Psychology pre-req at community college

[sowhat59]

I earned my master's degree from a well known graduate school in 2010.
After working in my field since then, I realized that pursuing a career in psychology is really what I want.
Although I have a master's degree, I don't think it's possible for me to get into a psy doctoral program.
So I looked at several graduate level programs and their application requirement, which include some pre-requisite.
Since I've always been interested in psy, I read some books but was able to take only 1 psy course in my undergrad which was about "substance abuse." - not on the pre-req list.
My goal is to earn a doctoral degree and continue researching and writing. I love interacting with people and listen to their issues but I'm a bit stronger on the scholastic side.

Do I need to go back to undergrad and take Introductory Psychology, basic Statistics class and such?
I looked at undergrad psy programs in my area but due to the CA budget cuts, most schools don't accept post-bacc student, which leaves me with pretty much one option to take the pre-req at community college.
In a case that I do need pre-req, would classes from community college hurt my chance of admission to a grad program?

What if my GRE and Psy subject test score is pretty high? Would community college still look bad?

And how about online course? 

My GRE from undergrad is 3.6/4.0 and grad is 3.9/4.0 btw

[PsychGirl1]

You should take the classes you need, either online (at a reputable place, like Harvard Extension School) or at a local community college. You should also consider doing your MA or MS in psych, even though you already have another master's- strongly recommend a mentor-based program that requires a thesis. Most PhD programs (not all) will let you waive your thesis if it is a quality thesis, and sometimes some classes as well, so you won't be losing as much time as you would expect.

 

You will also need excellent GRE and GRE psych scores, research experience in the area you want to go to, and if you want to go clinical, 1-2 clinical experiences. 

[MsDarjeeling]

No it will not look bad if you do your pre-reqs at a community college.  You'll look like the rest of us who went that route.....like you wanted to save money =)  I can't speak to online programs since I've always done brick and mortar schools.  However I can say that if you do not have your undergrad or Master's in psych then yes you absolutely will need to have those pre-reqs to gain admission to a doctoral program.  Your GRE and Psych subject scores would be viewed separately and I am not aware of schools that take those instead of requiring pre-reqs. 

[sowhat59]

Thank you for the advice. 

What's your opinion on research experience?

I spoke with someone at one of the high ranked program, who told me research experience is far more important than completing prereq and extra psy courses. 

Do you agree or disagree?

 

I've always been interested in research but couldn't get a position as I don't have any science related educational background. 

It's pretty frustrating for me. 

 

Do you think if I take enough psy courses, that would somewhat balance out my lack of research experience? 

[SunDevil22]

I got my psychology degree from Arizona State University (obvious?). Although I went to the brick and mortar campus, they offer their entire psychology degree as an online option and it's just as accredited and taught by the same faculty as it would be if you took them on campus at Arizona State.  You would be able to take all of the pre-reqs online.

The plus to this is that you could get your pre-reqs quicker because the online classes are set up on a 4-term system over two semesters, so each class is 7.5 weeks long. The accelerated format can help/harm you, so you might want to think it through.

 

The downside, however, is that the online option is expensive, at $460 per credit hour. I do recommend the program based on my interacting with the professors at the campus as an on-campus student and my dealings with people who were solely online students, but only if you want convenience and the name of a relatively well known state school. Otherwise, it'd be perfectly fine to do it at a community college, I believe.

Edited January 23, 2014 by SunDevil22

[PsychGirl1]

Thank you for the advice. 

What's your opinion on research experience?

I spoke with someone at one of the high ranked program, who told me research experience is far more important than completing prereq and extra psy courses. 

Do you agree or disagree?

 

I've always been interested in research but couldn't get a position as I don't have any science related educational background. 

It's pretty frustrating for me. 

 

Do you think if I take enough psy courses, that would somewhat balance out my lack of research experience? 

 

You need the prereq courses to be considered, but you'll get accepted because of your research experience. So research is much more important than courses, but you need both to some degree. Courses will not balance out lack of research experience.

 

You can try emailing professors whose research interest you and volunteer while taking courses and working (I did it! So it can be done). You don't necessarily have to be a formal, FT RC/RA in order to get research experience, although it will help.