to aim for a master's first, in clinical psychology or some such thing. I got a BA in English and Communications, so I'm going to take that route. I want a Ph.D. but I'm trying to be realistic too. In my last year I did take about 3-4 psychology classes, so right now I only need one pre-req to be eligible for some of the master's programs I'm looking at.

Don't despair, you can make it. It just might take a lot of time/effort.

And the Talmud is ...Jewish scripture? Something along those lines? So your degree would be the study of the Talmud. Am I close? 😛

 

[lookitssara]

There are LOTS of different fields of psychology and the like. The first step is deciding if you want to actually give therapy/counsel/diagnose/etc people, or if you want to study/teach psychology (or a combo).

Second, you should decide if you want a masters or a doctorate. So long as your bachelors is from an accredited university, then you shouldn't need another. For many programs you would need to take some psych courses.

If your interest is in counseling people, perhaps pastoral counseling would be of interest (seeing as you have a religious background). Not sure if these programs are all Christian-specific or not though.

 

[wellscripts]

Thanks for the help, greatly appreciated!!!

To Aura5: yes the Talmud is Jewish scripture; a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history. Seeing as there is a great deal of legal theory and case analysis most people who receive this degree usually continue on to law school.

To lookitsara: I'm not sure counseling/therapy is for me. I just can't see myself listening and empathizing with patients for hours on end. Don't get me wrong, I am really looking forward to studying all about psychotherapy and counseling, but not for my day job. What do you mean when you say "diagnose"? Prescriptions? That's for psychiatrists, no?

To what extent do psychologists"diagnose" patients?

If you (or anyone else) can elaborate I would greatly appreciate it!!

 

[erg923]

Psychologists diagnose patients. More carefully and thoughtfully than many psychiatrists I might add.....It's a large part of the training in clinical and counseling psychology. Prescribing medications for severe symptoms of psychopathology is still the domain of psychiatrists since training in general medicine and pharmacology is required to safely prescribe medications. However, there are post-doc programs in psychopharm that, after completing, allow psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications in certain states that allow it (New Mexico and Louisiana).

 

[olychick65]

"Diagnose" refers to when a licensed practitioner gives a clinical interview (an in-depth discussion or discussions with the patient about their history and symptoms) and often a set of assessment or diagnostic tests (which are psychological and not psychiatric in basis) to fully determine what DSM diagnostic category or categories a patient may fall under. The interview and tests are often also used to determine functional level.

Psychologists (almost always) do this. The billable hours for this would be ghastly for a insurance company using a psychiatrist.

 

[OpenPalm]

For all the types of actual psychotherapy that I can think of, empathy, talking and creating a relationship are the most important abilities. It doesn't matter what kind of approach you take (unless you're a strict behaviorist, but I don't think there are any of those around anymore,) that's a fundamental principle. Diagnosis is a function with more or less importance depending on the therapist and their theoretical approach, but it's never an end goal. The only area of psychology that I would recommend for you based on your interests is either research in an academic field or testing. I personally don't know if a career in research is right for you, so I'm just going to ask you outright if you enjoy statistics. From what I've seen, it's hard to enjoy research if you're not comfortable and enjoy doing statistical measures. Assessment, such as personality testing (MMPI) and measures of intelligence (Stanford-Binet, Wechsler) is a quickly-growing area that might be a good fit for you, and that's what I would look towards.

And yes, if you're interested in any kind of doctoral work, which both research and assessment require, you'll most likely need to get a master's degree in psychology and some good letters of recommendation from psychology professors. I don't imagine that too many rabbis would have their letter of recommendation be particularly well accepted in a research-oriented academic setting unless they have a serious set of academic credentials, like Rabbi Abraham Twersky.

 

[KillerDiller]

Any graduate psychology program is going to want you to specify your goals in the field a little more. Even in the masters in general psych programs you will need to choose a research interest fairly soon after starting the program. For this reason (and because any worthwhile grad program will require some coursework in psychology anyway) I suggest simply taking some psych courses at your local university or community college to start getting a feel for which areas of the field you'd be interested in.

As others have mentioned, you can also start thinking about where you see yourself working.

 

[deleted176373]

Hey Everyone,

My situation is a bit peculiar. I have just graduated rabbinical college with a Bachelors in Talmudic studies (if anyone knows what that is I would be pleasantly surprised). I have well rounded background of philosophy, however very little in psychology.

I would like to pursue a career in psychology, however I have no idea where to start. Where do i go from the equivalent of a High school education? Do you think the above mentioned bachelors is worth anything? Must I go to undergrad? what classes should i take in undergrad? Can I go directly to a graduate program?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Maybe start with reading "The Chosen".

Seriously, you'll want to take most of the classes that a psychology undergrad would take, it's about 40 credits worth of classes. I would also recommend a healthy dose of statistics.

Congratulations on your unique bachelors, I am sure that Jewish philosophy will serve you well later on in exploring psychology. There are a great number of famous Jewish psychologists, I am sure that you already know that though. It is rare but possible to get into a program without the classwork, but you would have to still prove that you had the requisite knowledge to go into a graduate program through a mechanism like the GRE psychology subject test.

Mark

 

[TJuniper]

You'd be surprised how many of us know what that is 🙂

What people tell me (and I am a psych undergrad) is that what you really need is research experience.