But I have no idea where to start. I intend to be studying in Australia. Are there any psych students on this board who feel like a chat? I will also be making my enquiries at the local unis regarding the finer points, but just after some general thoughts and feedback. - what sort of job are you looking for - what age did you begin study - how many years do you intend to study - how do you support yourself financially while studying - did you drop out and if so, why - why are you interested in psychology and which aspect are you interested in - what qualification are you aiming for and the end of your study - what is the best avenue to get into uni with only a minimal high school final year pass grade. I'm confident i have the intelligence and people skills for this level of study ( 142 IQ.. for what it matters) but i never really turned up to school much.. and that was over 12 years ago regardless, so i'm not sure how to approach the whole thing. I'm mostly interested in feedback from people who have studied in a western country, especially Aust, but all comments are very welcome. Thanks Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Hi Deej. Studying psychology can be good or bad depending on what you want to do with that education. The field is very large and has many different areas of specialization. If you're wanting to go into the psychology field and actually make a decent living you'll need an advanced degree - jobs don't pay all that great with just an undergraduate degree in psych. I received my undergraduate degree in general psychology with a minor in biology. Right now I'm working on my masters in health psychology in a research track focus. I also spent a year studying applied cognition and neuroscience as well. Now to your questions: I'm looking at finding a research job such as a research associate in a psychiatry department. Or if I find a decent opening - teach at a community college (two year institution) while I work on my subsequent degrees. I started going to college right after highschool, I was 18. However, at that point I was majoring in art and design. It wasn't until I went through a few years in the U.S. Navy that I got out and returned to study psychology - I've always been fascinated by the brain. I started back to college in spring of 2003, I was 27. I'll probably eventually get my Ph.D. but not right now. First I plan on going for a second undergrad degree in biology and a second masters in neurobiology or neuroscience. After that I may go ahead and get my Ph.D. in either Behavioral Neuroscience or Neurobiology - I haven't decided yet. Which ever way I choose I decided a long time ago that I didn't want to do counseling or be a clinician of any sort. For a long while I worked outside jobs part time. Just this past summer I got on as a research assistant at the university - it doesn't pay much at all but between that and loans I get by. I started in 1994 but after a year and a half I entered into the military and didn't get a chance to start back again until about 7 years later. Looking back now - while the military was a great life experience - if I had to do over again I'd go to medical school and specialize in neurology. I'm interesting in some aspects of cognitive psychology but primarily interested in psychophysiology (a crucial part of my thesis involves cortisol analysis) and biological psychology. As I said before I'll eventually get my Ph.D. but I intend to focus on primarily research. I'm not sure how the setup is in Australia - love your country btw (visited Perth back in 1998) - but here once you graduate highschool your grades there only matter if you're wanting to get into some pretty high profile universities. I took a different route - I went first to a two year college and then transferred to a four year university. My advice is to check out websites of psychological organizations - look at what jobs are out there in psychology and what you think that you would want to do as a career. If you want to make a difference in people's lives on a meager salary - be a clinician. If you want to help young minds grow - be a professor. If you want to just make good money - go into industrial/organizational psychology (they usually get the biggest paychecks straight out of college). Hope that information helped a bit. If you have any more questions I'll do my best to answer them.
Thanks for taking the time to reply Squid, you have helped get my cogs turning! I've always been fascinated by the brain and how it relates to consciousness and perception. However, at this point I probably don't know enough to know what I want to know more about! I'm definately more interested in human behavior and interaction than actual biology and neuroscience, so I think this below applies to me.. ...However, what are you classing as "meager"? I always assumed clinicians made good money. Well that's all relative I guess, considering I'm currently working a labour job in a factory Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I do know I don't want to be a social worker, they get paid diddlysquat and have to deal with some very broken people with often no real chance of recovery, I don't think my spirit could take that on a daily basis. I feel I could make a bigger difference with a better education working with patients who come to me through choice rather than those brought to me. Hehehe.. same. Funnily enough, on the radio at work tonight they were talking about our STAT test system, which is apparently what you take as a substitute for yr12 (final year) scores.. Heheh, I love synchronicity. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Anyways, thank you for sharing your aspirations and time.. You have definately shown me I have a lot more I need to ask, however I will hold off for now until I've looked a bit further into it myself so I'm not wasting your time asking googleable questions! Cheers mate! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No problem Deej, glad to help. When I was talking about the "meager salary" of a clinician, it was in comparison to other positions which require similar amounts of time and training. A licensed psychologist, obviously, holds a Ph.D. - they've done their dissertation, their practicum and internist work at usually at least 2 or 3 different locations working under licensed psychologists or psychiatrists. Don't get me wrong, here in the U.S. they average around $60,000 (that's about $75, 923 in Australia). However that is the average, usually straight out of school you make much less - according to the APA with under 5 years of experience it's closer to around $50000 and it varies by location. Most private practices and hospitals pay the best. However, I can't really talk to much, research pays squat. Starting out at universities I'd probably make around $48,000 for a Ph.D. level position but it also varies. Government jobs and private research institutions pay the most with an average starting salary of about $650000 and a median range from $77000 - $85000 for 2-4 years of experience. Now, the I/O group makes a median of about $110,000 (that's about $139,000 Aus.) at private consulting firms and about $95,000 in the industry working for a business. Overall the pay isn't too bad for clinicians and researchers, we definitely have better salaries than social workers and it isn't like my chosen area (research) is all that strenuous, however, I still think that for all the time and hard work we put into our degrees we should earn a bit more than what we do.
Yeah its funny isn't it.. I could make more money than that working in the mines in remote South Australia at the moment! But then, I'd be away from friends and family, working 12 hour shifts and probably get buried alive Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! So really, you have to assess the *worth* of a job, not just the income. If you get paid a good living for doing something you enjoy that gives you satisfaction, then that is infinitely more valuable than an extra 10k or so.. Working 10 years in mind numbing factory jobs has taught me that Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
