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Is anyone here a psychologist?



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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 12:23 pm
I am interested in becoming a psychologist, and was wondering what my options are. I have a degree and work in an unrelated field. What is experimental psychology, develepmental psychology etc.? What can someone do with a masters in psychology? Is it possible to work while going for a phd?
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mimsy7420




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 12:45 pm
amother wrote:
I am interested in becoming a psychologist, and was wondering what my options are. I have a degree and work in an unrelated field. What is experimental psychology, develepmental psychology etc.? What can someone do with a masters in psychology? Is it possible to work while going for a phd?


I never head of experimental psychology!

There is abnormal psychology though.

You can probably teach in a University, or do testing for a psychologist while getting your PHD.
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sorele




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 12:47 pm
it all depends where do you live, sometimes you could only do a masters and be a psychologist or you need your phd, tell me where do you live
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 1:18 pm
I live in Brooklyn.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 5:08 pm
Experimental Psychology: you work in a lab and do experiments and research. Sometimes you do this at a university, sometimes for industry. You need to know experimental design.

Developmental Psychology: you study human development (especially child development).

Sometimes people take a masters in school psychology and work as guidance counselors in the school.

But most people have a Phd or EdD or PsyD degree in this field.

Some Phd programs, especially those geared toward research rather than clinical psychology, will provide a fellowship or funding for their students to cover the cost of tuition plus provide a modest stipend.

Anonymous because the original poster is anonymous.
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LubavitchLeah




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 5:15 pm
Often a Masters in Psychology works as a psychomitrist, conducting psychometric tests. Example, if one takes a kid in for a dev. assess. often the psychomitrist (often hired by the Phd psych.) will do the different tests.
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healthymama




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 6:55 pm
look up The National Association for School Psychology. I have a friend who is a school psychologist and you only need a year or so past the masters.
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Chani




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 26 2006, 6:57 pm
There are also a few programs in consumer psychology...very very cool stuff.
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Nomad




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 12:06 am
im actually in psychology grad school getting my phd

What are you hoping to do specifically? Or why did you decide to look into this - what would you like to do?

Like you see, there are all different types of psychologists
Some do testing, some do research, some do therapy...
some work mainly with school populations, others with brain damaged patients, others with people who have psychiatric diorders, others in an industrial setting, others in a forensic setting...

If you say more specifically what your looking for, I'm sure I can answer some of your qs

with a masters in school or industrial psych you can actually do something in the real world. A masters in general psych will not really get you anywhere (you can do testing under a Ph.D. or be a research assistant - but cant work with patients doing therapy).
If your interested in counseling - have you considered social work?

Though its tough - people do work while in a phd program. Many people teach or work as research assistants.
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Nomad




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 12:47 am
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/Psychology/

this website gives some nice explanations of different types of phd programs in psych there can be.

there is also PsyD, if your only interested in doing clinical
work and dont want to bother with research. Its like a phd without the research part (and its not as well known)
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amother


 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 7:52 am
I am not the OP. I am wondering if you have advice for me? I would like to go into clinical psychology. I ALREADY HAVE a masters in an education related field. I do NOT have any basic credits besides psych 101. Where do I begin?
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Mitzvahmom




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 9:28 am
Oh my this was on the news the other night, and someone should look into this!! There is such a need for child psychologists that the federal government is going to be funding people's degrees!!!

It's like when they have a teacher's shortage, they pay for the teaching degree's of students! I swear I saw it on the news the other night
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ceo




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 9:35 am
amother wrote:
I am not the OP. I am wondering if you have advice for me? I would like to go into clinical psychology. I ALREADY HAVE a masters in an education related field. I do NOT have any basic credits besides psych 101. Where do I begin?


If you alredy know that you want to do clinical psych, the best thing to do is research the clinical psych programs in your area. Take a look at their websites , get phone numbers, and start calling. Often, the admissions office will meet with you and talk to you about what pre-reqs you will need, etc.

To the OP, first begin researchign different types of psychology: school, clinical, cognitive, industrial, etc.... Make a list of the top three you would be interested in, and then take a look at what's available in your area.

I know a guy who has a Phd in social psychology. It's very interesting what he does- he works in an educational consulting firm- going around to different schools, observing them, helping them implement programs.

There are so many interesting things you can do with a degree in psychology, beyond counseling, it really opens a lot of doors- hatzlacha!
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amother


 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 11:25 am
I am the OP, and I'm amother because I have family members here that will figure out my screen name.

I was always interested in psychology, but never took any courses because I had so many other interests. I have taken a lot of science classes in college (chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, physics, math etc.) but ended up going into an unrelated field which was a very practical backup, when I got married and had a baby. Since then I have been interested in changing careers, but have never acted on it based on practicality, time, and finances (I have 6 kids ka"h). Recently my interest in psychology has piqued based on life experience. There are many areas of psychology that I'm interested in, but I guess I don't have to choose now. I would be interested in research, and develpmentental, neuropsychology, cognitive, behavior/learning, but would consider clinical or industrial based on practicality and income. I am going to take the first psych class in brooklyn college in the fall. Is it possible to get a masters in psychology in one area of specialization and a phd in another? I would not consider social work.

Do you know what reputation CUNY has? I would want to spend as little money as possible on school. My salary is a substantial part of our family income, and am very nervous about giving it up. I figured that I can go for my masters at night, and then decide what to do. Do you know what the average incomes are for the different specialties. I think that people should do what they want to do, but money is important to me.
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amother


 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 11:36 am
OP here, I have 2 more questions. I see that there are online phd programs. How is that possible? Are they inferior?
Mitzvahmom, I will look into the federal funding. Is it nationwide? Which station reported it? I see federal funding online, but it is not for child psychology. Any further direction would be appreciated.
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Nomad




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 11:50 am
to not OP amother, ceos advice is good.

look into the clinical psych phd programs and psyd programs in your area. One good way to go about doing this is to look at the website of every university in your area.

you do not need to major in psych to get into a psych programs but many programs require certain psych courses as a prereqs like psych statistics and experimental pysch - so definitely check what are the requirements for each program
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Nomad




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 27 2006, 12:13 pm
to original OP,

ok - so if your interested in research than PsyD or social work is definitely not the way to go.

I believe techincally you can get a masters in psych one area and then a phd in a another area. but, many programs frown upon taking people into their phd program when they got their masters in another specific area. getting a masters in general psych or a related area to the phd will make it easier to get into a phd program. definitely check each individual program though

Also as far as taking psych classes, check advice I gave to the other amother, you may not have to take all that many.

If you are interested in research- the areas that you mention that you like are very broad so, for example, though you may llike cognitive/developmental, you may find that once you get into a developmental prgram, no faculty members are researching what you like in that area. I would suggest that when you look into the different programs, look at the faculty and see what kind of research theyre doing and see if you want to do that type of research for the next 4-5 years.

CUNY has a good rep. Also, many CUNY students arrange to do research under people in other universities (mount sinai, nyu..) which may give them even more credibility.
CUNY may be cheaper but many students do not get very good financial aid. Many teach (pay is eh) but with teaching tuition may actually be covered too.
Other bigger schools may cost more, but some of them cover more tuition and offer a stipend so look into each individual program and what type of financial aid and scholarships they offer.

online phd programs do not have as good a rep. especially if you are interested in research, you will need to be hired by others so you resume and experience matters.

research in general does not pay that well. clinical stuff generally pays more (assessments the most). though with a phd ive heard about some doing other types of jobs (consulting?)
so people from clinical programs have the potential to make more than those from exclusive research oriented programs

Quote:
I would want to spend as little money as possible on school. My salary is a substantial part of our family income, and am very nervous about giving it up. I figured that I can go for my masters at night, and then decide what to do.


that's a good idea! and then youll also be able to speak to people there and get a better feel for what psych programs are like
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