US Grad school for psychology: contemplating the way out [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2010-7-27 15:51:46 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

As a psychology major and one who is to apply for grad school this year, i've been doing research and inquiry around. since the sprite here is to “集众人之力”, this is my share of contribution. leave your thoughts/ideas/comments/inspirations, etc. i'm more than willing to look and talk to everyone who wants to apply for masters/phds in psychology like me :)

- What you do as an undergrad:
this is the part that has been discussed so much that i don't think i have anything to add. like many said, keep a high gpa, doing well in tofle n gre, gain as much research experience as you can, maintain a good relationship with your adviser/professor (so they'll write you a decent letter of recommendation, give you directions and other benefits, hopefully)

Note: subtest for gre is NOT as helpful as you might think, and submitting a sub score to where it's not required is probably a waste. i'm not going to take a sub in psych anyway, and i'll skip all the schools that need a sub score in psych (which is few). some schools say a sub score in psych is encouraged, if you're doing well on it, don't hesitate to submit it; otherwise don't

- general branches to study for phds:

1) cognitive psych:memory, language acquisition, decisionmaking, human factor, neuroscience (in some institutions this is an independent branch), and many other, they're largely brain-function related. it's one of the most technology-involved branch in psych, and students with background in computer science, biology,medicine, and engineering are welcomed. and of course, it's open to all psychology majors. there might be collabrations with industry, and in generally the chance to get into industry after graduation is higher than other branches in psychology. you'll start off as a technician, likely.

2)social psych: personality, social cognition, cultural psych, discrimination, minority experience, prejudice, etc. this is the branch that you may feel more like "psychology" than cognitive. most of the phds in this branch will end up in academia. some do go to industry, but not as technician. more likely they'll work as counselers, trainers, HRs.

3)clinical psych: this is probably the most "psychology" branch, and a prototype that always pop up in a layman's mind when think of psychology. this is also what most, if not all, psychology majors wanna get into. so, conceivably, it's very very competitive. in the us the statistics say it's nearly as difficult as get into med school to get into a clinical psych program. you can work in hospital, private clinic, or academia once you get a degree.
-phd in clinical psych: like many other phds, it's heavily funded, and employs a research-practice mode. usually you'll find a program in universities just like other psychology programs. it's very very competitive and selective.
-psyD in clinical psych:this is a newer degree than phd and it stresses much more on practice over research. usually these programs are in private institutions or institutions affliated with universities, and those admitted generally have to pay for everything. it's less competitive than phd in clinical psych, and will not allow you to work in academia.

4)to be a helpful, respected, highly reputated "shrink"? Refer to option 3!

- generally branch for masters:
1) many schools offer master degrees pertain to the branches aforementioned.
2) counseling psych: this is a degree similiar to clinical psych, but it's usually aimed to solve psychological troubles (instead disorders), like how to face a divore or how to deal with peer pressure, etc. clinical psychologists usually deal with severe problems like schizophrenia or other mental disorders. many people with this degree work in schools.
3) I/O: industrial and organizational psych. not sure if there's phd degree for this, but masters for this are very competitive, due to it's relatively promising prospective after graduation (they go to big company to get big money!). around 20 or so institutions offer programs in this.
4) forensic and others: don't know much about them. at your own discretion.

- elements to consider when apply
1) location: i personally favor big cities over small towns, coastal areas over mid-west cornfields, especially for those intend to go to cognitive psych, i think there maybe more opportunities to work with and get into industry in cities, if that's your thing.
2) financial:for phds the expenses will be covered in most cases

- my thoughts
1) if you wanna apply for phd, make sure you've think this more than twice, a second thought isn't enough here:) we're talking about 5 years! that's why phds are usually fully funded. the path leads to academia is narrower today so with a phd in psychology you're not guranteed to get into faculty. in most cases it certainly will not make you rich.
2) what to do after getting a phd? staying in the US isn't for me. i'll miss home too often, plus US, different from some other immigration countries, is largely white-culture dominated.it's really not that comfortable to be peripheralized, which is essentially most chinese in the US will face, even for ABCs (although not as bad for them). i think maybe i'll go somewhere else, like australia or canada, but it's really hard to foresee what's gonna happen. I don't think working as a faculty here in China will be nice...it's after all very much peripheral as well consider the fact of this country.

I may or may not add a followup to this, depends on whether I can come up with something new. I'm proposing this to be a discussion base for all psychology applicants.

- GH, Jul 27

- Audi et alteram partem

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