<p>I'm not sure if this is the best place to put this thread, so please let me know if there is an alternative forum that would be more suitable. I've begun to develop an interest in psychology and I was wondering if anyone knew of any clubs or possible activities that are focused on psychology that I could invest some time into? Essentially, I go to an online school with about 4 clubs with no positions. Therefore, it's difficult for me to portray leadership, be active within the school, and to portray passion towards some things that I'm interested in. I have a significant amount of time also, which is something that I'd like to take advantage of. The problem is that I'm not aware of any psychology-related activities or groups that I could take part in. In addition to this, I live in an affluent area where the volunteer activities are limited. I don't feel like I'm benefiting anyone by just standing around watching movies with people. In addition to this, we have waitlists for our activities. If we don't sign up for a volunteer activity fast enough, we can't take part in it. For this reason, I'm also interested to know if anyone has any suggestions regarding what extra activities I could do. I'm just looking for something to do that I'm interested in and portrays to colleges that I'm serious about certain activities. I feel like I don't have too many. </p>
<p>Anyway, let me know if any of you have any suggestions. Thanks!</p>
<p>Haha, yes, I plan on taking it. I was talking about out of school activities though, something that could portray my passion. Are there intern opportunities for psychology, or are they more for science-related fields? Thanks for responding though!:)</p>
<p>You might want to find some volunteer at a hospital where you could get actual experience in this field. That sounds like I’m suggesting you’d fill a spot that is more in keeping with a doctor’s responsiblities, but I’m not. How about a hospital like a nursing home, and you’re there to do a special class (but really it’s just to be an upbeat outsider). Or a place that provides art therapy for some patients/clients (mental rehab). You’re there as an assistant. Call local facilities near you and explore what’s out there. Also, talk to doctors, but not necessarily those in a private practice.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how or where to find this, but you coulllddd participate in psychological researches conducted by universities. I just heard about the idea and not know much abt it, but hope it helps :)</p>
<p>I’ve heard about the idea too, so that’s why I was asking if it would be normal for someone to attribute to a research project. I’m not sure how to start asking people though. I guess I just email some local university professors? I’ll look into some hospital volunteering as well. The hospitals around my area only take about 5 volunteers and there is always a long waitlist, but maybe if I’m not there to help out medical doctors I’ll be able to volunteer. Thanks for the suggestions.</p>
<p>^^be careful about setting your sights right now on any hospital volunteering; there are some who are suspending youth volunteer programs due to H1N1…</p>
<p>I do like the research idea if you can find it though…another thought…any program that works with young children; psychology is multi-faceted; child psychology, biopsychology, etc…all fit…</p>
<p>See if there are any therapeutic nursery schools or elementary schools in your area that might use volunteers to help out teachers and teachers’ aides. Also, if you are in or near a city, there might be organizations that promote services and understanding of different groups such as the autistic or Altheimer’s patients that could use volunteers in their offices, and this might be an opportunity to learn a lot.</p>
<p>To find research in which you might be able to participate, go to the websites of local universities and find the psychology departments (also look at educational psychology.) See if each professor has an online bio. If any of them state research interests that you find intriguing, get to an excellent library and look up their studies and articles. At this point, you will be ready to contact them, explaining that you are homeschooled and very interested in their work (which you will have already read) and wonder if there is anything at all a high school student could do as a volunteer on their research. If you have already done some psychology reading or taken classes (next semester at a local cc?), you might be in a better position to move forward with research participation.</p>
<p>I’ll definitely look into that. Hopefully there will be some opportunities available and I’ll be able to find some more information at the library. Thanks for the information and suggestions!</p>
<p>Pretty much anything can be related to psychology depending on how you think about it, since psychology is just the study of the mind, brain, and behavior. But your activities don’t have to be related to psychology - colleges will understand that you might not decide on your major until your senior year or even after you get to college, and that might change. What’s most important is that you get involved in activities you’re actually interested in doing. If you like kids, tutor kids. If you like hospitals volunteer there. If you like old people do a nursing home. There’s no sense in doing volunteer work just because it looks good; that’s not the point of volunteering. Volunteer to do something that you genuinely like to do.</p>
<p>Remember that psychology is a HUGE field with many, many subfields. Clinical/counseling psychology is only a small area. Most psychologists do research, and within that research there are many areas: neuroscience, cognitive, social, health, developmental, school, physiological, industrial-organizational, engineering, it goes on. Besides that, psychology is directly applicable to just about any field. Many business professors, for example, are psychologists who study organizational behavior or social relations. You could easily get an internship at a business in your area and say you are interested in psychology. You could work in a neighborhood cleanup program and say you are interested in how the environment impacts people’s behavior; that’s psychology too.</p>
<p>Even if you live in an affluent area there must be some more disadvantaged areas in the vicinity that you could do independent projects with? Look outside your school and into your greater community. Colleges love students who come up with innovative ways to do what they want to do, and who reach out into the community instead of expecting everything to come to them through their school (not saying you do). Does your city or county have a webpage? Get on it and see what things are happening.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! When I volunteer, I’m not just doing it for self-oriented reasons. That’s part of the reason that I asked for advice regarding different activities. As I mentioned, in some of my past volunteering jobs, I didn’t feel like I was benefiting anyone. I’m sorry if I came across as someone doing these things for my own benefit to put on my application. My main reason for making this thread was to get some feedback and ideas of things that I could possibly do. I’m not sure if I want to become a psychologist, but I’ve been doing some research and reading articles regarding the subject and found it to be interesting and hoped to find some activities in relevance to it. This is more of me just exploring my options. I’ll try to find some disadvantaged areas too. I’ll have to consider traveling distance though. I still need to do some more research and I’ll look into the website as well. Thanks for all of the suggestions!:)</p>
<p>I was thinking about the newspaper too! I’ll see if they are open to having some student writers.</p>
<p>Psychology is a terrific field - I’m getting my PhD in it, and I absolutely love it.</p>
<p>Question is, are you interested in doing more clinical/practice focused work, or are you interested in research? That will drive your choices and interests.</p>
<p>I also second the advice to see if you can get involved in some psychological research at the high school level. If you have a nearby four-year university or college, jump on their website and see what the professors are doing.</p>
<p>Some suggestions:</p>
<p>-Volunteer at an animal shelter or zoo (animal behavior)
-Volunteer at an agency like Families First or a social aid/charity center (they are usually set up in affluent areas, too - human behavior)
-Volunteer at a hospital (find out if some hospitals have programs for high school students; the Children’s Hospital in my city did - health psych)
-Start an environmentalist campaign at your school - reduce carbon emissions, start a recycling program, do a park clean-up every month (environmental psych)
-Begin an exercise/healthy living program - sponsor a bike ride or run every month and a campaign to encourage your classmates and peers to be active (health psychology)
-Find a Planned Parenthood and volunteer there, especially with campaigns for free STI/HIV testing, condom use encouragement, and safe sex classes (health psych)
-Tutor children, even at your local elementary school - they don’t have to be disadvantaged. Talk to your local elementary school and see if they need classroom aides. Since you’re homeschooled you can do this during the day, or you could do it at an afterschool program (educational /developmental/child psych)
-Volunteer at a nursing home (psych of aging/developmental psych)
-Grab an internship or job at a business, working directly with a manager as a shadow or assistant (industrial/organizational psych, management - also consider that getting a Ph.D in a business field like management is similar to psych but can be far more lucrative)
-Take some community college classes in psychology if you can</p>
<p>Wow, thank you so much for the suggestions!:)</p>
<p>I’ll try to do as much as I can. I’ll first determine what area of psychology that I’m interested in, and then I’ll decide upon what I can do afterwards. To be honest, I’m not sure exactly what area interests me the most. I’ve narrowed my selection to a couple though, so I’ll do some research into those areas. I appreciate the help.</p>
<p>Also, I’m glad that you are enjoying it. I’m sure that you’ll make a great psychologist:)</p>
I’ll see if they are open to having some student writers.</p>