Psychology Majors

[Revolution]

Hello fellow Psychology majors, I have a question. I've been worrying a bit lately about the particular sect(?) of Psychology I have chosen to study and whether or not it's right for what I want to do. Sadly not completely sure what I want to do, which is always fun, but I'm just worrying too much from some things I've heard.

I am currently on track to be getting a BA (Bachelors of Arts) in Psychology. However, I want to go to graduate school, either for a Masters in Counseling or a PHD in Psychology, either general, clinical, I'm not entirely sure, Also not sure exactly which yet, but I am sure I want to do graduate. For careers, I'm not sure what I want to do precisely, I've thought about counseling, possibly doing things in sexuality, family/relationship counseling, eating disorder counseling, or post traumatic counseling for rape victims. I've also thought about doing PhD because I could open up my own practice, and be more involved with research, though I'm not interested in conducting my own as much.

Now, I have heard from some people I should e a BS (Bachelors of Science) if I want to do graduate school, and that no "respectable" graduate school accepts BAs. This is, well, obviously worrying. The reason I chose a BA was not because I was lazy and didn't want to do math, or something stupid like that. I love sociology, family studies, history, and other Humanities subjects that are more associated with the BA that wasn't in the BS curriculum, and wanted a stronger focus in those rather than Biology and Statistics. Will this make it impossible for me to go to graduate school?

Thanks guys, sorry if this is long. Also sorry if this is kind of a US based question because of the education system, but others feel free to reply from to your own knowledge or honestly how it works over there as well. Still can be helpful!

[esfdhtfy]

There is virtually no difference between a B.A. and B.Sc. in terms of gaining admission to graduate school (for 99% of schools). I have never come across a school or specific graduate program that requires a B.A. solely or B.Sc. solely in order to gain admission. What is required, though, is an Honours Degree and accompanying thesis.

[Kate*]

Originally Posted by Coffee❤

Hello fellow Psychology majors, I have a question. I've been worrying a bit lately about the particular sect(?) of Psychology I have chosen to study and whether or not it's right for what I want to do. Sadly not completely sure what I want to do, which is always fun, but I'm just worrying too much from some things I've heard.

I am currently on track to be getting a BA (Bachelors of Arts) in Psychology. However, I want to go to graduate school, either for a Masters in Counseling or a PHD in Psychology, either general, clinical, I'm not entirely sure, Also not sure exactly which yet, but I am sure I want to do graduate. For careers, I'm not sure what I want to do precisely, I've thought about counseling, possibly doing things in sexuality, family/relationship counseling, eating disorder counseling, or post traumatic counseling for rape victims. I've also thought about doing PhD because I could open up my own practice, and be more involved with research, though I'm not interested in conducting my own as much.

Now, I have heard from some people I should e a BS (Bachelors of Science) if I want to do graduate school, and that no "respectable" graduate school accepts BAs. This is, well, obviously worrying. The reason I chose a BA was not because I was lazy and didn't want to do math, or something stupid like that. I love sociology, family studies, history, and other Humanities subjects that are more associated with the BA that wasn't in the BS curriculum, and wanted a stronger focus in those rather than Biology and Statistics. Will this make it impossible for me to go to graduate school?

Thanks guys, sorry if this is long. Also sorry if this is kind of a US based question because of the education system, but others feel free to reply from to your own knowledge or honestly how it works over there as well. Still can be helpful!

Okay, I have my degree already so maybe I can be of some help here
There is virtually no difference between a BA and a BS, it's mostly what your school offers and some schools offer both. I have NOT heard that it makes a difference.

In order to do pretty much anything within psychology you'll need a graduate degree and which one you get depends on what you want to do and what graduate school you get into (some schools house counseling in their education departments and you'll end up with an education degree for example).

PhD's are research based which means that you'll be doing A LOT of research to earn one and most people with PhDs either do research or teach as professors in colleges/universities.

If you want to do counseling, you'll need a counseling license regardless of the degree you have. A PhD alone doesn't allow you to do counseling, you'd need a counseling license as well. The fastest way to counsel people is to get a master's degree in counseling which will prepare you to take the licensing exam in your state, once you have your license you're set to begin counseling! You can also work in private practice with either a couseling or social work license, you don't need a PhD for that. If you aren't sure which exact area/population you want to work with, I would suggest a counseling degree with a broad focus (I'm trying for one in clinical mental health counseling), these will expose you to a variety of populations and areas of intrest to you and you won't have to narrow your intrests, but you can decide to specialize later if you still want to by earning certificates in addition to the degree you would already have.

If you want to be able to do research within your own practice, a PsyD. is another option. It will teach you to do research, but the focus is more counseling/clinical.

I know that was long, I hope it helps, if you have any more questions just ask

[Revolution]

Yes, my college offers both a BS and BA, and if I wanted to switch, I'd have to do it next year in order to avoid the most retaking of classes. But do you really think it'll be fine for graduate school for the BA? Because I really like the major I'm in right now, I love most of the classes, I just like the subjects and how it's taught.

And I'm still split about what exactly I want to do. I'm very into peer education, I'm very into the idea of counseling, I'm fairly into research or at least into helping it. I like a lot of fields. But I have quite a few years to go, so I have time. I just know I want to go beyond the bachelors.

[Kate*]

I haven't heard that a BA is any different than a BS, I would ask your advisor or a few of your professors and see what they think. You can also ask them about what they think you should do. You have plenty of time to decide where exactly you want to go with it, I changed my mind from PhD to PsyD to Master's in my junior year and I still had time. Do some research into what each degree entails in terms of time and required curriculum and see what you love and/or hate about each.

A PsyD will take about 5-6 years
PhD would be about 4-5 years
and a masters will take 2.5-3 years

[esfdhtfy]

Originally Posted by Coffee❤

Yes, my college offers both a BS and BA, and if I wanted to switch, I'd have to do it next year in order to avoid the most retaking of classes. But do you really think it'll be fine for graduate school for the BA? Because I really like the major I'm in right now, I love most of the classes, I just like the subjects and how it's taught.

And I'm still split about what exactly I want to do. I'm very into peer education, I'm very into the idea of counseling, I'm fairly into research or at least into helping it. I like a lot of fields. But I have quite a few years to go, so I have time. I just know I want to go beyond the bachelors.

You could go to Medical School with a Music degree. Put that into perspective while contemplating the difference between a B.A. and B.Sc. in Psychology. Also consider that not every university offers both a B.A. and B.Sc. in Psychology, therefore deeming it unreasonable to put restraints on Psychology graduate programs.