@homerdog FWIW my D studied psychology at Lafayette College and it fits the description you posted above.
Keep in mind that a what a school psychologist does is very different than what a clinical psychologist does. A school psychologist may do a little bit of counseling …depending on the district, but most…the majority… of the career focuses on special education testing and being a case manager for students with different learning disabilities. This career requires a masters degree. A clinical psychologist requires schooling past the masters level and is more involved in direct counseling. Also keep in mind that social workers often become counselors as well, and that degree requires a masters. It is possible that different states have different requirements.
I think that many schools will have solid psychology departments. I would ask about the possibility of research if it is an interest of your D’s. I would also be curious to know whether undergraduates have opportunities to shadow at neighboring schools or clinics if they are interested (I have no clue whether this is a possibility).
Lastly, I would inquire about internships within the department that are available to undergraduate students. One of my colleague’s daughters attends an LAC (one that you have discussed) as a psych major and was invited to participate in a very interesting summer internship as a first year psych major.
^^that’s absolutely true about the school psychologists, but some school districts/private schools also employ additional people to do counseling (for temporary emotional distress) and/or therapy (for students with ongoing mental health diagnoses). They also work with teachers to promote pro-social behavior in the school at large (i.e anti-bullying programs) and may do outreach with families experiencing problems. These people may have either counseling psychology or MSW degrees with a sub-specialty in working in a school setting. In addition, there are therapeutic day schools for children and adolescents with mental health diagnoses that employ people with MSWs or masters degrees in counseling psychology. The MSW degree is considered a terminal degree for eventually becoming a licensed independent practitioner who can diagnose and conduct therapy (a doctorate in Social Work is only considered necessary for those teaching or doing research, and some MSWs do research and publish, for that matter).
Our high school has 2300 kids and one of the school psychologists is the head football coach. As to the OP we are from Illinois like you and my daughter class of 2020 plans of majoring in Psychology. She plans on getting her doctorate. Her radius is 6-7 hours from the northwest suburbs on schools she is interested in. We have visited Case Western and Michigan. Typically the best rated psychology programs in the country are bigger schools and many are in the Midwest.
Yes I completely agree that some districts may hire additional people to do counseling, sometimes on an “as needed” basis. This is also based on finances, which unfortunately comes up for discussion a lot… at least in public schools. Our school hires an outside agency to do anti-bullying programs…these people are not psychologists or social workers, but they are well trained in this area. I imagine that different schools/states have different ways of doing things. Our school’s assistant principal is our “anti-bullying coordinator”.
I know social workers who work as employees or contractors for the Dept of Health and various Early Intervention agencies who also have part time private practices.
Our high school has social workers but also has two “school psychologists”. Of course D21 would have to figure out how she would best want to use her undergrad degree and then go after the appropriate masters or PhD.
My friend’s D was a psychology major at a very well known LAC. She participated in research at a speech/hearing lab, she was involved in drug addiction research, and then went on for her MPH.
@Nicki20 what makes the programs at Case and Michigan highly ranked? You’re talking about the undergraduate programs?
I don’t think it Case is necessarily top rated I think the connection to the hospital right on campus makes it more desirable especially after undergraduate. Michigan has more undergraduate options it seems and you have the possibility of staying there until your get your PHD. I would say it’s similar to U of I. In our school psychologists would never happened. My daughter is interested in Biopsychology which Michigan has. Although I’m not sure if her chances of getting in are.
We just went through this thought process with our S19, who has been taking HL Psychology in his IB program for two years and thinks this is what he wants to do. As you say, all the LACs have Psychology majors, so this wasn’t an issue we thought about in depth until his list had been whittled down to two final choices. But at that point, when we looked carefully at the actual courses offered and the faculty bios, and he discussed them with his Psychology teacher, we found there were some significant differences between the two, not so much in terms of the quality but in terms of the substance of the programs. There is always Psych 101, but at the higher levels, the courses seem to reflect both faculty interests and the more specific focus of the programs. So it’s worth taking a deep dive into the course catalog and looking at what sorts of research the faculty members are doing.
Great discussion! My DS 19 sounded pretty much like your D21…interested in Psych, but not really sure of career path, grad school, etc. So we focused our search on fit and not on program, choosing a mid size college with strong advising and someplace where I felt like he could explore subjects and majors. Oh, we also took cost more into consideration in case grad school happens. (Not saying this is the right path, but it is what we did FYI). As someone else mentioned above, I did come upon Clark as one small/mid school that stood out for Psych…the rest were the typical top 10 for the most part. FYI from our visits/research I don’t think Clark or W&M fit her not-leaning-nerdy thoughts. Richmond does have the Richmond Guarantee for internships or research experiences.
One consideration:
The type of psychology that interests her.
(Echoing @AboutTheSame on this point! Some schools do not offer courses on all types of psychology.)
Look at the course catalogs.
For example, Williams has a very solid psych department, but it de-emphasizes psychodynamic therapies in its programming. Seriously, they leave out the chapter on that when they read the textbook in Intro! One of the intro teachers even stated to the class that ‘we don’t teach Freud.’ The only Freud courses are a tutorial through the history department (cross listed in psych but not counting toward the major requirements) and another through the philosophy department, for 19-20; there was nothing at all like that in 18-19. And there are no courses in the psych department anymore on Personality, a major branch of study in psychology. (Disturbing to our family. Spouse is a psychodynamically oriented psychologist.)
Clark is generally considered to have one of the nation’s best psychology programs. It also would be a great place to go for learning about psychodynamic therapy.
Vassar has a good psych department, too. Spouse got his BA there and his PsyD from Yeshiva.
Here are some resources from the APA re: undergrad psychology. https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/about/faq
Many jobs that psychology majors target do not pay well, even with advanced degrees. If ROI is important (and I know it’s difficult to estimate/calculate), you might target less expensive schools and/or schools where your D can get merit. And of course limit debt.
@Mwfan1921 I tend to disagree that any degree doesn’t pay well. There’s the student’s major and then there’s what they do with it. I have friends from undergrad who were psych majors and worked at a big consulting firm out of undergrad. I have an undergrad degree in Poli Sci and I never used that specific knowledge at all in my marketing jobs and have done well. I’m really not into the idea that someone’s undergrad degree decides their job path.
That being said, if D21 does major in psych and wants to use that knowledge in her career, then I understand the ROI aspect. Honestly, she’s 16 so she doesn’t really know. She does know that she wants a balanced life and that would include a career that could maybe be part time when she has a family or maybe work for herself in a private practice to determine her own schedule. I have a friend who was in finance for years, went back to get a second degree and is now a family therapist. D21 has seen a lot of moms in our town (even doctors, lawyers, MBAs) go to second careers that allow more flexibility after they have children and I know she’s been thinking about that long term. I think many careers with advanced psych degrees would allow D21 that flexibility.
I am a firm believer that any degree can pay well ( whatever that means). It’s not the major that matters… it’s what you do with it.
@homerdog, based on your explanation, you would want to look carefully at the programs offered by the various schools as she gets closer to applying. Psych is one of those majors that are useful for all sorts of things - for example, it could be a good pre-law school major - so if she thinks she may want to have a psychology practice, she might want to look for a school with a strong clinical emphasis. (P.S. I have to admit it feels funny to be providing advice to you given all your wisdom I’ve benefited from !)
@tkoparent Ha! I don’t think of myself as providing much advice on CC. I mostly just catalogued S19’s college search and I hope posters got good info from it!