CHOOSING A CAREER IN PSYCHOLOGY or RELATED FIELDS & PREPARING FOR & APPLYING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL

This presentation is one view. Speak to many people in and outside the field, and utilize several references in deciding your future. No single person or source can provide all the information you need!

Choosing a Career Area Pay attention in Careers class & read chapters in text to see what sounds interesting. Surf career & grad school web sites linked to FSU web pages: and click “undergraduate” and “graduate school information” Interview people in careers of possible interest. Speakers in Careers class might provide names of recent graduates.

Get research experience in professors’ labs to see what is interesting Read books and scientific articles within areas of possible interest. Psych Lit is good source of articles as are your course text books that list references at the end of chapters.

Some other resources to read for ideas: Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology Graduate Study in Psychology, Getting In: A Step-by-Step Plan Gaining Admission to Graduate School in Psychology Allyn and Bacon Guide to Master’s Programs in Psychology and Counseling Psychology Career Paths in Psychology - Where Your Degree Can Take You.

Ask yourself questions such as: What is my theoretical orientation? (behavioral vs. cognitive; service vs. business) What topics do I enjoy learning about? Do I want to work with children, adults, elderly, or families? How much does prestige matter to me? How important is income and how much do I need?

How important is flexibility in hours to me? Am I capable of very long hours of work hard? Can I sit at a desk for a long period? Do I have hobbies that I can turn into a career? Am I going to get depressed listening to problems of others?

When to Apply to Grad School When you apply to grad school will depend on the kind of program to which you are applying. Ph.D. Programs For some highly competitive Ph.D. programs, such as Clinical Psychology, you need to apply 8 or 9 months prior to your target admission date. For example, if you want to start in Fall, 2006, you probably will need to submit your application in December Importantly, you will need to start considering schools and obtaining application materials 3-4 months before the applications need to be submitted.

Master’s Degree Programs For most Master’s Degree Programs, deadlines are not as early. For example, many Master’s programs require that you submit applications in April or May prior to the Fall in which you start grad school. Deadlines vary across programs. For safety, you should begin considering schools and looking at application materials at least 8 months prior to when you plan to start a Master’s program.

GRE It can take up to 6 weeks to receive your official scores for your application. So for safety, complete the GREs (or LSAT or MCAT, etc.) at least 8 weeks prior to your application deadline. To be absolutely safe and allow for the possibility that you may need to take the GRE more than once, with preparation in between, it is ideal to take the GRE 6 months prior to when your application is due. For details on GRE, go to For test preparation, go to:

Points of Clarification re: Degrees 1.Practicing degree (PD): A. Degree that you need to work independently (i.e., without technically being supervised by someone with higher level degree). B. May still need to pass a licensure exam after degree. 2.More than one route to a particular kind of career. For example, those interested in counseling careers may chose clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, clinical social work, mental health counselor, or psychiatry. Also, human factors, instructional design, & performance management have similarities.

Examples of Professional Degrees in Psychology or Related Fields Masters in Social Work (MSW). MSW is practicing degree (PD) Masters in School Psychology (PD) Masters in Performance Management or Instructional Design (PD) Masters in Industrial Organizational Psychology (generally not PD, but can be) Masters in “Experimental” Psychology (Specialties: Neuroscience, Social, Personality, Developmental, Child, Cognitive, etc.) (generally not PD)

Masters in Clinical Psychology (PD only in few states) Masters in Counseling Psychology (PD only in a few states) Masters in Mental Health Counseling (PD) Masters in Marriage & Family Therapy (PD) Masters in Pastoral Counseling (PD) Note: If you have PD in non-psychology degree, cannot call oneself a “psychologist.” And for psychologists, must advertise by type of degree. Examples of Professional Degrees (continued)

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (PD) (specialties: children/adolesc, adult, family, substance abuse, forensic, health psych, aging, depression, schizophrenia) Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology (PD) (w/specialties) Ph.D. in School Psych or Counseling Psychology (PD) (w/specialties, excluding severe pathology) M.D. in Psychiatry (PD) (w/specialties) Ph.D. in “Experimental” Psychology (neuroscience, cognitive, social, industrial-organizational, business, developmental, child, etc.) PD for research position Examples of Professional Degrees continued

Differences between clinical and counseling psych: 1.Types of problems you are trained for: Clinical: deals w/ entire range of problems from every day problems to severe psychopathology. Counseling: deals w/ problems of every day living (e.g., child non-compliance, marital, depression, anxiety). Does not deal with severe pathology. 2. Relative emphasis on research: Clinical training: generally emphasizes training to conduct research & evaluate effectiveness of treatments (within psychology departments). Counseling: generally much less emphasis on research (w/in programs in college of education)

Difference between Psy.D. versus Ph.D. in Clinical 1. Psy.D. generally involves little if any research training either in terms of how to do research or how to be a critical consumer of research. 2. Psy.D.: generally within free-standing institution. Ph.D. : within university 3. Psy.D. generally more expensive—often VERY expensive

Recommendations regarding Psy.D. vs. Ph.D.: 1) Be sure programs in counseling or clinical are APA approved before you apply. 2) If attend Psy.D. program, I recommend those within a university. 3) Be aware that Psy.D. degrees are not as well- recognized as Ph.D. 4) Even if you don’t want to conduct research, you want to learn to be a consumer of research & to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments.

How to strengthen your credentials 1.Get the highest possible GPA. Minimum for Master’s programs usually 3.0. For competitive Ph.D. programs, can be 3.5 or higher 2. Study for the GRE (or other entrance exams) Minimum: 500 verbal; 500 math. For competitive Ph.D. programs, minimum 1l50, & often 1250, unless your application exceptional. 3. Need 3 letters of recommendation, at least 2 of which should be very strong. Letters generally need to be from faculty, although some programs accept letters from people that supervised you in applied settings (schools, crisis counseling, nursing homes). 4. Get experiences to prepare you & to earn strong letters

Next few slides suggest ways to get relevant experiences

DIS (Directed Independent Study) PSY or PSY 4920 (Group DIS) 1.Work in professor’s lab doing research for course credit. 2. Allows professor (&/or their grad students) to observe your work habits &quality of your work so they can write a strong letter of recommend hours count toward major in psych; (In future, may be 9 hours toward major.) Can take more hours as electives that don’t count toward major. (12 DIS/ ) 4. Depending on career goals, may want to do 2 or more semesters with 2 or more faculty.

How to Seek out a DIS or Find a faculty member whose research is interesting: -Check out psychology web site to see each faculty member’s research interest, or -Get Psychology Handbook from Advising Office 2. Contact that faculty member: -Indicate your interest & ask what would be involved -Don’t approach prof. by saying “I need to do DIS.” 3. Look for flyers on 2 nd floor Psychology 4. Some DIS/4920 involving working with grad student fine as long as professor will co-sign letter of recommendation

Other Ways to Strengthen Your Credentials Write an honors thesis, if you qualify for honor’s program. (Generally do DIS first.) If you’re interested in applied work, volunteer or work with the population that interests you. Work on a crisis line or at a daycare center Be a big brother or sister Volunteer at a hospital, nursing home, or center providing service to seniors Remember: Professors’ letters are necessary so don’t count on volunteer supervisors for all letters.

How to Check out Potential Grad Schools Start looking early so you have time to carefully consider programs. Note that different schools within same specialty areas may give different training so read materials carefully. Check out Web sites for programs of potential interest Go to library to look at written materials Request written material from programs of potential interest

When deciding which grad schools to apply to, consider: type of training type of jobs they say you are likely to get (contact them about jobs if not clear) financial assistance cost of living in that location admission requirements: be realistic, but optimistic geographical location of school (less important if do out of state internship and/or want academic position) deadlines, application requirements ask DIS/4920 supervisor(s) for opinions

How Many Schools Should You Apply To? Depends on how competitive your credentials are. Depends on how competitive the schools are. In general, I’d say 10 or more for competitive Ph.D. programs. Project 1000 for Hispanics and some other disadvantaged minorities might help with application costs; see FSU web site on this

Narrowing Down Schools Consider criteria on prior 2 slides (e.g., type of training) Examine faculty at potential schools to pick schools w/faculty of interest (particularly if want to do research) Read the web site of each faculty Read their scientific publications to see if work is interesting to you Find articles of professors by: looking at their web site searching Psych Info or Medline by author’s name Get further information by contacting professors. Contacting professors to let them know you like their research helps your chances of acceptance, but be respectful of their time)

Filling out materials Avoid spelling or grammar errors Avoid leaving spaces blank Avoid mistakes that show you didn’t follow instructions!!!!!! Leave yourself plenty of time. Don’t procrastinate out of anxiety or laziness If didn’t do so earlier, may want to contact professors at these schools ahead of time, particularly for those with apprenticeship models

Statement of Purpose VERY important Proof many times and use spell-check, but never rely on spell-check Have several people read for clarity, content, grammar, spelling, accuracy Can ask DIS supervisor for general advice Can ask DIS supervisor to read, but … only after it’s in good shape, & you followed their early advice BE HONEST!! Don’t say you love research just because that is what you think they want to hear; emphasize your experiences without misrepresenting what you did. Highlight your individuality, but do NOT make it a self-disclosure of personal problems.

Interviewing Many applied programs encourage top applicants to come interview. Dress professionally (goal is to look/act professional—not to be “trendy.”) Remember, many faculty are older than your parents. Give thought to what you’ll say when asked why you want a particular career and particular school Come prepared with questions to ask them about nature of program, jobs that recent graduates have gotten, collaboration among faculty, etc. If not pre-arranged, ask to interview with current grads and perhaps even get names of those who recently completed program.

If Accepted to More than One Program 1.Celebrate!! 2.Use criteria discussed earlier to choose program