Getting Into Graduate School in Clinical Psychology

Abstract

WHAT TYPES OF GRADUATE PROGRAMS WILL HELP ME MEET MY CAREER GOALS? In thinking about a career in psychology, the first questions you must ask yourself are, “What type of career do I want?” and “What types of graduate programs are available to meet my career goals?” The field of psychology offers many career options so we suggest that you read the APA's free brochure called “Psychology: Scientific Problem Solvers—Careers for the 21st Century.” You can find it online at www.apa.org/careers/resources/guides/careers.pdf. There are many options available in clinical psychology itself. Most students know about the possibility of training to become a clinician (psychotherapist) or a psychology professor, but did you know about the following careers in clinical psychology? Administrator in a medical setting Clinical neuropsychologist Clinician in a university counseling center Executive coach, consultant, and advisor Forensic psychologist Gerontologist Infant mental health specialist Mediator Military psychologist Program manager in a crisis unit Public health educator Research and evaluation consultant Researcher in a nonprofit organization Sport psychologist Trial consultant Research versus Clinical Emphasis? All university-based graduate programs in clinical psychology provide training in research as well as in clinical functions, but there are differences in emphasis from one institution to another. It is worth your effort to learn each program's emphasis when you are gathering other information about the program. Subtle differences in a program's description (e.g., scientist-practitioner vs. clinical scientist; see Chapter 15, “Professional Issues in Clinical Psychology”) may reveal a great deal about the program's training emphasis. If your primary career interest is in research on mental health, psychopathology, prevention, and treatment, then a PhD program in clinical psychology is probably your best option. Such programs typically offer the most training in research and widest variety of clinical research options. Clinical researchers find careers in a variety of mental health settings, hospitals, medical schools, government, public, and private agencies. Research-oriented clinical PhD programs also provide training and supervision in clinical work, so graduates of these programs typically have the option of shifting into more clinical work so long as they have kept their licensure requirements up to date. Certain nonclinical PhD psychology programs may also provide avenues to clinical research. Graduates of developmental psychology, personality psychology, cognitive neuroscience, or social psychology doctoral programs sometimes conduct research with important clinical applications (e.g., childhood psychopathology, positive psychology).