Which path towards a career in psychology should I take?

Question

I am currently working on my general education in community college and I am planning on transferring to a university next year. I am not sure whether I should pursue a bachelors, masters, PsyD, or PhD in psychology. I would like to take the fastest track out of college but I know career options are limited with a bachelors degree. I know that to do anything worthwhile, I would need a PhD or a PsyD and I heard that getting a PsyD is faster than a PhD, is this true? And if I were to pursue a PsyD, would I have to work my way up from a bachelors degree to masters to PsyD? I'm not sure how exactly a PsyD is achieved, could someone please explain this to me? Would I have to write a thesis? To me, the PsyD seems very appealing, but maybe it's because I don't know the details. Please help me out. Thanks.

And where can I earn my [accredited] PsyD?

When you say from "start to finish,"
do you mean, starting fresh from high school?

Answer 1

A PsychD focuses on clinical work, while a PhD focuses on research in addition to clinical work. Yes, a PsychD would be a faster route assuming you want to do clinical work, as it would have few other applications. There is usually a capstone activity, but there is not the thesis requirement as with a PhD. There are more clinical hours, however.

There are a few programs that allow you to go from your BA to a PsychD, but you need to have a very good undergraduate program, and some internships in the field would add to your competitiveness. Lab work or participation in a research project would be included in that work.

Answer 2

I was looking into this in Canada it takes a very very long time to earn your PhD they say ppl who have a PhD in psyc are brilliant I know here u are looking at 7 to 10 years from start to finish including your theories work. I was like forget that noise and moved on. If u feel motivated enough go for it the wages u will be earning after the fact will be well worth the hard work