You may call me Master Pabs!

[PabstBlueRibbon]

(you need an account to see links)(you need an account to see links)

'Tis true, you actually can't do anything in the American Psych field until you have a doctorate. And I'm not even remotely interested in clinical work. I'm a researcher and I shifted towards the more horizontal focus of Behavioral Psych, plus I have minor other areas (English, Biology, ESL) and sure enough, they asked me if I wanted to jump into a Doctorate program. Which has a req. of 2 years of clinical practice for the specific degree they had... which I can't get into, because I don't have a doctorate to get into clinical areas.


But in the meantime! I have a Masters, I passed my comprehensive bluebook exam with flying colors, I have the stupid cape and beanie, and a pretty diploma to hang on my wall. So I'm happy anyway.

[Synth Salazzle]

Damn, glad to see you're doing so well.

That's really impressive! Congrats!

[Stocking Anarchy]

con-fucking-gratulations!!

I believe the same holds true for Marine Biology when it comes right down to it. At least I know that i can't get a job without a Masters, and im pretty sure the Masters degree would just get me a wee bit more than minimum wage washing out lab equipment and collecting specimens in the cold wet rain.

[RealisticError]

Congrats! I can only imagine how hard a masters degree in psyche is!

[j03]

Congrats on the achievement!

[Menine]

Congrats! That's awesome!

[sucyshroom]

Congrats! You're what I'm aspiring for . I'm currently working on my Bachelor's in psych and plan to use the Masters to do clinical social work/counseling. Do you think you'd ever go back for your doctorate?

[Hiraeth]

congrats! always heard psych majors horror stories about not being able to land any job, delighted that you've found something that you like to do in that field ^.^

[PabstBlueRibbon]

Thank you guys!


@(you need an account to see links) It was so incredibly frustrating at times, you have no idea. But I'm so thrilled I finished it!

@(you need an account to see links) Y'know, you're right. I have a friend, who themselves is a Culinary Arts graduate, but can't find work in her field either. Her husband is another Marine Biologist, and his study was on phytoplankton if I recall. And he now works on oil rigs handling technical equipment, he's adjusted, but she tells me he didn't go into marine biology to help find oil.

@(you need an account to see links) There's a lot of reading and a lot of writing. But not as much as you'd think, mostly because of the -to me- overdependence on inline citation. So basically you can't have an idea unless you "interpret" it out of someone's earlier work. So long as they managed to have your not-quite-idea no later than 2014....

@(you need an account to see links) @(you need an account to see links) Thank you!

@(you need an account to see links) Oh, the horror stories are true. I'm not working exactly in my field, more that I'm pulling bits of my field into my work. But, in the meantime, they can't stop me preparing literature reviews and building a CV. No one said you had to be in a university to present research for peer-review and journal publication.

@(you need an account to see links) Oh, I have to, but in the meantime, it's quite frustrating to not even be able to turn around and teach the Bachelor's level, which you're supposed to be able to do academically. The field is being difficult and sort of starving it's pure psych Masters.

My personal advice: Cultivate a secondary technical skill, something on the level of a trade that you can also use. If you don't need it, fine, but if you do, it's pretty handy.

My mistake was basically not knowing I needed to do that until I was basically finished and found out I was stuck in "I'm overqualified and not-qualified enough" hell. Right now, I also teach Professional English as a Second Language independently, and take freelance editing work.

Taking a few certificate courses from EdX or Coursera would help broaden your knowledge base and let you stick it on your resume or CV later on as Continuing Education credit. I was originally a General Psych major, but I added stuff out of several other fields as free electives, or just made a point of taking them, including classes in Anthropology, Biology (neurology and chemistry) and Business (human resource management and business organization) for me to pretty comfortably work in several different fields in Psychology or at least be able to craft specific resumes. Since I'd always figured academia would be where I ended up and I wanted to be able to teach effectively.

This might sound strange, but if your goal is clinical social work/counseling, consider also becoming a Social Worker, because their job opportunities are more open. But if not, do get to know how that field works, because then you'll be able to make stronger suggestions and recommendations if you're doing counseling and you'll know who your patients need to contact. Additionally, the best interview techniques I've run across comes out of Psychiatric Nursing, so if you can nab an elective in it or ask to audit one of those classes (just talk to the professor about an audit, most of them are cool about it) do it. It will help a lot for you to refine and practice how to get desired outcomes in your counseling.