<p>Hello. I'm new here. I am looking to get a PhD in psychology. My masters, however, is in Library Science. Will I need to get a masters in psychology before I go on for my doctorate, or is having a masters in anything just what I would need? I would like to go to Binghamton University. Thanks so much for any help.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, PhD programs are worried about your knowledge and scholarship more than the words on your diploma. The only consistent requirement is that you have at least as bachelors degree, which you pass. After that the challenge for you will be in convincing Psych programs that you are qualified - and that depends on the courses you have taken, the experience you have, etc.</p>
<p>So do you have any education or experience in Psych? They will not want to admit someone who is not at least close to ready to start graduate study in the subject.</p>
<p>In psychology, it’s actually really important that you have an undergraduate major in psychology or a master’s degree in the subject - or at the very least, significant coursework in psychology. So if you have an MLS but your undergrad major was in psychology, you should be fine as far as your major goes. But if your undergrad major is in something else, and you have an MLS and you’ve never taken a psychology class (or haven’t taken anything past intro psychology) then you’re not a competitive applicant.</p>
<p>If you don’t have any coursework in psychology, you’re going to need <em>at least</em> 24 credit hours (around 6-8 courses) in psychology. For any subfield, you will need intro to psychology, intro to statistics, and research methods/experimental methods. Then you’ll need at least 3 other courses that are related to your subfield and interests. If you wanted to do Binghamton’s clinical science program and you were interested in adolescents’ cognitive development when they have mental illnesses, for example, you may want to take abnormal psychology, cognitive psychology, adolescent psychology, and/or developmental psychology. If you wanted to do the behavioral neuroscience subfield, you’ll want to take intro bio + a class in neuroscience, maybe biological psychology, cognitive psychology, and classes in whatever else you are interested in.</p>
<p>You also need research experience. You will need at least 2 years of research experience to be competitive for a PhD program in psychology. After college, one of the most common ways people get that is by working as a project coordinator/lab manager for 2-3 years. You can also volunteer or work part-time as a research assistant or research associate in a lab.</p>
<p>You also need to expand your horizons beyond Binghamton; most PhD programs take in ~6 students a year (give or take - could be anywhere from 3 or 4 to 10 or 12) and so aiming for one school is sometimes a recipe for heartbreak. For clinical psychology, you should probably apply to 10-12 schools. For other subfields you don’t have to apply to as many (except maybe social and developmental), but I would say 6-10 is a good number.</p>
<p>One last thing: if you want to be a clinical psychologist who does therapy/mental health counseling, Binghamton’s program may not be the best idea for you. Although their clinical science program will license you to counsel, clinical science focuses on doing applied research into mental health and the treatment of mental health. The focus is going to be on research and getting you into an academic position. You may want to find a scientist-practitioner program. Alternatively, you may be interested in an MSW and licensing as a licensed clinical social worker.</p>