Graduate School

Graduate School: An Overview

Program's Name versus Program's Training Objective

Earning a Master's Degree First and Then Applying to Doctoral Programs

Graduate School: An Overview .

Getting accepted into graduate school is a lot like getting recruited by a professional sports team. Sure there are some major differences (like the ensuing financial situation!), but overall, you have a lot more in common with your favorite collegiate athlete than you may realize. For example, in both situations:

• The competition is very intense.

• Preparation is the key to success.

• The most valued skills are the ones which are acquired over a period of time.

• Geographic location can sometimes be a factor.

• There are no guarantees that you will make it.

• If you don't make it, you need to make sure you have alternatives available.

• "Getting in" is only the first step and you will need to prove yourself all over again.

In the long run, your success will be affected by the relationships you form with the "veterans" and the "all-stars" in the "league." This comparison is useful because it highlights some of the issues which graduate school presents. Too many students approach their graduate education without even a preliminary understanding of what it takes to succeed. They set themselves up for failure, long before they ever apply. In order to be successful, in school or in sports, you need to learn the "rules of the game" and prepare yourself to meet them. This section will help you to do both.

When you were in high-school, you had two basic decisions to make about college. What you wanted to major in and which university to attend. Choosing a graduate school is much more complicated. There are many more factors to be considered and there is also much more at stake professionally as well as financially. But picking a quality graduate program does not have to be an impossible task. With proper guidance and effort, you can make sense of your options and greatly increase your chances of getting into the programs of your choice.

The first step is to garner a sense of how graduate school is structured. As you can see from this linked graph, you have two choices in graduate degree programs.

1. Terminal Master's Degree: A terminal master's degree in psychology can last 1-2 years full-time or 3-4 years part-time. It can be a master's of science (MS) or a master's of arts (MA). In either case, it usually is designed to prepare you for a specific employment position. If you choose to earn a master's degree, you should realize that you will not be considered a "psychologist" by title and you will not be able to become licensed or certified. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, as there are many good job opportunities for students with a master's degree in psychology and licensure and certification are not relevant to all areas of psychology. Within psychology you can earn a terminal master's degree in many areas such as:

Industrial/ organizational psychology
Personnel & Human DevelopmentCounseling psychology
Clinical psychology
General psychology
School psychology

2. Doctoral Degree: A doctoral degree can take anywhere from 4-7 years to complete. It is the degree needed to work as a professional psychologist. If the area of psychology in which you are interested requires you to be licensed and certified (clinical, counseling, and school), you can only do so if you have earned a doctoral degree (certain areas of school psychology still accept a master's degree). The doctoral degrees to which most psychology students apply are:

The PhD (Doctor of Philosophy).

A PhD is generally the most highly regarded of the three doctoral degrees listed here and also the most competitive, in terms of its acceptance rate. PhD programs are offered in a variety of concentrations within psychology (as well as in other disciplines).

A sample of the different types of PhD programs in psychology:

Social psychology
Clinical psychology
Counseling psychology
Neuropsychology
Experimental psychology
Cognitive psychology

The PsyD was created in response to a demand for doctoral programs that focused on clinical training. Whereas the PhD can be found in many different areas of psychology, the PsyD trains mostly in clinical psychology. With regard to admissions, PsyD programs are slightly less competitive than clinical PhD programs, yet the employment prospects are just as good for a PsyD as they are for a PhD in clinical psychology. A graduate of a PsyD program is able to perform all the same clinical services as a PhD in clinical psychology.

The EdD (Doctor of Education).

As you may already know, most universities are made up smaller "divisions" known as schools (or colleges). Although graduate programs in psychology are typically offered through a college of arts and sciences, other schools, like the school of education, also offer training in psychology. An EdD is a general doctoral degree within the school of education and you can earn it in a number of areas relating to psychology such as:

Statistics and measurement
Special education
Counseling psychology
Educational psychology
School psychology
Human development

Program's Name versus Program's Training Objective .

Research

Historically, psychology has its roots in research. It emerged towards the end of the 19th century as a scientific discipline with human behavior as its domain. Today, psychology is still actively seeking answers to questions about human behavior (as well as human thought, feeling, etc), but this is no longer the whole picture. Psychologists who engage primarily in research activity are known as research scientists. In addition to their research, they are typically involved in teaching as well. In this context, you know them as professors.

Applied Psychology

The logical outgrowth of any increasing body of knowledge is the application of such knowledge to the world in which we live. Once psychologists began to acquire more and more studies on human behavior, they began to use this information to help people function better in their everyday lives. Some psychologists eventually began applying the principles of psychological science to the treatment of the mentally disturbed and became known as clinical psychologists. Others applied them to the educational environment and were referred to as educational or school psychologists, and so on. Psychologists who deal in the applied side of psychology are generally referred to as practitioners or professional psychologists.

Because the two activities are related, it is best if you think of research and applied psychology as two ends of a continuum, rather than two distinct specialties. Psychologists can often times be found engaging in both types of activities. Graduate programs, then, will vary in terms of where they fall on this continuum. When you are researching a particular program, you need to learn whether or not it is more oriented towards research psychology, applied psychology, or some combination of both.

Earning a Master's Degree First and Then Applying to Doctoral Programs .

Students who are not able to enter directly into a doctoral program after their undergraduate degree have the option of earning a master's degree first and then reapplying to doctoral programs. This route requires extra planning, but for students who are set on earning a doctoral degree, it is worth the effort. If you plan to take this route, here are some things to keep in mind:

Make sure you attend a university that has a master's program in your target area as well as a doctoral program in that area. If you attend a university that only offers the master's, you will need to transfer to another school, and this will complicate your situation considerably. You will most likely lose many, if not all, of the graduate credits you already earned and you will have to break from the contacts you made while in the master's program.

Check to see if the university allows students from it's master's program to apply to its doctoral program. Some will not accept applications from students in their master's program. Contact the actual doctoral program to which you eventually want to apply and garner their input on your intentions.

Use your master's degree as an opportunity to demonstrate your competence. Do well in all your courses and do as much research as possible. Also, form strong relationships with a few professors who will be able to support your application to the doctoral program.

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