| There are many factors to be considered as you make decisions about your
graduate school options. The most important piece of advice is to go for
the degree that meets your needs. Choose a program that offers the level
of education you want (master's, doctorate), that is compatible with your
orientation (scientific, practical; behavioral, cognitive, etc.), and that
offers the coursework and training to prepare you to do what you want to
do (individual, family, group therapy; testing; working with adults,
children, etc.).
It is crucial to get started on the Graduate School selection process early. Search the web extensively, and do yourself a favor by looking at the book Graduate Schools in Psychology. This is an annual guide that gives contact, factual, and admissions information about every Graduate School in Psychology in America and Canada. Upon researching the schools, try to establish contacts either by e-mailing Professors or by visiting a school. This can be a time consuming process - what you get out of it will be proportional to the time you invest into it. At the master's and doctoral level, your education becomes increasingly specialized. Thus, to do the work you want to do, it's essential to obtain the appropriate degree. To ensure that you make the correct decision, be very clear about your career goals at this level. In addition, know for sure that the degree you pursue will prepare you to do what you want because by getting in the wrong degree program, time, money, and effort will be wasted. Be aware that if you want to help people with problems (do "counseling"), you are not limited to careers that require graduate degrees in psychology. Psychology-related graduate programs such as education and social work are typically happy to have students who majored in psychology as undergraduates. Also, they often have less stringent admission standards than do psychology programs. Thus, if you're like many undergraduates who won't have the necessary GRE scores and GPA's to be admitted to master's or doctoral programs in clinical or counseling psychology, don't despair! You should definitely consider the alternative educational pathways to the counseling "mountaintop." |
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