Where do I start with a career in psychology?

Question

I am 25, and considering a career in psychology. I don't know where to begin. What classes to take? What school can I attend? Are there on-line classes? How long will it take? Questions like that. Also, I'm from Texas.

Answer 1

Have your head examined!!!

Seriously, going into analysis yourself is part of becoming an analyst. But figuring out why you want to be a psychologist is a very good idea for openers, because there are a lot of really crazy people out there with a Ph.D. in psychology.

If you are really determined, you should take an undergraduate major in psychology, minor in something like philosophy or a science, and then go for a master's and a Ph.D. in psychology. For an undergraduate psychology major, you start with the basics and take whatever courses bring you into the specialty you found most interesting in the introductory courses. If you found childhood development fascinating, or research, or adult clinical psychology, or whatever.

Answer 2

Texas has a lot of schools with appropriate undergraduate and graduate level programs. Looking through general texts and so on will give you a better idea of what areas interest you.

I used to teach a class to Freshmen at the U. or Arizona and I would recommend they examine all the different fields of psychology and find which ones they liked the most, then focus on those.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology#Fields_of_research_psychology

As far as how long it will take, it depends on what type of career you want and what level of education you need to achieve. If you want to be a college professor or researcher, you will need to get a doctorate. If you want to be a school psychologist, you will need at least a masters. If want to see patients, you need at least a masters, though a doctorate is better. If you want to be a social worker, you will need at least a bachelor's (A master's if you want to see patients.)

And if you want a doctorate, you can either get a PhD (research intensive) or a Psy.D (not research intensive, but with less funding to it's students.)

There are also field like Psychology and Law, where you may want both a J.D. and a psychology Degree.

If you have a bachelors in another degree, you can get into psychology grad school with out a psychology degree, but you will need to score well on the GRE and the GRE Psychology Subject test (which you can score well on if you read and fully comprehend a comprehensive beginning level college psychology text book.)

There are online classes, which I am sure you can find with a little googling.

So, in conclusion.
Where to Begin: Find out what kind of psychology you like.
What classes: If you like social psychology, take a social psyc class, cognitive=cognitive, definately take an abnormal class.
What school: Depends, most big schools, like UTexas at Austin or El Paso, will have psychology programs with a lot of class options. Community College will have them, but less options.
Online Classes: I am sure.
How Long: It depends. If you already have a bachelors, 2 yrs to get a psych bachelors. If you don't and want one, 4. A masters is 1-3 additional years. A Ph.D is 3-5 years (you get a masters during this, it may take longer if you take a long time on your dissertation.)

Answer 3

There is a book called the "The Insiders Guide to Graduate Programs in Psychology" That will list several graduate schools and their particular style as well as if they are counseling or researched based.

I would suggest starting at your local college or university and ask to see a career counselor or academic advisor.

Michael John Weaver, M.S.