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Clinical Psychology

Hello,

I’ve planned on becoming a clinical psychologist for awhile now. I’ve been offered a course at the university in which I wanna attend to study Psychology with clinical psychology and a placement year.

I was wondering what is a career in clinical psychology really like? What age did you finish becoming a qualified clinical psychologist? What were the exams like in university, did it contain a lot of maths, science etc? Do you have regrets of becoming a clinical psychologist? What were the courses like? Do you have enough time to have a social life?
Can't answer all your questions but I'll answer what I can, I'm in my second year of a psychology undergrad degree.

To become a clinical psychologist you need to do postgraduate qualifications - in the form of a clinical psychology doctorate (DclinPsy) which takes 3 years to complete. To get onto the doctoral programme you need to have an undergraduate degree accredited by the BPS (British Psychological Society) which is usually 3yrs (4 if you have a placement year), after which a majority (it is not compulsory) will do a masters degree (usually 1year), the Doctorate also requires at least a year of doing relevant work experience (paid) So, at the very minimum you're looking at 7years to become a psychologist, not including the year after finishing the Doctorate you become a 'trainee' of sorts. However, it's important to note that most people applying for the Doctorate will have many more years of experience than just one.

I can only speak for undergraduate psychology but there's a decent amount of biology in certain units (Biopsychology/neuropsychology), you don't do straight maths though, maths comes in the form of statistics, however you use a computer programme (SPSS or Excel usually) to do calculations and such
(edited 5 years ago)
Very good advice above. The other thing to bear in mind is that DClinPsy courses are incredibly competitive - many psychology graduates are produced each year, many of whom want to become clinical psychologists. But the competition is so fierce is that only a few of the very best will. So if you embark on a degree in psychology, you may very well end up doing something other than clinical. In other words, have a back-up plan or two.
Reply 3
Original post by itsokamix
Can't answer all your questions but I'll answer what I can, I'm in my second year of a psychology undergrad degree.

To become a clinical psychologist you need to do postgraduate qualifications - in the form of a clinical psychology doctorate (DclinPsy) which takes 3 years to complete. To get onto the doctoral programme you need to have an undergraduate degree accredited by the BPS (British Psychological Society) which is usually 3yrs (4 if you have a placement year), after which a majority (it is not compulsory) will do a masters degree (usually 1year), the Doctorate also requires at least a year of doing relevant work experience (paid) So, at the very minimum you're looking at 7years to become a psychologist, not including the year after finishing the Doctorate you become a 'trainee' of sorts. However, it's important to note that most people applying for the Doctorate will have many more years of experience than just one.

I can only speak for undergraduate psychology but there's a decent amount of biology in certain units (Biopsychology/neuropsychology), you don't do straight maths though, maths comes in the form of statistics, however you use a computer programme (SPSS or Excel usually) to do calculations and such


Thank you that honestly helped a lot. How many years of experience would I roughly need to get hired as a clinical psychologist in the NHS?
Original post by A-I833
Thank you that honestly helped a lot. How many years of experience would I roughly need to get hired as a clinical psychologist in the NHS?


(just a note I'm no expert on this so idk if this info is 100% correct, feel free to correct me)

Assuming you mean after you're qualified? The majority of the Doctorate is placement based, so you'll already be working in the NHS in order to qualify in the first place. You don't really need experience after you've don't the DclinPsy, aside from your trainee year after you graduate (As far as I'm aware anyway)
Reply 5
Original post by itsokamix
(just a note I'm no expert on this so idk if this info is 100% correct, feel free to correct me)

Assuming you mean after you're qualified? The majority of the Doctorate is placement based, so you'll already be working in the NHS in order to qualify in the first place. You don't really need experience after you've don't the DclinPsy, aside from your trainee year after you graduate (As far as I'm aware anyway)


Yeah that seems about right, thank you so much. Your information actually helped a ton!

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