Graduate Psychology after top art school?

Parents Forum
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<p>Sorry for posting on the parents forum... I just figured that you would know more about this.</p>

<p>I am off to college next month, at the Rhode Island School of Design. I have major problems with indecision, and have started to doubt my choice of a strictly art school. RISD was the only art school I applied to... the rest were top liberal arts colleges and big universities. I got into all of them, but decided that I wanted to study art so I chose RISD. It's a top school, and I am thoroughly excited to go there, but I'm worried that I'm going to change my life plan. I always thought that I would either be a therapist/social worker, writer, or some type of artist. </p>

<p>Lately I've been wondering about graduate school in psychology. Is it possible to attend a top graduate school for psychology after recieving a BFA from RISD? Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>IF you are thinking about combining your undergraduate major in Art with psychology, have you considered doing Art Therapy?</p>

<p>Hopefully this link will provide you with a list of accredited art therapy graduate programs.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.arttherapy.org/staep.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.arttherapy.org/staep.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I second Sybbie's suggestion. RISD has profs teaching courses other than arts. Also, you may be able to take classes at Brown. Is there an advisor at RISD who could discuss the type of courses suitable for art therapy?</p>

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<p>My wife earned her MA in Art Therapy and later a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. Anything is possible.</p>

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<p>A friend of ours was a Fine Arts major (painting) in college, and went to medical school afterwards. I think most professional-type grad schools (and I include clinical psych PhD programs here, but not necessarily engineering schools) value diverse perspectives in their student bodies and actually look kindly on applicants who don't follow the beaten path to their door. Just make certain that you know what the entrance requirements are at most programs and find a way to meet them, and do a few things -- studying Art Therapy is a great one -- to communicate that your application reflects your proven interests rather than a whim. Do some networking/internships in the theraputic community so that someone in that community can vouch for your interest and commitment in a recommendation.</p>

<p>Oh, and congratulations on RISD (classmates with Seth Cohen!), and don't fall into the trap of living your life too far in the future. You obviously have a strong interest in art, too, and who knows where the next few years will take you?</p>