PhD or Masters for Clinical Psychology

I was wondering whether you need a PhD or Masters to be Clinical Psychologist

You will more than likely need both, if not 2 PhDs/doctorates!

To get on the DClinPsych doctoral course most people will have an Msc, and some will already have a PhD before then being accepted on to and completing the clinical psychology doctorate.

Reply 2

x__justmyluck

Experience is more important.

Reply 3

Sakura-Chan

Good luck getting onto a PhD course without a Masters. Virtually impossible :nopity:

(edited 10 years ago)

both -.-

Original post by Sakura-Chan

Good luck getting onto a PhD course without a Masters. Virtually impossible :nopity:

do you really think this? I know people who got on without a masters within a couple of years of being out of their undergrad and when I spoke to my careers service they said some courses really want a masters (as some are more research focussed and others more practical) whereas others wont mind - I'm not trying to say you're wrong, just curious since it's the career direction I want to head for

Reply 6

Sakura-Chan

Original post by doodle_333

Unless you have a ton of research experience, a fantastic CV, a few publications under your belt, an amazing grade at undergrad and a mind blowing PhD proposal, you will really struggle. Especially if you want to go straight from undergraduate into clinical psych.

Unless you want to fund/pay to do it yourself, rather than be funded/paid, that is.

Also, in psychology if it's a 'research focused' thing, that goes hand-in-hand with being 'practical' most of the time.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 7

marie08

If you want to be a clinical psychologist you'll have to get onto a training course (DClinPsy) - you don't need a PhD for this (although a few people applying may have one the majority of applicants won't). You don't need a masters either but there will be many other people applying who do have a masters, but experience is a lot more important. There's a thread on the clinpsy forums which gives an idea of the kind of experience that people had before they got onto a DClinPsy course and it really can take a number of years to build up enough experience so that's the really important thing to focus on if you want to be a clinical psychologist. Some people who just had a good undergraduate degree got on training because they had many years of varied experience so it is possible to get on without a masters or a PhD (although either one would strengthen an application)

Reply 8

iammichealjackson

Original post by Sakura-Chan

Good luck getting onto a PhD course without a Masters. Virtually impossible :nopity:

Woops, thats what i did (or am doing). Have applied for a 3+1 phd (masters included) and just 3 years for another one.

Reply 9

Sakura-Chan

Original post by iammichealjackson

Woops, thats what i did (or am doing). Have applied for a 3+1 phd (masters included) and just 3 years for another one.

And how is that working out for you so far?

Reply 10

iammichealjackson

Original post by Sakura-Chan

And how is that working out for you so far?

Well im only at the pre-interview stage. This is not for clinical psychology might i add. Applying for Phd+Masters is quite normal in one go, however, most of the available funding is for 3 year phds so i what might happen is either: (a) get rejected, (b) get offer for 3 year phd, (c) get offer for four year phd+masters, and (d) they can tell me to pay for my own masters first at the uni then if successfully completed they will offer a phd.

Reply 11

Sakura-Chan

Original post by iammichealjackson

I never said anything about 1+3. You'd be doing a Masters before the PhD, same difference.

What are you applying for? Let me know how you get on, I'd be interesting to know the outcome :smile:

Still, in the nicest way possible I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, though. Especially not to get onto a funded PhD straight away. If I had a pound for every person I knew who tried that and got knocked back in the past two years alone, I would be a rich lady.

ALSO, just out of interest, what uni are you at? I just read another post of yours which said that you're in your third year, but you are yet to write a lab report? :curious:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 12

iammichealjackson

Original post by Sakura-Chan

I never said anything about 1+3. You'd be doing a Masters before the PhD, same difference.

What are you applying for? Let me know how you get on, I'd be interesting to know the outcome :smile:

cambridge. We don't do lab reports (well that depends now). What are they? I have done projects, but they tend to be quite long 3000-5000 words. What is a lab report- do you go to a lab and write up an experiment you've done? What are these experiments (and labs?)? I do mixed social sciences degree (although mostly psychology now).

I know that i am probably going to get rejected- im planning to apply for some research assistant jobs when i graduate and do some open university (not psychology).

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 13

Sakura-Chan

Original post by iammichealjackson

'Lab reports' at my uni are written in the same format as a journal article would be, or like a mini dissertation. They are/were about 3000-4000 words long, and about an experiment you carried out in practical workshops. Topics were really varied because we had a new assignment to do every two weeks! :eek:

Again, I only asked because I'm interested. I knew a girl at a Welsh uni (doing straight psychology) that never did a lab report at uni, never did stats, and then failed so hard at her dissertation. It's weird how there's so much variation between different unis teaching the same course.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 14

iammichealjackson

Original post by Sakura-Chan

Oh, i guess i have done things similar to lab reports then! Did you have to collect data for a new assignment every two weeks (or do you just have to analyse something you're given)? We get more essays then anything else.

Reply 15

nunugab

It is not essential to do a masters or a PhD before applying for clinical training although, contrary to popular belief, it does help. Firstly, if a university uses a point based system in their application process then there's an obvious benefit to those who have postgrad qualifications. Secondly, in order to get really good experience e.g. good AP or RA posts, a masters can be very useful. It distinguishes you from other candidates and is likely to help you during interviews as well (especially if your masters emphasizes building clinical competence). However of course one can get on to these posts without doing a postgrad but it's quite competitive and some people struggle securing AP posts in particular.

To summarize, it is possible to go for experience after your undergrad and secure clinical training, but some may say that those with masters find securing AP posts or RA posts much easier than those who just have an undergraduate degree (especially if you get a 1st in your undergrad and a good mark in your masters).