Linguistics to Psychology

8

Hi, I am hope everyone is doing well. I am a non-UK individual with a masters degree in English Linguistics. After thoroughly going through the career prospects, I have decided that I should shift towards Psychology and be a practicing psychologist?. Can anyone please suggest or provide a pathway if this is possible? Thanks.

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Azzy88

Hi, I am hope everyone is doing well. I am a non-UK individual with a masters degree in English Linguistics. After thoroughly going through the career prospects, I have decided that I should shift towards Psychology and be a practicing psychologist?. Can anyone please suggest or provide a pathway if this is possible? Thanks.

As far as I know, to become a practicing (clinical) psychologist, you would typically need a doctorate in Clinical Psychology (doctorate because it can come under PhD or ClinPsyD) in most countries. The doctorate needs to allow you to practice psychology as oppose to research it (a normal PhD).

I am not sure where you intend to practice psychology, so it's a bit up in the air since each country might have their own requirements.

Should you wish to practice in the UK, you typically would need at least a BPS psychology postgrad conversion course (as opposed another bachelor's in psychology) + ClinPsyD. In some cases, you would be recommended to do a few years of wellbeing practitioner work + a master's in clinical psychology before going into the doctorate due to the level of competition.

See the following job profiles for the UK requirements:
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/clinical-psychologist
https://careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/medical/job-profile/clinical-psychologist
https://www.life-pilot.co.uk/job-sectors/medical/job-profile/clinical-psychologist
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/clinical-psychologist
https://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/careers/clinical-psychologist
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles/clinical-psychologist

If you want to go into other fields of psychology (or at least in the UK, since I am most familiar with UK requirements), you would need to be specific.

Reply 2

Azzy88

OP

8

Original post

by MindMax2000

As far as I know, to become a practicing (clinical) psychologist, you would typically need a doctorate in Clinical Psychology (doctorate because it can come under PhD or ClinPsyD) in most countries. The doctorate needs to allow you to practice psychology as oppose to research it (a normal PhD).
I am not sure where you intend to practice psychology, so it's a bit up in the air since each country might have their own requirements.
Should you wish to practice in the UK, you typically would need at least a BPS psychology postgrad conversion course (as opposed another bachelor's in psychology) + ClinPsyD. In some cases, you would be recommended to do a few years of wellbeing practitioner work + a master's in clinical psychology before going into the doctorate due to the level of competition.
See the following job profiles for the UK requirements:
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/clinical-psychologist
https://careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/medical/job-profile/clinical-psychologist
https://www.life-pilot.co.uk/job-sectors/medical/job-profile/clinical-psychologist
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/clinical-psychologist
https://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/careers/clinical-psychologist
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles/clinical-psychologist
If you want to go into other fields of psychology (or at least in the UK, since I am most familiar with UK requirements), you would need to be specific.

Hi, thanks for the detailed response. I am more inclined towards the clinical or maybe behavioral psychology in the UK and want to practice there too because I am not interested in the PhD (academia/research) at all. Could you please guide me further? I would be really grateful.

Reply 3

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Azzy88

Hi, thanks for the detailed response. I am more inclined towards the clinical or maybe behavioral psychology in the UK and want to practice there too because I am not interested in the PhD (academia/research) at all. Could you please guide me further? I would be really grateful.

I would prefer if you speak to a clinical and behavioural psychologist to get a first hand account of what it takes to get into the field, since I'm not in the field myself.

However, your first step would be to get a BPS accredited degree (this is valid in the UK, but I am not entirely sure whether it would be outside of the UK). Whilst you can always do an undergrad in psychology, I think you would find the 1 year postgrad conversion course would be cheaper and quicker. See:
https://portal.bps.org.uk/Accredited-Courses (opt for currently accredited and conversion programmes)
Do note, you can sometimes do a conversion course online, but if you want the UK experience I would recommend doing it at a university.
As far as I know, if the course is accredited, you should more or less cover the same syllabus as you would in any other accredited courses in theory (i.e. which university you do the course at shouldn't matter). In practice, I am not entirely sure whether this would be the case, and acceptance of your application is often a human decision as opposed to a systematic one. This is probably where you would need to get a second opinion for a deeper insight.

Reply 4

Azzy88

OP

8

I am looking into getting the degree from the UK in a face to face program. I looked into some conversion courses but couldn't clarify anything.

Reply 5

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Azzy88

I am looking into getting the degree from the UK in a face to face program. I looked into some conversion courses but couldn't clarify anything.

I looked into some conversion courses but couldn't clarify anything.
Most courses tend to be offline and in person. Unless the course page specifically states it is an online course, it's usually an offline course by default. If you are not completely sure, you can always contact the psychology department of the individual university to clarify - usually it's the postgrad admissions personnel or team that you need to contact.

Reply 6

Azzy88

OP

8

Original post

by MindMax2000

I looked into some conversion courses but couldn't clarify anything.
Most courses tend to be offline and in person. Unless the course page specifically states it is an online course, it's usually an offline course by default. If you are not completely sure, you can always contact the psychology department of the individual university to clarify - usually it's the postgrad admissions personnel or team that you need to contact.

I meant that the program details are clear but future prospects like me doing a conversion course and other individual with a undergraduate and graduate degree in this field would be on different levels with respect job opportunities? Because I have heard that conversion courses aren't really much a thing.

Reply 7

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

22

Original post

by Azzy88

I meant that the program details are clear but future prospects like me doing a conversion course and other individual with a undergraduate and graduate degree in this field would be on different levels with respect job opportunities? Because I have heard that conversion courses aren't really much a thing.

Yeah, I don't think anyone can give you a proper answer about future prospects, because that's not what universities are offering. Future prospects depend on 101 different factors, and stuff like education and grades make up a small part of that. Also, no-one can or would ever guarantee anything - legally they can't and ethically they shouldn't.
It's kind of like asking whether doing this one degree would guarantee me to become a millionaire one day. No-one will ever back that up, otherwise there would be million pound lawsuits on their hands.

All universities can definitely say is that your degree would meet certain requirements set out by certain professional bodies as well as the university's own standards. What happens after that is left up to you. Nothing else is guaranteed.

If you want a better opinion on this, you're better off asking someone who did the conversion course (ideally at the same university that you intend on applying to) and what they do now. Better yet, you should ask practicing clinical or behavioural psychologists who did conversion courses for a second opinion. Another good source would be to ask recruiters for clinical psychologists or admission staff of clinical psychology doctorates what they think of conversion courses.

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