Why do/did you want to pursue graduate study in psychology?

[VentureIntoNothingness]

After a long conversation with my mentor, I have been convinced that I have been trying too hard on "getting into a grad program" instead of actually having figured out what I want to do and why I want to do it. 

I am just curious how you figured out what you want to do and why you want to do what you want to do. I wonder if you can share your motivation, your thought processes in making this decision of applying for/doing graduate school. Have you thought about what you want to do after your grad school? What is it? (especially for those clinical psych/quant psych people)

Thanks. 

[Jay's Brain]

Everybody has a story of their own to answer this question.

For me, there's been various things that have led me to come to terms with what I want to do. The most basic one is that I'm interested in what I am pursuing. I'm interested in memory disorders and the way that mnemonic processes affects our cognition. My undergraduate degree was in neuroscience and mental health, which intersected very nicely with what I will be doing in September for my Master's program - clinical neuropsychology. 

Less academically, I'm interested in pursuing psychology as a career because I believe that a career as a clinical psychologist gives me an opportunity to help people find themselves. As mentioned, my interest is in memory. More specifically, I am interested in autobiographical memory, which describes the cumulation of moments that we experience across our lifespan. These moments allow us to unlock who we are as individuals, and I want to help others find themselves through in the process.

To be honest, serendipity has played a big role in how I found this field as a direction I want to pursue. It wasn't until my undergraduate honours thesis that my eyes were opened to such opportunities. My supervisor was a great source of motivation and support. And through my thesis with him, I learned that speaking with people, regardless of their age or health, gives you different impressions and views of the world that you may never perceive. I realized that this was something I wanted to do. I wanted to pursue a career where I can learn more about the behaviours of others through research, and be able to see my results translated into helping others. Clinical work and research complements each other and I'll be very satisfied pursuing a career that allows me to do both.

[mb712]

Like probably a lot of people, I was first interested in clinical

psychology when I started undergrad and thought about grad school (plus I've wanted to be a therapist since I was in middle school). I transitioned to political psychology because of an awesome research experience that I kind of just fell into. Nobody had told me I could combine my love for psychology and my political junkie side into a career, so I was ecstatic to figure this out, haha. Once I got involved in research I knew I wanted to make it my career. When I realized I didn't care about the sacrifices I would need to make in order to have it as a career, I knew I had made the right choice.

Broadly, metacognition has to be one of, if not the, coolest evolutionary developments ever, IMHO. Why would you NOT want to involve metacognition in every aspect of your life?

[_kita]

I have no idea why I was initially 'interested' in psychology. I was 7 when I declared I'd be a "psychologist who's a writer." But, it never waned. I was originally interested in clinical/counseling with children. As I conducted undergrad research and took biology classes, I became more interested in neuropsychology, etc.

 

Upon graduation, my creds weren't where I needed them, and life circumstances, I ended up working with psychopathology. I liked my clients, but realized I am so not cut out for just counseling. So, decided I wanted to go back to the research roots.

 

In short, I've liked it all, and got a bit scattered in the center. But through teaching gigs, research gigs, and realizing I'm not interested in counseling, decided I'd rather research what I've been hands-on treating. 

[VulpesZerda]

Yep, I also wanted to start in clinical or counseling, and had that idea in mind since high school or possibly earlier. Once I faced the reality of what it's like to work in that kind of setting (NOT cut out for it) I asked my advisor, what on earth will I do now? I wanted grad school for job security but wasn't sure if a PhD was right for me or if I could even get in. In research methods, when my professor said we could do a project on any topic we wanted, I found my niche in social/health psych. After that I totally went nuts about the topics and became the most motivated student ever. I found some career options that looked appealing to me - public health research in a government setting and teaching being two of them. And now here I am, about to begin! I haven't questioned my career goals much, but sometimes I do wonder if I'm crazy for going for the PhD. We shall see.

[_kita]

Yep, I also wanted to start in clinical or counseling, and had that idea in mind since high school or possibly earlier. Once I faced the reality of what it's like to work in that kind of setting (NOT cut out for it) I asked my advisor, what on earth will I do now? I wanted grad school for job security but wasn't sure if a PhD was right for me or if I could even get in. In research methods, when my professor said we could do a project on any topic we wanted, I found my niche in social/health psych. After that I totally went nuts about the topics and became the most motivated student ever. I found some career options that looked appealing to me - public health research in a government setting and teaching being two of them. And now here I am, about to begin! I haven't questioned my career goals much, but sometimes I do wonder if I'm crazy for going for the PhD. We shall see.

 

You may be crazy if you don't. ;-)

 

I have a friend in my GAship who is going into practice first. He's a whiz and lover of statistics and research. We both weep over what will be his lack of research involvement as he explores that dynamic... and I fully expect him to be applying within two years to grad schools.

[FinallyAccepted]

For me, I actually didn't initially go into psychology because I didn't want to treat people. I didn't know what else to do with psychology, and I don't think early advising in college did me any favors. My undergrad is in social studies education with a special endorsement (like a minor) to teach psychology. After 8 years of teaching AP Psychology in high school and a masters in general psychology, I've been accepted into a social psychology PhD program. It was a very roundabout way of doing it, but for the first time in awhile, I'm really happy. Optimistic even (which isn't normally my style).

 

I got into psychology because the studies we learned about were so fascinating, and when I took the implicit association test and realized there were unconscious biases that affected my behavior, I was hooked. I just didn't know what to do with psychology until it was too late. I want to help people, I just don't want to do it on a one-on-one therapy scale. If I can add to the existing literature about eliminating bias, increasing prosocial behavior, etc. and come up a with a technique or something that is practical to use in many settings, that would be pretty great.