What is the requirements to become a psychologist?

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In order to pave your way to a successful career, you need to follow the educational requirements to become a psychologist efficiently. You need to finish a bachelor’s degree program then you have to move on to either a master’s or a doctoral degree program. You can choose between a Master of Arts or Master of Sciences. Every master’s program will require you to pass a course, finish a project, and compose a written work after which you present it for official grading.

General Requirements

Once you get your master’s or doctoral degree, you will be able to apply for schools, business, mental health institutions, government and any other facilities that might require a psychologist. Once you have reached a PhD state, you can obtain it with clinical psychology or you can get a Psy.D. The PhD program deals more with theory while the Psy.D, you will learn more about the practical side of the profession of psychology. The requirements to become a psychologist in regards to academic performance usually are a 3.5 GPA in your undergraduate course. Your letters of reference need to be quite convincing as well. In graduate school, you will need to have a high GPA.

Time of Realization

Fulfilling the requirements to become a psychologist takes a relatively long period of time. You can spend up to eight years getting a PhD in psychology apart from finishing a proper bachelor’s degree, which will take you additional time. A master’s degree can be completed in a maximum of three years, if you want to sign up for a doctoral degree (either a PhD or a Psy.D); you will have to spend another six years at the most, though different schools might have different requirements. Depending on the place where you are applying for work, you might not need a master’s or a doctorate. All in all, if you have a solid ten years of education preparing for your profession, you can be sure that you will land a job without problems.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests the average for a psychologist’s yearly wage was $69,280 in 2012.

Job Application

If you want to deal with clinical psychology, you will have to get a PhD. When you do, you will be prepared to work in a professional environment and it is the primary measure by which employers will hire you. Apart from the PhD, you can apply for many positions through your master’s degree. There are plenty of psychologists and even college professors who have acquired their position through master’s program alone. Working is one thing, but being fully registered and officially recognized as a psychologist is something else. It requires possession of a degree, supervised experience in a professional environment, passed written and oral examinations.

You will do well if you learn the processes in which you will have to go through in order to be ready for work right after your academic studies are over. It will save you time and the whole learning process will prove to be much more productive for you.