Going to an M.A. program in sociology...want to eventually do counseling psychology

[sociologia-psicologia]

I was recently accepted into the M.A. program in sociology at Texas Woman's University. I will be emphasizing in social psychology, however, my major in my undergrad was sociology and my minor was in psychology. My psychology GPA was a 3.66, I took abnormal, social, personality, history/ systems, general, developmental. I have a stats course from the math department and a stats course in the sociology department as well as a research methods course in sociology. My major GPA (sociology) was a 3.70.

 

With this being said, is it hard or near impossible to graduate from a master's program in sociology to go into a counseling psychology Ph.D. program?

[I/O The Derry-O]

I don't think it matters if your masters was in an unrelated field since students are capable of being admitted to Ph.D. programs right from undergrad. The main thing schools might look for is that you completed those core psych courses from your undergrad. Identify what programs you want to apply to and see if they require any additional psych prerequisites beyond the courses you have taken in undergrad

 

I would imagine that not many, if any, of your courses from your masters program will carry over to the Ph.D. program though so keep that in mind because spending 2 years towards a masters degree and then an additional 5+ years towards a Ph.D. is quite a long time to be in grad school. Of course, you did mention your program is a concentration in social psych so I may be wrong about your courses not transferring. Hope this helps and best of luck with your endeavors.

[sociologia-psicologia]

I don't think it matters if your masters was in an unrelated field since students are capable of being admitted to Ph.D. programs right from undergrad. The main thing schools might look for is that you completed those core psych courses from your undergrad. Identify what programs you want to apply to and see if they require any additional psych prerequisites beyond the courses you have taken in undergrad

 

I would imagine that not many, if any, of your courses from your masters program will carry over to the Ph.D. program though so keep that in mind because spending 2 years towards a masters degree and then an additional 5+ years towards a Ph.D. is quite a long time to be in grad school. Of course, you did mention your program is a concentration in social psych so I may be wrong about your courses not transferring. Hope this helps and best of luck with your endeavors.

 

I assumed that if I were to be admitted into a Ph.D. program in counseling psychology, that my M.A. courses wouldn't shed any of the course requirements off of the Ph.D. I was lucky enough that when I took social psychology, I took it in the sociology department in my undergrad, and the director of the psychology department allowed for that course to count to my minor. Since it is a hybrid of both sociology and psychology, the whole "slippery slope" analogy didn't have an any affect on her decision. I would think that completing graduate-level coursework and doing well in it would really strengthen one's application. Not only do I have the psychology courses, with very good grades (A's), but I would have a master's degree with a thesis. Quantitative and qualitative measurements, research methods and design would be learned. These are things that regardless if you are measuring poverty in a urban area or schizo-affective disorder, correlation coefficients are used the same way.

[I/O The Derry-O]

You're right, and I agree that having success at the master's degree level in any program (especially another social science) will reflect favorably on you as a candidate for a counseling psych Ph.D. program. But back to your question:

 

"With this being said, is it hard or near impossible to graduate from a master's program in sociology to go into a counseling psychology Ph.D. program?"

 

I would say it is neither hard, nor impossible to do it and I think by responding to my previous post, in a way, you answered your own question. You will have a solid foundation following your master's that can definitely strengthen your application for a Ph.D. program in Counseling. 

 

My comments about the M.A. courses not transferring was more of a "heads up" comment as I know people who have had to spend an additional 5 years in grad school after their masters because their Ph.D. program did not accept their master's courses.