Psychology in College

[Pillthrill]

Yeah, I'm starting to think I'm screwed when it comes to a good job, but at least I have SOME degrees

 

[justsayknow]

How much do you guys have to pay in the US for a postgraduate psychology qualification?
I remember a few years ago one of our proffesors telling us that we were lucky here in Australia. I think at the time it was something like AU$15000 here for a masters degree, I havent checked recently.

I agree with Sunshinefix an undergrad psych degree alone is not going to qualify you to practice. Over here it might get you a look in as a counsellor, family support worker or youth worker but not as a psychologist. I suppose the best thing to do would be to check with your local proffesional body and see what the minimum qualifications are for registration.

 

[justsayknow]

Note that the days of Milgram and Zimbardo are long gone, so don't expect anything earth-shattering.

lol Its probably just as well.

I imagine it would be fun to be the researchers in those sort of experiments but not so much a participant.

 

[Pillthrill]

I just want to do counseling and it doesn't look hopeful.
Not to mention they always want experience but how can I get that if no one will give me a chance.
Hopefully I can talk to the school on Thursday about an internship or something.

 

[justsayknow]

See if you can do volunteer work with some community organisations.

Do you have any phone help line type places near you?

Usually there are places around that will be happy for you to work for free. Perhaps not in a counselling capacity but maybe as a youth mentor or as part of a phone info line.

I did volunteer work for the last 12 months of my undergrad and I dont think I would have got a job otherwise.

Do you have a local YMCA? sometimes they do mentoring/volunteer programs.
Or even the Salvation Army they are always begging for volunteers.

 

[Mehm]

If you want to be a practicing psychologist (anything beyond lab or hospital tech) in the United States, you HAVE to have a masters or PhD.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED my psychology degree. Learning about the mind, behavior, scientific method, statistics, biology....tripped me out in the best way. The practice and variance of psychology is so deep I had no idea before I started.

I'm now thinking about a PhD of Health Psychology which links the mind to health. It is a hugely growing field where a lot of money can be made and people helped. However, my other main passion of agriculture and sustainability is starting to really blossom so I'll definitely stick with that for a while. Basically, its all interconnected and its all good.

Best of luck to you on your journey!

 

[ResinTeeth]

Well, I'm starting Introduction to Psychology at college in a couple weeks. I think I'll like it, I've always been interested in psychology, and I have a natural ability to "read" people.
Anyway, I have no actual experience studying psychology besides bits and pieces on the internet, and lots of experience in all kinds of drugs.
So, has anybody taken or taking psychology classes? What do you think of them? Is it kinda boring in the beginning? Is it hard? You get the idea

I thought I would like the psych courses I took as well (I took General Psych, Child Psych and Developmental Psych). Turns out I ended up hating them. I also feel as though I have a natural ability to read people and that's exactly why I ended up hating it.

I felt as though psychology took all these overarching concepts and characteristics that myself and many people notice in others and overcomplicated them. The class is generally a lot of memorizing theories, douchebags you don't care to remember, and definitions. It's not hard per se, but it will be a bit time consuming if you wish to excel in the course.

tl;dr

Don't get your hopes up or really be expecting anything specific. I was pretty letdown by the courses I took. In my experience you either love psych or you hate it.

Best wishes

 

[ebola?]

I have a bachelors in psych and am currently pursuing a PhD in sociology. Do you have any more specific questions to ask? I would suggest taking some more psychology courses if you find them interesting, to get a feel for the field, to see if it strikes your fancy. I will warn you though: I didn't try to calibrate my coursework to a career, so I likely afforded an above-average amount of room to meander.

ebola

 

[Jerry Atrick]

I will warn you though: I didn't try to calibrate my coursework to a career, so I likely afforded an above-average amount of room to meander.

ebola

That's interesting. I changed majors in undergrad 3 or 4 times until I finally settled on Cultural Anthropology. The main reason I chose that degree: I was picking the brain of a prof as to what major I should choose to have the best career and he told me not to worry about what job I'll get, that is 1950s-type thinking. He told me to choose a major that I enjoy and that I am good at and the career will come to me.

Here I am several years later and I'm entering grad school to get my Master's and then PhD in Cultural Anthro in order to become a college professor. I think taking his advice was the best move I ever made.

 

[Mehm]

Definitely do what you love and the wealth will hopefully follow.

 

[morbiddoctor]

Sorry to hijack for a second. I have a question. What if the thing you really really love is drugs? Mainly psychedelics. I want to know everything about them but i don't think the system is set up for that... Must it remain a hobby? (see my 'need schooling but don't know what to take' thread)

 

[Mehm]

^^hmm, start with a basic chemistry/organic chemistry sequence and some human physiology and psychology classes. There is definitely a lot of room for legitimate research in the field.

 

[morbiddoctor]

You think it would be a bad idea to be openly biased towards my view that psychedelics are a good thing?

 

[rant*N*rave]

^Absolutely a bad idea. You should never even mention it in front of classmates or professors unless they bring it up first.

 

[molly897]

i'm taking psychology on the 30th.. super stoked. even if it's shit i don't necessarily want to learn first i wanna learn

i just want to tell someone like me one day that i get it. if i gotta have a license or go to a school for a while to do that then i will

 

[USFBulls]

Well, I'm starting Introduction to Psychology at college in a couple weeks. I think I'll like it, I've always been interested in psychology, and I have a natural ability to "read" people.
Anyway, I have no actual experience studying psychology besides bits and pieces on the internet, and lots of experience in all kinds of drugs.
So, has anybody taken or taking psychology classes? What do you think of them? Is it kinda boring in the beginning? Is it hard? You get the idea

Nice choice! I received my undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Miami. Than after several years of working in the pharmaceutical biz, I went back to school, and received a master's degree in a more specific psychological modality. Well, I couldn't stop, so I'm trying to reach the final level. Hopefully it will pay off one day, however, when you get to this point, it's nothing but countless hours of collecting qualitative/quantitative data, which focuses solely on my favorite psych subject, behavior modification. My goal (one that appears to have no end), is to validate an hypothesis into theory (my dissertation), and if I'm lucky get a Ph.D. I still have countless years to go before I'll be able to seem my paradigm achieved.

If it's something you enjoy, you'll absolutely love it. I mentioned this in the introduction forum; A propensity for taking several hundred milligrams a day of roxycodone, and fentanyl served as my perfunctory, and fallacious crutch, which (at the time) I thought was the reason for getting me through my undergrad studies, and the few years spent working for big pharma.

If you ever have any questions regarding your courses (be prepared for a lot a statistical courses, if you choose that major), or any of the different psychological modalities.....don't hesitate to ask.

Best,
USF Bulls

 

[Dubidoo]

Remember that there are many topics of psychology, if you're into "reading" people I would focus on Social Psychology.

 

[Mehm]

^^very true. "Psychology" is a huge subject with many different facets. My grandpa was a PhD psychologist and he never had one "patient" or "client" (besides when he was still in school). He did solely research and teaching for his career.

 

[Roger&Me]

I've taken a few semesters of university psychology, and it really started to bug me. The whole field is seriously lacking in mathematical rigor, and the so-called "research" is open to interpretation to such a degree that I feel it doesn't say much of anything.

Perhaps I'm being cynical, and I am open to changing my opinion if a persuasive argument is presented, but at present I think the majority of psychology (quite an expansive field) is quite quack-ish and lacking in scientific objectivity. Of course there are exceptions to this, but I find it holds true as a generalization.

 

[ebola?]

I felt as though psychology took all these overarching concepts and characteristics that myself and many people notice in others and overcomplicated them. The class is generally a lot of memorizing theories, douchebags you don't care to remember, and definitions.

Well...what type of learning does excite you? This description sounds enthralling to me.
Also, I bet you'd like the cognitive neuroscience bent more, as you'll likely find it more revealing.

What if the thing you really really love is drugs?

1. Figure out whether you just like getting high or getting geeky about drugs.
2. Look into studying in a related field, like pharmacology (specialization in psychopharmacology), a wing of neuroscience, or biology.

I've taken a few semesters of university psychology, and it really started to bug me. The whole field is seriously lacking in mathematical rigor, and the so-called "research" is open to interpretation to such a degree that I feel it doesn't say much of anything.

It's my opinion that this stems from the current dominance of the cognitive-behavioral approach, as psychology attempts to present itself as "more scientific" before other fields, but failing in doing so. I believe that the classical, 'positivist' approach fails when applied to systems where subjectivities (or phenomenology) plays a key role as part of the system being observed. Your critique of psychology points to such; psychology fails to present such rigor, for achieving this rigor would require abandonment of studying psychology.

majority of psychology (quite an expansive field) is quite quack-ish and lacking in scientific objectivity.

I think that you'd like the heavily neurologically oriented stuff.

ebola