Is A Ph.D. in Psychology the Best Degree For You?
Psychology major or not, what I have discovered in working closely with undergraduates is that there is massive confusion about what kind of graduate program to enroll in. Many students have a vague idea of “I want to go to graduate school,” but don’t understand the differences between masters, Ph.D., and Psy.D. programs. You may even hear someone saying they want to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychiatry when there is no such degree. (Psychiatrists are trained in medical school and have M.D. degrees).
The first element in deciding which graduate degree to pursue is to determine your level of time commitment. If you’re having a case of Senioritis, you might not want to enroll in a program that takes 5-6 years to complete, such as the Ph.D. or Psy.D. Instead, a masters degree in psychology, with a time commitment of 2-3 years may be a better bet. If you’re feeling burnt out from school, you may also want to consider taking a year off from school and then re-evaluating your career goals.
All Ph.D. progr
ams in psychology share one similarity: They are research-intensive. This means that most of your time and energy will be directed toward writing reviews of literature, designing research studies, and analyzing data. You will become good friends with respected academic journals because your work will refer to them frequently.
Yes, even Ph.D. programs in Clinical Psychology emphasize research. If you have clinical interests, and the thought of being chained to a lifelong career of research methods and statistics makes you want to poke your eyes out, you may want to pursue a another graduate degree instead. If any mention of stats gives you the same reaction, you may also want to reconsider applying to a Ph.D. program in psychology.
Usually, Ph.D. students are required to not only produce research, but also teach. If your grand career plans include becoming a professor at a well-respected university, you are absolutely on the right path by pursuing a Ph.D. If your professional goals include exclusively working with clients in a counseling capacity, you may want to consider other career paths, such as the Psy.D. or even a M.S.W. Whichever graduate program you choose, make sure you enroll in the right program to meet your specific professional goals. And by all means, save yourself some money in application fees if a Ph.D. does not lead you down the career path you want to take!
Still have no clue about which career path in psychology to pursue?
Click the pic to get a great resource for careers in psychology!
[...] get into grad school, psychology, get into graduate school, how to … AKPC_IDS += "1064,";Popularity: unranked [...]