Quantitative Psychology

[Carloroberto Escobar]

Hi everyone! I'm currently about to graduate from undergrad and have spent the last year looking to what to do next. Quant Psych is a field that I stumbled into my chance and since then I have become more interested in pursing that PhD in the future. 

What are the job prospects both in academia and industry? For those of you who have pursued this degree, was it worth it for you? Any advice?

Thank you! 

[VentureIntoNothingness]

It is a very very very good field. In academia, available positions often exceed graduates, which is completely unheard of in other disciplines. Industry pays very well and I think you just need to pick up some SQL skills and you will be good. It will be absolutely worth it but I think it is important to realize that programs have a broad range from being applied to theoretical. To some extent, I think it is more adjacent to biostatistics/statistics than psychology.  I think it would be awesome if you have some coursework in math/stat especially matrix algebra, differential equations, probability. It would also help if you are interested in learning more about programming! IMO, this is the best subfield in psychology... but I may be biased haha.

Edited November 23, 2021 by VentureIntoNothingness

[Carloroberto Escobar]

.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Carloroberto Escobar

[Carloroberto Escobar]

17 hours ago, VentureIntoNothingness said:

It is a very very very good field. In academia, available positions often exceed graduates, which is completely unheard of in other disciplines. Industry pays very well and I think you just need to pick up some SQL skills and you will be good. It will be absolutely worth it but I think it is important to realize that programs have a broad range from being applied to theoretical. To some extent, I think it is more adjacent to biostatistics/statistics than psychology.  I think it would be awesome if you have some coursework in math/stat especially matrix algebra, differential equations, probability. It would also help if you are interested in learning more about programming! IMO, this is the best subfield in psychology... but I may be biased haha.

May I ask you more about your story (how you got into the field, school, experience, where you are now)? You seem to be into this field a lot haha. 

As for my skillset, I have programmed in C++, R, MATLAB, and currently Python. Math wise I have gone up to Calculus 2 but was planning on going up to Calc 3 + Linear algebra (emphasis on LA bc it comes up in almost anything I've done in coding and research). As of now, I am interested in missing data and want to learn more about that.

[VentureIntoNothingness]

Sent you a DM. 

[t_ruth]

On 11/22/2021 at 10:54 PM, VentureIntoNothingness said:

It is a very very very good field. In academia, available positions often exceed graduates, which is completely unheard of in other disciplines. Industry pays very well and I think you just need to pick up some SQL skills and you will be good. It will be absolutely worth it but I think it is important to realize that programs have a broad range from being applied to theoretical. To some extent, I think it is more adjacent to biostatistics/statistics than psychology.  I think it would be awesome if you have some coursework in math/stat especially matrix algebra, differential equations, probability. It would also help if you are interested in learning more about programming! IMO, this is the best subfield in psychology... but I may be biased haha.

Agree with a lot of this. This degree will be even more marketable if you also hone your data science skills.

[Carloroberto Escobar]

1 hour ago, t_ruth said:

Agree with a lot of this. This degree will be even more marketable if you also hone your data science skills.

Are you in a quantitative methods program? If so, would you mind sharing more about your experience? 

[t_ruth]

1 minute ago, Carloroberto Escobar said:

Are you in a quantitative methods program? If so, would you mind sharing more about your experience? 

I'm faculty in Ed Psych/Learning Sciences and Ed Research Methods/Statistics, so not exactly a quant psych program, but adjacent. Many Ed Psych programs have very strong quantitative training, so some of the same post-PhD jobs are available to us.