Midway Panic?

[Suzanne51]

Hi all,

 

I'm currently in my first year of the MA program for General Psychology. Originally, after graduating with my BA in Psychology, I went into an MSW program because it is a terminal degree which would allow me to begin working with patients (I weighed it against the Mental Health Counseling programs and found that social work provided more job opportunities). After the first semester in the MSW program, I realized how awful the choice was to leave psychology and jumped back immediately, into the only program that would accept me quickly without the GRE's so I wouldn't have to miss a semester (MA in General Psych).

 

Now I'm here and officially in panic mode. All of this time, money, stress... for what? I'd love to get into a PhD program one day, but what if I don't? What can I do with this degree that is not substance abuse or human resources? My searches show there is little opportunity to do anything, but I find that hard to believe. All I want for my career is to work in psychology. I have so many interests that it barely matters which area I end up in. I just don't want to have done all of this for nothing, only to end up back at the same job I had before just with higher pay.

 

Any advice or words of comfort?

[iphi]

Have you considered school psychology? With your interest in social work I wonder if school psych would be a good fit for you. It also tends to be easier to gain admission to a PhD (or EdS) program in school psych over, say, clinical or social psych. And it leads to a direct line of work in the field!

[spunky]

 All I want for my career is to work in psychology. 

 

i honestly feel like you'd need to narrow this down a little bit more. what would you like to do within Psychology? there are as many career options within Psychology as there are people studying it so without a more specific sense of what you're interested in, it's kind of hard to advice you

[mb712]

Have you considered school psychology? With your interest in social work I wonder if school psych would be a good fit for you. It also tends to be easier to gain admission to a PhD (or EdS) program in school psych over, say, clinical or social psych. And it leads to a direct line of work in the field!

 

This, or I/O for all the same reasons.

[Suzanne51]

i honestly feel like you'd need to narrow this down a little bit more. what would you like to do within Psychology? there are as many career options within Psychology as there are people studying it so without a more specific sense of what you're interested in, it's kind of hard to advice you

 

Good point. I truly would feel comfortable in nearly any field, but I get most excited with the following: behavior analysis/modification, exposure therapy (fears, phobias, etc), and forensic psych.

 

You're right, though. My biggest issue is that I have too many interests. This is mostly where the panic is coming from. If it were one interest, I'd have no problem figuring out the best path to take, but because I like so many areas I keep flip-flopping on which I'd like to spend the rest of my life doing. I spoke with my professor recently about how I wish there were a type of psychological triage, similar to a hospital when every patient comes in with something new to work on, but of course psychology can't diagnose and treat within one trip to the "emergency room."

[Sujie]

Hi all,

 

I'm currently in my first year of the MA program for General Psychology. Originally, after graduating with my BA in Psychology, I went into an MSW program because it is a terminal degree which would allow me to begin working with patients (I weighed it against the Mental Health Counseling programs and found that social work provided more job opportunities). After the first semester in the MSW program, I realized how awful the choice was to leave psychology and jumped back immediately, into the only program that would accept me quickly without the GRE's so I wouldn't have to miss a semester (MA in General Psych).

 

Now I'm here and officially in panic mode. All of this time, money, stress... for what? I'd love to get into a PhD program one day, but what if I don't? What can I do with this degree that is not substance abuse or human resources? My searches show there is little opportunity to do anything, but I find that hard to believe. All I want for my career is to work in psychology. I have so many interests that it barely matters which area I end up in. I just don't want to have done all of this for nothing, only to end up back at the same job I had before just with higher pay.

 

Any advice or words of comfort?

Hi Suzanne,

I had a similar feeling in the last year of my undergrad program, I had so many interests and it actually provoced more anxiety than gave comfort. I, too, wanted to apply for MSW, and lived with this idea until I took a class that showed me what I want to do in psychology. After that, it was really easy and exciting to think about future. I think you might have entered a masters program too early,maybe a gap year would have helped you. But since you are already there, I think it might be a good idea for you to take more classes than required and engage in new activities to find your place in the field. Once you have that fieling, everything will be different. One person cannot be good at everything, so imho even if your dream hospital where every patient has new problem came true,there would be 10 different psychologists in the room who each specialize on a certain type of problem.