admission to graduate programs-counseling psychology

[doa]

Hello,

in order to receive admission to counseling psychology, should I have a bachelors in psychology? or would I get an admission with a business degree too? note: im on my first year of psychology but thinking about changing it to business 

[PsyDuck90]

There are certain undergrad courses you need to have taken as prerequisites for doctoral psych programs. However, you don't necessarily have to have majored in it. You would have to make a case for why you are a good fit despite having a business degree. If you are thinking about grad school in counseling psych, why are you considering switching to a business degree?

[SoundofSilence]

33 minutes ago, doa said:

Hello,

in order to receive admission to counseling psychology, should I have a bachelors in psychology? or would I get an admission with a business degree too? note: im on my first year of psychology but thinking about changing it to business 

Hi

I think that as a first year you are still exploring options, and that's ok. The thing is, I would advise to best plan for the paths you'd like to take when choosing a major. So if you are really drawn to psych, whether that's counselling or anything related that basically requires a grad degree so that you can follow that career path, then you need to have a really solid psych background. If you are interested in business - psych can actually be a good addition there so you can look at taking classes in both. However, a business type of career doesn't really require you to major in business specifically so I think there's more flexibility there.

If you are drawn to both and can't yet decide, one option would be to major in psych and minor/ take a lot of courses in business, that's basically covers all your bases. You can use the major to fulfill the course requirements for a grad degree later on, or you can use the psych courses to give you an edge on a business path. Hope this helps!

[doa]

Hello, 

Thank you for your response. I am not from Canada so unfortunately i can not choose a minor. I wrote Canada because I really want to do my masters in Canada. I would also like to ask whether being a non Canadian (also non native speaker but I speak fairly good) would have a big negative impact on a career path in Psychology? such as being a counsellor

 

Thank you

[doa]

Hello @PsyDuck90 

I had a very hard time deciding between business and psychology, I always wanted to be a therapist but working as a consultant does not sound bad either. However, the biggest reason is the shortage of options as a career in psychology. To my knowledge getting admission to a counseling psychology master program is super competitive and hard even with a GPA of 3.80 and other fields of psychology are very research oriented. For example, if I study cognitive psychology in my master's I do not know what kind of jobs I could get with it because it is very research oriented. Also I have the impression that even if I get accepted to a masters in counseling, upon graduation finding a job might be very difficult since I am not a Canadian. So the main reason why I am thinking of changing my major is my anxiety about the future.

[PsyDuck90]

There are risks with any option. As a 1st year, you still have plenty of time to make a decision. Maybe speak with an advisor on campus regarding your options. You also have to consider if your immigration status will allow you to stay and work in Canada following graduation (whether that be from undergrad or grad), and if not, what would be the best career path for you in your home country. At minimum, you need to take certain psychology courses. Look up the admission requirements for some of the master's programs you are considering and make sure you take those, regardless of major. People switch career paths all the time. And as Sound of Silence said, a degree in psychology can also be beneficial I'm business. So it's possible to achieve either career path with either major. 

[SoundofSilence]

19 minutes ago, doa said:

Hello, 

Thank you for your response. I am not from Canada so unfortunately i can not choose a minor. I wrote Canada because I really want to do my masters in Canada. I would also like to ask whether being a non Canadian (also non native speaker but I speak fairly good) would have a big negative impact on a career path in Psychology? such as being a counsellor

 

Thank you

So this kinds of hits on multiple things, but let's take it one at a time. If you are not from the US/Canada, I am assuming that you need to take courses only in your intended main major field. This comes with the downside that you need to figure out some things earlier, instead of at the end of your degree. 

Just because you are not a native English speaker, it does not mean that you cannot practice in the field. It does mean that you would have to put in more effort to get fluent in the language and also get comfortable with cultural phrases/way of talking and other cultural references - because this would facilitate your communication and understanding of clients/patients. Many people in the field didn't start as native speakers so that shouldn't be a huge obstacle. 

The second thing is that career prospects with just a general psych bachelors are not that great, or at least not what you imagined. You can certainly go be a business consultant or towards HR or something like that, but in most places you won't be able to practice just with that. So if you envision being a "psychologist", you usually need a graduate degree. For a business career, you can study lots of other things - such as Econ, Psych, Commerce, etc. and still be competitive. 

And also keep in mind what PsyDuck90 said - your immigration status is important so you also have to be informed about that. 

[doa]

18 minutes ago, PsyDuck90 said:

There are risks with any option. As a 1st year, you still have plenty of time to make a decision. Maybe speak with an advisor on campus regarding your options. You also have to consider if your immigration status will allow you to stay and work in Canada following graduation (whether that be from undergrad or grad), and if not, what would be the best career path for you in your home country. At minimum, you need to take certain psychology courses. Look up the admission requirements for some of the master's programs you are considering and make sure you take those, regardless of major. People switch career paths all the time. And as Sound of Silence said, a degree in psychology can also be beneficial I'm business. So it's possible to achieve either career path with either major. 

The process works like that, if you successfully finish a 2 year long master's you can stay up to 3 years to work but in order to continue working in Canada you have to find a skilled full time job and work for minimum of 1 year and then you can apply to permanent residency (there are other conditions too but they are not necessary to mention here). If you have a 1 year long masters then you get a 1 year long post grad work permit which is very short I guess because I have heard from some people that finding a job might take up to 6 months. Since the counseling psychology masters are limited, which other master program would you recommend it to me? (that is leading to a similar career path) 

thank you

[doa]

5 hours ago, SoundofSilence said:

The second thing is that career prospects with just a general psych bachelors are not that great, or at least not what you imagined. You can certainly go be a business consultant or towards HR or something like that, but in most places you won't be able to practice just with that. So if you envision being a "psychologist", you usually need a graduate degree. For a business career, you can study lots of other things - such as Econ, Psych, Commerce, etc. and still be competitive. 

 

do you mean practice as a therapist? if it is, yes I know that's the same situation in my country too 

[SoundofSilence]

34 minutes ago, doa said:

do you mean practice as a therapist? if it is, yes I know that's the same situation in my country too 

in many countries  you usually need at least a master's degree. sometimes even to work in I/O psych - the thing is, a general psych bachelors doesn't equip you with much beyond some theoretical knowledge. To get specialist exposure, you have to pursue further studies.

[doa]

yes but unfortunately there are only 2 master programs that offer Industrial organizational psychology in Canada