<p>I'm at community college right now but I'm going to transfer to UCLA or Berkeley in two
years. I really want to major in psychology because, well.. it's awesome, that's why. While I've heard career prospects aren't the best for psych majors, apparently a PhD can open some doors. I'm ready to put in a lot of time and effort to achieve this goal.</p>
<p>Do UCLA and Berkeley have good graduate programs? Also how does a PsyD degree compare to a PhD? Is one better than the other? </p>
<p>Please, if you can, share any advice and tips on what to be prepared for, etc..</p>
<p>First of all, I disagree that career prospects aren’t good for psychology majors. Psychology is a good stepping-stone major for a variety of careers. The thing is that psychology majors can’t do anything worthwhile in <em>psychology</em> with just a BA or BS in the field - no counseling or anything. However, there are good prospects in other fields - market research, business, management, education. Remember that many jobs are not major specific.</p>
<p>Anyway, UCLA has one of the best clinical psychology programs in the country (it’s currently ranked at #1, but that fluctuates a bit from year to year). Berkeley’s is also good - certainly in the top 15, sometimes ranked in the top 10 depending on who you ask (currently it’s at #11, tied with Stony Brook and Texas-Austin). However, be forewarned that both of those programs are clinical science programs. While they are both APA-accredited and will train you to be a practicing clinical psychologist, their primary focus is turning out researchers. The primary focus will be on making you a researcher, and the expectation will be that you will follow an academic or research path to becoming a professor or researcher at a university or other kind of research institution. OF course, you don’t have to do that, but that will be what the focus is. </p>
<p>There are two other models. The scientist-practitioner model is how the majority of other PhD programs in clinical psychology operate. The goal is to produce psychologists who can operate both as scientists and produce new knowledge on the assessment and treatment of mental disorders as well as clinicians who can treat them. Most psychology students go through scientist-practitioner programs; you can be a competent clinician from these programs but they also prepare you for academic and research positions. SO they offer the most flexibility.</p>
<p>PsyD programs were built to focus on the practitioner-scholar model, which is the preparation of psychologists who will be clinicians above all else. The goal is to create clinical psychologists who can thoughtfully and correctly read and apply research to their work as clinicians, in order to help their clients, but students in PsyD programs are generally not expected to become researchers themselves. If you want to be exclusively a clinician without the option of going into academia, then a PsyD may be a good fit for you. They typically tend to be shorter (taking about 4 years before clinical internship instead of the typical 5-6 years before clinical internship that PhD programs take). But an important note is that PhD programs on the scientist-practitioner model are generally funded - meaning your tuition and fees are covered and you get a living stipend - whereas PsyD programs typically are not.</p>
<p>Also note that clinical psychology is fiercely competitive - some say as bad as medical school. Even qualified applicants often go through 2-3 application cycles before getting accepted, and often applicants take 2-3 years after their BA to get research and volunteer experience before getting admitted to a program.</p>
<p>Yes you’re right about career paths. I know a few of my HS teachers and Professors majored in psychology. I guess there are a lot of careers I shouldn’t rule out just because of what I major in. Now that I think about it, psych is actually a pretty open-ended major.</p>
<p>UCLA’s program sounds so great! Number one, seriously?? I wasn’t aware it was number one! I’m so excited just thinking about it. Can’t wait until I can apply for transfer. Glad to know Berkeley is ranked up there too. Maybe I could even major at one school and do graduate study at the other!</p>
<p>The clincal science model sounds great for building that good foundation. It seems to be leave some doors open. Same with the PhD as opposed to the PsyD, but that’s a ways off. To be honest though, having a PhD after my name is the dream. Especially in a field where you can help people directly. </p>
<p>One question though- Is the clinical science model also cover undergraduate study whereas the scientist-practitioner model (PhD) is for graduate school? If that be the case, going through the clinical science model for a BA would seem like the ideal preparation for a PhD program, wouldn’t it?</p>