Does such a career/major exist?

[TheConfusedId]

I am currently enrolled in high school, but psychology has always fascinated me. I have taken an introductory course and I plan on majoring in social and/or clinical psychology. However, I've learned from the introductory course that a lot of writing is involved and I have majorly inadequate reading and writing skills. My GPA also isn't looking very good (it is a bit lower than 3.0), but I think there is still time to pick up the slack.

Having said that, I was wondering if I should still major in social/clinical psychology or if I should take something else becase I don't think I am capable of writing research reports every other day.

Also, I've read that the field of psychology seems to be highly competitive and doesn't pay well, is this true?

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[kh1264]

Hey! It's cool you've taken an interest in Psych. Join the club

As far as writing goes, pretty much when you go to college, and probably a liberal arts college, you're going to be required to read and write a number of essays, reports, etc. for a number of different classes, Psych classes included. If this is a problem then it is a fear or annoyance that should be conquered now, in my opinion. I would say don't shy away from a program because you anticipate a bit of hard work (as I have been told by a Prof before ). Trust me, most students would rather do anything than sit down and start a 10-15 page paper on whatever subject was assigned to them. However, as a Psych major I felt that I did significantly less reading and writing than a History major or an English major (<--obviously . BUT if you want to be in the social sciences it's important to learn how to both read and write scholarly pieces of work. Also, this is just one aspect of the field of Psychology. A degree in social or clinical psych can lead you down a million different roads that have little or nothing to do with writing research articles on a regular basis. Anyway, you have plenty of time to research Clinical Psychology and figure out if that is indeed a field that you would be interested in committing yourself to. Otherwise, at this point, you have a WORLD of options to choose from so make sure to read these boards and read up on other career paths you are considering. Also, your major during Freshmen year is not set in stone. My roommate has changed her major about 5 times in 4 years and is still graduating on time. You can test the waters in undergrad and try to figure out if this is something you'd like to pursue. If it's not then that's perfectly fine as well. Lastly, as far as the pay goes, I have no idea how to answer that b/c I am not there yet! Check out some websites that compare the pay of a Clinical/Social Psychologist to other fields. Some are paid six figures, some are not. SO...best of luck to you!!

 

[myelin]

Like kh1264 said, you'll be writing papers in college and will have plenty of practice before you get to the point where you are writing up empirical research papers. As for your GPA, it will get you in the door but after that it doesn't mean much. Work on getting good marks in your courses from here on out. Have you taken the SAT/ACT?

Honestly, your post is well-written and clearly understood. It may not be that you can't read/write well, but you just need more practice, which is what undergrad is all about

 

[TheConfusedId]

Thank you so much.

Unfortunately, I had not done my fair share of reading when I was in elementary school (chronic laziness developed a bit early, I guess) and from that, I have no motivation at all to read. As much as I've tried to combat it, it's been no use. It takes me weeks to read novels, even ones I really enjoy. I'm just afraid of 10-15 paged papers turning me off to my dream...

I will be experimenting in other fields, but I believe that my skills will be better demonstrated in psychology.

I have not taken the SAT/ACT, mainly because I am unsure about which fits me better. I've also never taken any preparation courses for standardized testing, which sets me back a bit also.

You've both made good points. I am hoping to strengthen my reading and writing skills in high school, I've just been lost on where to start. I feel a bit... handicapped?

 

[myelin]

Thank you so much.

Unfortunately, I had not done my fair share of reading when I was in elementary school (chronic laziness developed a bit early, I guess) and from that, I have no motivation at all to read. As much as I've tried to combat it, it's been no use. It takes me weeks to read novels, even ones I really enjoy. I'm just afraid of 10-15 paged papers turning me off to my dream...

I will be experimenting in other fields, but I believe that my skills will be better demonstrated in psychology.

I have not taken the SAT/ACT, mainly because I am unsure about which fits me better. I've also never taken any preparation courses for standardized testing, which sets me back a bit also.

You've both made good points. I am hoping to strengthen my reading and writing skills in high school, I've just been lost on where to start. I feel a bit... handicapped?

I understand about the laziness, but hear me out. My laziness has cost me upwards of $35k because I was unable to go from a BA straight up to a PhD program. I had to stop in the middle and spend 2 years getting my GPA up so that I could get into a PhD program. And I still don't know if I can get in. It's easy to put papers and projects off and spend time doing other things unrelated to school. It will catch up to you if you don't get after it early. If you find that you do want a PhD/PsyD in clinical psychology, it will be much easier to obtain with a high vs low GPA. So, you can be lazy and get into grad school. But you can start strong and finish even stronger and save yourself some money and grief. This is coming from a person whos motto FR year was, "there's one thing missing from your diploma...your GPA." How foolish I was!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

For some more general info about getting ready for college and etc, you may also want to check out our Aspire Forum: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=420

ps. Welcome to SDN!

 

[kh1264]

Thank you so much.

Unfortunately, I had not done my fair share of reading when I was in elementary school (chronic laziness developed a bit early, I guess) and from that, I have no motivation at all to read. As much as I've tried to combat it, it's been no use. It takes me weeks to read novels, even ones I really enjoy. I'm just afraid of 10-15 paged papers turning me off to my dream...

I will be experimenting in other fields, but I believe that my skills will be better demonstrated in psychology.

I have not taken the SAT/ACT, mainly because I am unsure about which fits me better. I've also never taken any preparation courses for standardized testing, which sets me back a bit also.

You've both made good points. I am hoping to strengthen my reading and writing skills in high school, I've just been lost on where to start. I feel a bit... handicapped?

I relate to you in the laziness department when it comes to reading...

I am an avid reader but for some reason, in high school, whenever I was told to pick up a textbook it felt like someone slipped me a sleeping pill. Five minutes into reading, my textbook would be used as a oddly comfortable pillow to cushion my head from my desk. This is probably the majority of students' experience. I think you have a few things going for you in spite of your lack of enthusiasm for constant reading.

1) You've identified your problem before you started college, which is great!
2) When you hit college it may feel less like you're reading pointless material that has nothing to do with what you're interested in, which may further peak your interest (although, that is arguable
3) I think everyone has some genre of reading that they get excited about and can finish in a short amount of time. For instance, my friend who was homeschooled before college has such a hard time reading her textbooks but can devour a novel in a matter of days, hours even. So, clearly it's not a reading issue so much...perhaps an issue of selective interest?? I haven't taken an Ed. Psych course yet, so I can't fully comment on this phenomenon You have to learn how to make the subject you're reading interesting...try to immerse yourself in what you're reading and create questions that motivate you to continue reading the material. I think that's why I like Psych research...it's finding the interesting bits of material hidden within the text or journal article that you can really become engrossed in. If your problems with reading seem more severe than this than perhaps you can benefit from the services of a learning center or the advice of a teacher? I am NOT saying you have a learning disability or anything, but there are lots of resources you could tap into to push you along that will be well worth your time. Hope this helps!

 

[TheConfusedId]

I'm glad that I am not the only one on that boat.

I've known for some time that it was time to kick the habit. Annually, I would make resolutions on getting my grades up and battle procrastination- and yet, I still have yet to beat laziness. Negative reinforcement does not seem to work on me for some reason... I am aware of the dangers to come if I do not change my ways, though. (Btw, I thought your quote was funny

Strange thing is, I have no problem reading online articles. This is probably because they are usually short and straightforward. Novels and textbooks are often overloaded with details plots are often stretched out (not to mention the number of subplots that usually incur). It is irritating because I get stuck on details and end up boring myself.

I have tried taking advice from my English teachers, and the best advice I've gotten is to read easier books and listen to classical music. My psych teacher, however, has recommended seeing a university teacher that specializes in cognitive psychology. Learning centers are a bit out of my price range.

PS: Thank you for the welcome! I'm thankful to be here and associating with minds of such intellect and wit.

 

[erg923]

Having said that, I was wondering if I should still major in social/clinical psychology or if I should take something else becase I don't think I am capable of writing research reports every other day.

Also, I've read that the field of psychology seems to be highly competitive and doesn't pay well, is this true?

As far as psych goes, you cant formally major in a specialty area of psych in undergrad. The major is just "psychology." You will get exposure to all different areas during the major, and you will have a certain amount of electives classes that will deal with certain topics of a particular area as well (i.e, cognitive, social, clinical). Neuroscience is its own major at certain schools however. As a major, psychology is notoriously easy. Yes, you will be writing a few papers and you will get a fair dose of statistics, but the classwork itself is not terribly difficult.

However, if you plan to pursue psychology at the graduate level, this requires you to put in ALOT more work during undergrad. You need to get involved in assisting with research within the department, form relationships with professors, and take your classwork SERIOUSLY. This will require lots of reading, and extra reading of the resesrch, or of certain topics, in order to figure out what you are interested in. In this way, it will NOT be an easy "run of the mill" major. Psychology, clinical psychology especially, is ENORMOUSLY competitive for doctoral level admissions. I disagree about the pay though. You will not make as much as M.Ds, but you will make more than decent money. Anywhere from 60-150k. It varies alot by region an environment you are working in. It's true that the pay has not kept up with inflation in recent years and on average, we still make a little less than doctoral level professionals deserve to, but overall its not a bad living. Assuming you don't have alot of student debt from your graduate work, this is a comfy salary for almost anyone.

 

[TheConfusedId]

So, I should probably change majors once I get to graduate? If I did, majoring in psychology would be pretty useless in the first place because I'd have limited knowledge for other M.D. spots.

If it is that competitive, chances are, it will become more hectic when I get to that level...

Hell, I guess I should settle for anything higher class, stable, and less competitive. <- no such thing

 

[pingouin]

So, I should probably change majors once I get to graduate? If I did, majoring in psychology would be pretty useless in the first place because I'd have limited knowledge for other M.D. spots.

If it is that competitive, chances are, it will become more hectic when I get to that level...

Hell, I guess I should settle for anything higher class, stable, and less competitive. <- no such thing

Wait, now I'm the confused one..

Is your ultimate goal to have a doctoral degree in psychology, or in medicine?

If it's psychology, then the MD doesn't factor into the equation, and a psychology degree is fine. Doctoral psychologists get PhDs or PsyDs.

If it's medicine, which is a MD or DO, then it really doesn't matter what your major is as long as you've completed the minimum course requirements for admission- generally thought of as the premed science classes, and depending on the school some humanities courses as well. This would be the route toward doing psychiatry, but not psychology.

 

[erg923]

So, I should probably change majors once I get to graduate? If I did, majoring in psychology would be pretty useless in the first place because I'd have limited knowledge for other M.D. spots.

If it is that competitive, chances are, it will become more hectic when I get to that level...

Hell, I guess I should settle for anything higher class, stable, and less competitive. <- no such thing

This post makes no sense to me either.

I am not understanding how/why you have inferred you should be changing majors once you ge to the graduate level? I, nor anyone else has suggested anything like this. Here's the deal:

If you want to be a psychologist, you should major in psychology as an undergrad and then be prepared to move on to graduate school in whatever subfield of psych you like, clinical psych, social psych, cog, whatever.

If you want to be a psychiatrist, then major in whatever you want in college, but make sure you take all the neccesary premed courses, Organic chem, physics, bio, all that stuff. Score well on the MCAT. Then you will go to medical school for 4 years and be trained in medicine (ie., you will get an M.D). You can then chose to do your residency in psychiatry, which is 3 years.

 

[pingouin]

Then you will go to medical school for 4 years and be trained in medicine (ie., you will get an M.D). You can then chose to do your residency in psychiatry, which is 3 years.

4, actually.

Plus 1-2 years additional training in fellowship if you want to do child/adolescent, forensic, addiction, or consult-liaison psychiatry (or any other subspecialties I missed with my deepest apologies for forgetting them).

 

[TheConfusedId]

You mentioned earlier that majoring in psychology would be relatively easy until the graduate level, where it gets majorly competitive and a lot of extra reading/writing gets involved.

I do want to major in psychology, but, if my chances of finishing graduate school (in that field) were relatively low, I don't think it would be right for me. I've also read on a thread that PsyD limits you to researching and experimenting, which is kind of a turn-off...

 

[psybee]

psyd is a more practice based doctorate -- psyd's are more likely to work in a clinical setting, and are not as trained in research, so may be less likely to get academic jobs.

the psych major in undergrad itself may not be as hard as say, chemistry, but to get into a good program you still have to work hard -- very high major GPA (and all around GPA) is expected since it's doable, and you need tons of research expereince, and ideally also clinical expreince. successful applicants to psych phd/psyd programs worked really hard in college, it's just that thier work for thier major was only a part of that work.

getting into med school or a doctoral psych program is really hard and requires tons of work and sacrifice, so if that sounds like a drag instead of a challenge, neither may be right for you.

 

[erg923]

You mentioned earlier that majoring in psychology would be relatively easy until the graduate level, where it gets majorly competitive and a lot of extra reading/writing gets involved.

I do want to major in psychology, but, if my chances of finishing graduate school (in that field) were relatively low, I don't think it would be right for me. I've also read on a thread that PsyD limits you to researching and experimenting, which is kind of a turn-off...

You have it backwards.... the Ph.D. is the more research based degree. Neither degree is "limiting" though. Clinically, the two degrees are trained to do the same things, and generally provide equatable job opps. I would not recommend a Psy.D. if your goal is hardcore academia however...but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Research (both learning the process and learning how to understand it) is an integral part of doctoral level training in psychology. Psychologists, Ph.d or Psy.D, are scientists first and foremost.

 

[jwtaylor]

listen, high school is no indicator of what you're capable of in college. that sounds rather paradoxical to most people who have busted their butts in HS and got into great schools where they busted butts there as well. When i was in high school i hated to read and i was actually kicked out of my high school and sent to a bad boy school. we had a lot of down time there where i had nothing to do but read. i ended up reading books i loved and never stopped. by the time i graduated i knew i wanted to go to college and did some major academic ***** kissing to get there. im a senior this year with a 3.8 GPA. moral of the story: its easier to learn in college because you get greater freedom to choose what to do. take a composition class your first semester whether its part of your schedule or not. writing is a skill you will need in college no matter what your major; maybe its a learning disability, or maybe you havent been challenged in the right way. at some point writing will become second nature. remember, you're in college to learn - if you knew how to do everything already i hardly think you'd need college. college is not the span between high school and a job: its a learning experience. be humble, confident, and open to learning new things and you will do much better than your peers in the long run. college is a whole new ball game. id also like to suggest that you may learn to love writing research reports every other day. my point is, you don't have enough information to make long term choices like that yet. you will get that information in college. so go to college, change majors once or twice, be inspired and tell everyone else to shut their faces.
btw - i went to 3 schools and changed my major 4 times. i'll be done in 4.5 years. i'll also be happier for exploring new things and going outside my comfort zone. not being good at something is no reason to avoid it, its a reason to take it head on and own it.

 

[TheConfusedId]

Thanks, I think I have a good idea of what to expect.

By the way, does it matter if you get a B.S. or a B.A.?

 

[erg923]

not really no

 

[thepsychgeek]

Thanks, I think I have a good idea of what to expect.

By the way, does it matter if you get a B.S. or a B.A.?

Not particularly!

 

[Music333]

You have it backwards.... the Ph.D. is the more research based degree. Neither degree is "limiting" though. Clinically, the two degrees are trained to do the same things, and generally provide equatable job opps. I would not recommend a Psy.D. if your goal is hardcore academia however...but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Research (both learning the process and learning how to understand it) is an integral part of doctoral level training in psychology. Psychologists, Ph.d or Psy.D, are scientists first and foremost.

So can you do research at a hospital with a PsyD? I personally have no interest in being a professor. Is a PsyD shorter than a PhD?

 

[erg923]

This depends on what kind of hospital. Academic med centers (those associated with a medical school) will of course have the most opportunities. I know several Psy.Ds who have jobs at academic med center facilities and their job responsibilities are broken up into percentages, such as 80% clincial work, 20% research. This is not terribly uncommon, however, most Psy.Ds in hospital settings still have strictly clincial duties as "staff psychologists" or something similar. There are several well known PsyD. researchers such as Joel Kramer at UCSF med center and Andy Saiken at IU med, so its certianly not an impossibility to break into resesrch with a Psy.D.

The Psy.D can be shorter than the Ph.D., but again, this varies by program. Some Ph.D. program have a good lock-step systems, and you can be in and out in 5 years. I think Georgia is like this. However, the stats tell us the average length for Ph.D.completion is slightly over 6 years (5+1) , and the average for Psy.D is about 5 years (4+1).

 

[thepsychgeek]

A PsyD might be slightly shorter (maybe a year), but not by much. You can do research with a PsyD, but it isn't generally the route people who get a PsyD are going for- a Ph.D. is for teaching OR research. You won't necessarily have to teach all the time as a Ph.D.- my advisor calls it a "convenient day job"

 

[Thrak]

I also just wanted to add one more voice to the chorus of college isn't high school.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my high school. But college courses were a different thing entirely. Classes typically meet two or three times a week, and they go more in depth. You pretty much pick your own classes (within limits). And the material is much less about memorization than it is about learning.

To continue this path, my MA classes were quite a bit different than undergrad. And my PhD classes are far, far different than anything else I've taken. It's a completely different mindset, and a completely different culture. Every step up I've taken in my education has been more enjoyable than the last.

In short, your high school performance may not be indicative of your college performance.