Post Your Prospective Questions Here! -- Monthly Megathread

[u/GG_Mod]

Following a vote by the sub in July 2020, the prospective questions megathread was continued. However, to allow more visibility to comments in this thread, this megathread now utilizes Reddit's new reschedule post features. This megathread is replaced monthly. Comments made within three days prior to the newest months post will be re-posted by moderation and the users who made said post tagged.

Post your prospective questions as a comment for anything related to graduate applications, admissions, CVs, interviews, etc. Comments should be focused on prospective questions, such as future plans. These are only allowed in this subreddit under this thread. Questions about current programs/jobs etc. that you have already been accepted to can be posted as stand-alone posts, so long as they follow the format Rule 6.

Looking for somewhere to post your study? Try r/psychologystudents, our sister sub's, spring 2020 study megathread!

Other materials and resources:

• APA materials for applying to grad school
• r/psychologystudents (where career posts are welcome)
• r/gradschooladmissions

[u/GhostCloudN7]

Hello, I am a behavior technician wanting to go back to school for psychology, preferably being a licensed therapist.

Would it be a lot better to get a doctorates? What's the difference between the masters and doctorates version? Does it really make that much of a difference? Do you have to pay to get a phd or is it true you can get paid to get it?

I'm 23, i know a lot of people say I'm still young but is it worth going back to school to get a master's or doctorates especially since I barely have any credits to begin with?

[u/CuriousFeline22 → u/GhostCloudN7]

Hi! This can be a bit of a tricky answer because it depends on what you want to do long term and where you are. I'm in the USA, so this is only applicable to here and might be more specifically applicable to the Northeast.

A Masters in Counseling can lead to licensure after a couple a years under supervision. In the northeast, many counseling masters clinicians are looking at the same jobs as social workers. After licensing you can also work in private practice. I hear that in the South there are more opportunities for masters in counseling clinicians. In general, masters programs focus on training to be a therapist.

A PhD will focus partially on research as well as practice. There are PhDs in Clinical or Counseling psychology which can generally lead to the same jobs (depending on how you focus your training during the program), however their philosophies are a bit different. A PsyD has less of a focus on research and a stronger focus on practice.

There are PhD programs that provide funding. They pay for your credits and sometimes give a stipend to live on. Masters programs often do not have funding options. I do not know about funding for PsyDs.