Requirements to become a psychologist?

Question

I'm in high school right now and I would really like to become a psychologist when I get older. Exept, I don't know where to begin. What are some requirements for becoming a psychologist? I love helping people emotionally and physically. Please!! help me out....I need some feedback or I don't know what I'll do. Thank you for whoever gave me feedback!! :-) <3

Answer 1

In high school, start to research colleges. Narrow down your search to a few and then browse the faculty roster. Do an online search and read about the faculty's research (they will be impressed if you can talk competently about their work). Start to take classes in behavioral sciences, biology, and statistics (if your school has it). Look into volunteering. Check with your local United Way. They usually keep a list of non-profits in need of volunteers. Beef up your application and apply to a college or university.
You have 4 years of undergraduate college. After graduation, you should get some real experience before heading onto grad school. It will prepare you in more ways than one. While you are working, begin researching graduate schools. Look at everything from the program, to costs, to the internship placement rate. Then apply to a program, call for questions and go on an interview.
When you are accepted, your first year will consist of only classes. Many schools suggest that you only focus on education and not work part-time (although I worked full-time and it was a nightmare). You will take the basic courses your first year. Before you head to your second year, consider getting your masters. Some grad schools allow you to get a terminal master's degree. Do it. Some clinical internships will only consider you if you have a master's. The second year, you will have a lighter load of classes, but will take your first practicum. This is basically a 9 month internship doing either therapy or testing. Third year, you will take a second practicum and begin studying for your comprehensive exam and writing a dissertation proposal. In the spring/summer of your third year, you will take your comprehensive exam (or comps) to assess and apply everything you learned in the past 3 years. If you pass, during your fourth year, you will start looking for clinical internships. This is a nationwide search and highly competitive. 400 students will not have an internship this year. Basically, you will apply to about 15 sites, get interviews at about 6 or 7 and then have to find the money to fly all over the country to go on interviews. You interview from November to February. End of February, on a Friday, you find out if you got an internship. You won't know where until the following Monday. About 300-400 students will not match and will have to wait another year. If you get an internship, you then have to prepare for moving (if necessary). Your fifth year, you will be at an internship for 12 months, 40 hours a week, while also completing your dissertation. After you complete this internship AND your dissertation, you will graduate with a PsyD or PhD. You then have 2 choices: you can try to find a place that will let you work as an unlicensed psychologist while providing supervision or you can get a postdoc. After practicing for awhile under a licensed psychologist, you can then apply to take your licensure exam (the EPPP). The number of hours of experience required depends on your state. If you pass your EPPP, you are then technically a clinical psychologist.

Answer 2

First, it helps if you're sane! ;)

Second, it helps if you can spell "psychologist" and other big words, correctly, which you did, so you're well on your way! ;)

Third, you have to have an aptitude for the sciences, as you will need to understand not just people's emotions and mental state (that's what a psychiatrist does), but also the biological and medical worlds, as well. If you don't like the idea of literally handling brains, this may not be the profession for you!

Fourth, go to your local library and read, read, read, everything you can about making Psychology a career. You can do it on the web, too, but going through the effort of scanning through books will give you a very good measure of whether you can handle dealing with things in an orderly fashion; if not, think of becoming an orderly! ;)

Fifth, ask your parents if they know someone in the psychology or psychiatry fields, and find out if that person would be willing to speak with you about it (they may be very busy, so don't be upset if they can't!).

Sixth, check out the links, below (but DO go to the library, too, okay?).

P.S. You didn't need the last two sentences in your "detail". They were completely unnecessary, as most folks are more than happy to lend a hand (that's what we're here for!). Of course, now I'm wondering whether it was a psychological ploy to get more help! Or am I being paranoid? Well, I guess I'll have to wait until you graduate to find out! ;)

Answer 3

The easy way to find out is to ask your school counselor. You can also write to you state board of licensing for psychologists. Generally the requirement is to get a Master's or Doctorate in some area of psychology, do an internship and pass a state test.

You can also find a lot of information at the American Psychological Association (see url below)

Answer 4

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