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PhD Psychology vs Physician Associate

I am having a hard time choosing between these two offers. I very much like medicine and have done psychology all my life. I have graduated with a degree in psychology and an msc in psychology. I applied for phds (funded and non-funded) and got offered some non-funded ones but not any funded ones. I also applied for pgdip physician associate. I passed the phys assos interview and attended the phys associate course from 2017 but almost immediately fell ill (I was ill before going) and so deferred for a year, since then I have been offered a funded PhD to start in Sept 2017. A PhD does sound more impressive but I'm worried it will be boring and jobs after are hard to find. I am not as in love with psychology as I once was. However, I would like to delve more into the area (I am interested in it (alcohol addiction)) and I may want to become a clinical psychologist. But from the small time I attended physician associates it was much more interesting than any psychology I have done but it is a new profession so I am not sure it will last. What would you do?
Original post by JamesManc
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Hi,

From your post it sounds like you're confused! It's difficult when you have to choose between two loves and what you do will affect your career path. The thing with a PhD though is that it is intense and you will focus on one thing for a long period of time so you need to be prepared for that. I would think about it more in terms of the actual topic of the PhD rather than the subject it's in. Also what skills and techniques will you gain/learn and where can that take you in the future? In terms of career you want to think about which one will interest you more and whether you can move out of it at a later point. Maybe take a step back to think about that for a bit before you decide. The other thing to think about is funding. Generally you want to do a funded PhD as it shows that someone is interested in your work and you're capable of attracting funding (and it's great to get paid to study!).
Hi,I'm in the same boat now?May I ask what you ended up doing and what the job prospects are like?
Original post by JamesManc
I am having a hard time choosing between these two offers. I very much like medicine and have done psychology all my life. I have graduated with a degree in psychology and an msc in psychology. I applied for phds (funded and non-funded) and got offered some non-funded ones but not any funded ones. I also applied for pgdip physician associate. I passed the phys assos interview and attended the phys associate course from 2017 but almost immediately fell ill (I was ill before going) and so deferred for a year, since then I have been offered a funded PhD to start in Sept 2017. A PhD does sound more impressive but I'm worried it will be boring and jobs after are hard to find. I am not as in love with psychology as I once was. However, I would like to delve more into the area (I am interested in it (alcohol addiction)) and I may want to become a clinical psychologist. But from the small time I attended physician associates it was much more interesting than any psychology I have done but it is a new profession so I am not sure it will last. What would you do?


Hi,

I'm in the same boat now?

May I ask what you ended up doing and what the job prospects are like?

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