Job prospects for an MA in General/Experimental Psychology?

[rockandroll]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to be undertaking a one-year MA program in general/experimental psychology at a great school starting this fall. I will definitely be seeking a Ph.D. shortly thereafter, but I'm strongly considering taking a year off in between. I feel like I would be at a huge disadvantage by choosing to apply to Ph.D. programs while still in my first semester of my master's degree (little time to get to know professors who will be writing my recommendations, etc.), and additionally, doing all of the work required for a master's degree in just two semesters on top of applying to schools seems like something I just shouldn't do for the sake of my sanity. I feel like I just calmed down from the first round of applying to schools, which just ended two months ago for me... It seems much more conducive to my happiness to take things at a more reasonable pace from now on.

If I do end up deciding to take a year off, I will obviously need to get a good job in my field to get some experience and make enough money to cover rent (which is fairly expensive in my city). I'm wondering what kinds of jobs I'm qualified for with an MA in General/Experimental Psych. I would love to get some research and teaching experience- I will have a lot of lab experience, but probably very little teaching experience by the end of my MA program. My interests are developmental and social psychology.

Thank you so much for helping me out, in advance!

[randompsychologist]

I agree with delaying applying in your situation. Your first semester will be stressful and you won't have the connections yet so there may not be a point in applying. Have you considered teaching after the MA? At my school, MA students can become teaching assistants. If you have teaching experience before you graduate, you may be able to teach after you graduate? However, job availability may be heavily dependent on your department's situation-- ask students who have recently graduated from your program when you get the chance.

[crazygirl2012]

A master's degree qualifies you to teach at a community college, right? Maybe you could look into that. Lab assistant positions are also good.

[lewin]

While acknowledging that you have to pay the bills, teaching experience counts diddly towards your PhD applications. If you can, find something that will boost your PhD stats like more lab work.

And I've heard that the recent glut of PhD graduates means that community colleges can often hire PhDs, so it's even hard to get a job there with an MA.

[rockandroll]

Thank you guys for your opinions so far.

Lewin00- interesting insight that teaching experience won't really help my applications much. Something to consider. I live in Boston, which obviously has a heavy concentration of schools with Ph.D. students graduating all the time, so it's absolutely true that the teaching positions that master's students are qualified for are begin taken by other, more qualified people now.

Randompsychologist- I appreciate your opinion that it might not be the best time for me to apply. That makes me feel a lot better about delaying my plans by a year. It's been my habit to push myself to do as much as possible in as short a period of time academically, and somehow, I've always succeeded... but it's good to remind myself that I don't HAVE to do that. Sometimes it might be better to value my happiness and sanity over being impressive when it really might not even benefit me.

Crazygirl2012- That's what I'm thinking about doing most of all: teaching community college and/or finding work in a lab somewhere. I would be especially excited to find lab work related to my interests. Does anyone know how to go about doing this? And can you work in a school's lab while not a student there (either the one that I will have just received my master's from, or one that I haven't attended at all)? I just don't know how that works!

[lewin]

Lewin00- interesting insight that teaching experience won't really help my applications much. Something to consider.

Teaching experience barely helps get a tenure-track job too-- overwhelmingly, it's publications that determine whether one gets hired. For teaching during one's PhD, one class is certainly better than none. But two is not necessarily better than one, and three is almost certainly worse. (Too much teaching raises questions about priorities and time management.)

At least, that's the party line in my department.

ETA: The one-in-a-thousand superstar candidate who can teach multiple classes while amassing a dozen journal articles is excepted.

Edited June 28, 2012 by lewin00

[sweetnighter]

To be brutally honest here, the job prospects for having an MA in general psychology are really, really bad.

REALLY BAD.

It would be hard to me to overstate this point. I say this only because I have many friends who graduated from a terminal masters and are struggling to find work. I think it has less to do with the degree per se than it does with the economy. As the economy has soured, the number of folks out there with terminal MAs has risen sharply, while the number of opportunities for them have bottomed out. I know people who have MAs who are quite literally flipping burgers. This is not to say that the same fate awaits you... if you work your connections and find the right person or the right gig, more power to you.

As far as applying to PhDs, you should definitely figure out a situation where you can get your name on a manuscript and get it under review at a reputable journal, even if you're a coauthor. Remember, making money and doing psychological research don't have to happen at the same place. You can work in retail and do your research. There are many possibilities.

Hope I'm not bearing too much bad news... but the thread here would be amiss if somebody read it and didn't at least get the pessimist's perspective.