blueadams

wow, i had no idea it was those three. i really didn't even know where to start looking. thank you so much for the start!! (means more than you think!)

The basic masters might indeed be the best idea. I feel like my interests are actually pretty specific. But like you said, they cross into a number of different areas. I'll look into WFU's program. Is there a listing out there of the highest rated masters programs in psychology!?

I suppose that if I had to chose only one arena to focus on, it would be our public school system, so maybe something in educational psychology is right for me. If I could find a program there with a good psychometrics reputation, that would be even better. I had sort of been under the impression that if I wanted to specialize in personality testing, then I would NEED to specialize in PERSONALITY psychology. That seems to be my biggest misunderstanding at this point...right? ...I have looked at Berkeley's program before and was very impressed (though not quite as impressive as the UofM's). ...I probably should be doing more research on current trends in career placement (I haven't done much research there, aside from Jung, Myers-Briggs, Positive Psych). I'll search through Jstor today. Again, thank you very much for the knowledge!

I guess that I am hoping to be a sort of guidance/career counselor, but on a larger scale...by identifying what is the best personality test in existence, doing what I can to improve it, and most importantly, making it more accessible to the general public. I am just trying to learn enough about these personality tests to make them more accessible to the general public...because 90% of the people in this country who are out there thinking about what they want to do for a living at this very moment haven't even so much as taken a personality test (by my estimation, lol). Maybe it's a matter of improving career preparation in our high schools and colleges!? So, maybe school/educational psychology would be the way to go!? I hadn't really thought of counseling psychology along these lines, but maybe that would be a good idea as well!? If you can, could you please elaborate a bit more on why you think these would be good options for me? I agree with what you are saying there about personality testing as it exists now. Those working in the field of positive psychology have been trying to develop personality tests that measure a person's "signature strengths" (aka, specific knowledge, skills, and abilities - like you said). By identifying a person's signature strengths, you can determine with some accuracy which kinds of tasks are best suited to their personal skill-set (organization, person to person contact, leadership, etc.). The state of "Flow" (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - a quick google search should fill you in here if you are not familiar with positive psychology, it's well worth a few minutes of your time) is said to occur when a person's skill-set is perfectly suited to the task at hand (not bored, not overwhelmed). People that experience the state of flow are generally happier than those that do not. I basically want to help people identify their signature strengths, on a large scale. This will inform them of what kinds of tasks they might be best suited for. From there, with a lot of help, an extensive list of career fields requiring such tasks might be able to be compiled. Hopefully I am making sense! lol.

Hmm...that's too bad about the statistics. Does it matter that I am more interested in applying the most accurate personality tests (like, actually giving the test to high school/college students) than I am in actually developing the tests themselves!? Would I still need to focus so exclusively on the statistics aspect? Also, because I am most interested in working with younger people...high school/college students...would it be a good idea to specialize in developmental psychology, with an emphasis on psychometrics. Would I still be able to get enough background in personality testing doing something like that? Again, the info is greatly appreciated!

you're absolutely right about I/O psych. i am much more interested in testing high school/college students and career changers...as opposed to people that have already been hired by a company. if a degree in industrial/organizational psychology would limit me to that kind of job, it's not for me. i mean, basically, all i want to do is learn everything there is to know about the latest and most accurate personality testing methods available. then i want to improve them, in whatever way i can. then i want to apply them to young people having trouble picking a profession to go into. i want to help them chose lifestyles that will make them happier. i just looked into psychometrics...that sounds like its right up my alley. are those that specialize in psychometrics usually within the social/personality department? statistical psychology i am less interested in (not a big math guy)...but i'll learn whatever i have to learn to become an expert of the personality testing. i mean, i don't want to dedicate my life to making these tests better. i want to learn enough about them to apply them. so...maybe it's not for me?? thanks for all the info there!

really...that is very, very interesting. so if i wanted to learn all about personality testing...and i wanted to improve personality testing...with the goal of getting young people into their ideal careers...industrial/organizational psychology would be the way to go!? i really hadn't even thought about that. if you could elaborate on that a bit it would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, not for a while. I am going to take some time off to travel. Maybe teach english abroad and save up a little. I still have to figure out which kind of masters program would be best.

Thank you for your response, I should have been more clear in my post. The ultimate goal is a PhD. But because I have a low undergrad gpa, and a non-psych major, I am looking into masters programs in psych to get started! I am going to start getting into contact with professors of interest asap. I was just hoping to get a better feel for what I was getting myself into here. Thanks again! Blue

Hello, I am somewhat new to the world of Psychology, but I am thinking about pursuing a PhD in Personality Psychology, and I had a couple of questions that I wanted to ask. If anyone has any advice at all, it would be greatly appreciated! First of all, a little bit about myself. I am a recent graduate of a small (but highly regarded) liberal arts school in the midwest. I majored in History because I thought that I wanted to be a high school teacher/coach, but I have since changed my mind. I am graduating with about a 3.3 gpa, but I recieved A's (and relatively easily) in all six of the psychology courses I took - general psych, developmental/adolescent psych, social psych, cultural psych, statistics for psych majors, and my senior thesis in positive psych. For what it's worth, I scored a 28 on the ACT in high school (I've heard it's somewhat indicative of a gre score?). I want to get into a top notch Personality Psychology PhD program, so I am thinking about getting a masters degree of some sort in Psychology to boost my gpa. Based on how well I've done in those courses as an undergraduate, I think that I could do quite well. #1) First question - Is a PhD in Personality Psychology what I am looking for!? I assume that it is, but I do not know enough about the field to be certain. My main area of interest is in learning all about, and improving, personality testing...with the end-goal of better matching individuals to their ideal careers. This interest has arisen out of Positive Psychology's attempts to identify individual's signature strengths and build their lives around them in order to experience the state of 'flow' as often as possible. I basically want to be a guidance counselor-extrordinaire! I am not one-hundred percent sure how I want to apply this knowledge, but I have some good ideas... ...I could obviously teach/research at a college or university to earn a steady income. I could design personality tests for high school and college students. I could help at risk youths identify realistic career goals. I could work as an actual guidance counselor at a college or university, a private high school, or as a free lance psychologist. There are a ton of things I could do. This is what I want to do though. I want to help people figure out what they are going to do with their lives. I want to help them make decisions that are going to make them happy. #2) Second question - What kind of masters programs should I be looking at!? Should I be looking at general psych masters programs? Should I be looking at specialized personality psych programs? I haven't been able to find any ratings of the best masters programs in psychology. Should I assume that programs with highly ranked PhD programs have good masters programs? Does anyone know which masters programs have a high rate of getting their graduates into PhD programs!? Thank you very much in advance for any help!! Sincerely, Blue