Becoming a Psychologist

attackemus
Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:57:30 +0000

In search for the best route to being a therapist/ professor, I’ve decided I want to go for a Ph.D and maybe a MSW before that. What I don’t know is if, to be a therapist, you have to get your Ph.D in clinical psychology, or if social or personality psychology work as well. From the research I’ve done, it seems that the clinical psychology route is what best prepares you, in terms of psychotherapy and psychopathology, but I haven’t figured out if clinical psychology is the only program that offers training in psychotherapy.

On the MSW subject, I was just curious whether it’s recommended to get this as well, or if a Ph.D in some form of psychology is sufficient and/or better. I know that the competition to get into clinical/social psychology is ridiculous, average acceptance rates hovering around 8-12%, so it seems that having a MSW would be a good safety net to have if I don’t get accepted to any Ph.D programs.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
Evan