PhD in Psychology

[mommyof8]

Hi all I am new here and have lots of questions.

First off i have 0 credits to start with and would like to get a Phd in Pyschology. I know that it is going to be a long road and I am prepared for it. I have been searching and looking into schools and getting as much info as I can.
First off is getting my Bachelors degree. Would it really matter if I got a BA in Psych or should I get a BS in Psych in order to get my Masters?

TESC only offers a BA while Excelsior offers both. since I live in NJ I would prefer to enroll in TESC. I would like to test out as much as i can and then fill it in with classes (aleks, tesc,etc..)

After my BA/BS I need to get my Masters. In looking at schools, I was interested in going to Liberty online, but they are not CACREP certified. So I did a search and found out that Capella online is. Now I searched their site and they offer a BS in Psych and a MS in Psych. Does anyone now if they would accept an BA in Psych in order to get their MS in Psych? All their site says about getting your Ms is that you need a Bachelors does not specify BS or BA. I plan on writing up my road map to my degree and will post it so all of you who have walked this road may help. Any advice (tests to take, courses to take) ANYTHING would be greatly appreciated.

[mommyof8]

Ok so, so far I decided to get my BS from Liberty online. They do accept clep, dsst, Institutional Challenge exam (ICE) (has anyone heard of this before?), Ace and Excelsior Exams. They do not accept pass/fail grades though.

Does Ace give your grade or do they write pass/fail on your transcript? For the clep and dsst tests do I have to use ace for that or can I just have the grades sent to the school. Sorry if these have been answered before but this forum is so big and I did try searching.

[creationstory]

honest opinion..
psych is very interesting..
phd in psych is a waste of time...
most people can't find jobs in the field its over saturated...

[creative]

Welcome! When you take a Clep or Dsst you are prompted by the computer at the test center where you want the score sent. You type in the code of the school that you want the score sent to. Once your school receives the score they will decide what grades/credit distribution to give you according to their particular policies. Hope this makes sense.

[creative]

Another forum that might be helpful for you is DegreeInfo Distance Learning - online degree forum - That forum has people who go to many different DL schools such as Liberty.

[irnbru]

Hi Mo8,

Welcome to the forum. I hope some of this information is useful.

Firstly, there is no requirement to choose a college, yet. Instead, you can build up your college credits with the aim of enrolling within one year of graduation in order to minimise costs and also to give you time to investigate all your options. Although I cannot speak from experience, with respect to progressing from a bachelors to a masters degree in Psychology, you would probably want to graduate with a bachelors in Psychology, having taken at least a minimum of graded, core psychology courses (and Excelsior's ECEs may also be an option, here) from a regionally accredited (RA) college. Whether it's a BA or BS makes no odds as your transcript itself will be looked at by any college admissions board for a masters. Liberty University Online (LUO) is an RA college.

I've looked at the LUO page here and it states, as you've found already yourself, that a lot of the testing out options students here use are available to you. This is really good news.

The credit transfer policy is loosely outlined here and does state that pass/fail courses are not accepted for transfer credit. However, since ACE-evaluated credit is accepted (in particular, pass/fail professional qualifications), this may allow you to use the education services from ALEKS and Straighterline that a lot of us are familiar with. As always, before starting any of these courses, make sure to get written approval that this is actually the case.

Looking at the BS Psychology degree completion plan, there are 45 credits of free elective credits to fill, in addition to some subject electives for the general education requirement, i.e. history.

I would recommend that you look at some CLEP and DSST exams and see which you would like to take first. The advantage of this approach is that you can ease yourself back in to studying, work at a subject entirely of your own choosing and start learning how the process works best for you. In addition, this will give you more time to consider all the options available to you while still earning college credit.

CLEP and DSST scores are held by their respective organisations. Your school may evaluate these with a grade or not, depending on their policy. CLEPs and DSSTs do not need to be sent to ACE. Any courses that are on ACE are listed as pass/fail as far as I know and this includes Straighterline and ALEKS.

There are several roadmaps, degree plans, etc on this forum for psychology degrees from TESC and EC. I think there are one or two psychology grads from Charter Oak State College, too.

Best of luck

[mommyof8]

pass/fail courses are not accepted for transfer credit. However, since ACE-evaluated credit is accepted (in particular, pass/fail professional qualifications), this may allow you to use the education services from ALEKS and Straighterline that a lot of us are familiar with.

Sorry if this is a dumb ? but if they don't accept pass/fail grades for transfer credit how then can these grades be used.

[TMW2010]

Going back to the Ph.D. slant...

There's a lot of Clinical psych and Counseling Psych Ph.D. & PsyD programs out there, but really unless you're doing it to advance a already established career, except in a few cases, you're going to need an APA accredited program if you're wanting to get licensed as a psychologist in the majority of states, or work for the federal government. The VA is one of the largest employers of psychologists for the government. Also the CIA pays pretty well, if you can deal with all the drama involved with that, even in the non-clandestine positions.

There's currently only one DL program that's APA accredited, and that's Clinical Psychology, Psychology Doctoral Program, Psychology Degree and its *not* cheap... You're probably looking at about $115-120,000 for the program by the time you're done.

Non-Profit B&Ms have it easier, but they're also pretty competitive to get into the doctoral program. You've gotta have a strong research background to even be considered. There are some that are pretty much close to Open Admissions like some of the Argosy PsyD programs, which are accredited at some, but not all, of their locations, like Dallas/Fort Worth isn't, for example. The issue with those is whether they can get you the necessary internships to complete your degree requirements and licensing requirements. And if you're looking at practicing psych professionally, you're looking at another few years of postdoctorate work at, most likely, a different institution. The Argosy programs run around $130k, unlike the 'traditional' non-profit B&Ms you generally can't get assitantships or other tuition coverage.. You can get the loans, but you're paying for the whole thing yourself, basically.

I'd say the possibility of getting into a B&M program (and most of the non-profit ones have direct entry to the doctoral program with a bachelors) with a DL bachelor's degree are rather slim, even extensive research experience as well as superior references and a demonstrably strong background in the field.

It makes it easier with a strong Master's degree, but you still need the actual research experience. I'm currently enrolled in the Psych Master's program at APU, but I'm planning on switching over to Nova SE's program in September. NSE is a tier 2 school, has a strong psych program at its campus, and their dl master's program has a thesis component, which Doctoral programs seem to prefer (it shows you can handle the writing involved for your dissertation, and if you do it right, your thesis can evolve into your dissertation.)

I'm looking at trying to get into one of the two APA accred programs in my area once I get through my Masters, but if I don't I do have backup plans... Heck, I might change my direction once I finish my degree. I'm currently teaching a class at a B&M college (in IT which is my background, but am trying to wedge into teaching psych classes) and I'm taking to it pretty well.. I wouldn't mind going full time with the whole teaching gig (as long as it has good benefits, gotta look out for my family) and just continue to expand my horizons from there.

Good luck, and let me know if there's any questions I might be able to answer... I've tried to research the whole process pretty thoroughly for myself.

[mommyof8]

All this information is great. I am looking into christian counseling. I would like to have my own practice/work in a church. I have a friend who knows of a christian counselor in her church and she takes in interns. she said that i could intern there to get the hours I need. Getting my Phd is a goal i would like to attain, but if all I get is my Masters I will be happy with that. There are other interests that I have like Computer Science Technology, but this will not take as long as my masters or Phd. If I can knock out most of the requirements cor Comp while getting my bachelors in Psych, I will also get my bachelors in comp.

[TMW2010]

All this information is great. I am looking into christian counseling. I would like to have my own practice/work in a church. I have a friend who knows of a christian counselor in her church and she takes in interns. she said that i could intern there to get the hours I need. Getting my Phd is a goal i would like to attain, but if all I get is my Masters I will be happy with that. There are other interests that I have like Computer Science Technology, but this will not take as long as my masters or Phd. If I can knock out most of the requirements cor Comp while getting my bachelors in Psych, I will also get my bachelors in comp.

You'll be able to do counseling with a master's degree, provided you take the right track (CACREP accredited is a good place to start, because that means it covers the requirements of most, if not all, states for counseling.) I'm not sure if Christian counseling requires an LPC to legally give counseling, but if it does, that's another thing you'll have to look at getting past the testing and intership hours for. And you get a provisional license once you past the exam and requirements, but have to be supervised for 3 years before you get a full-on license and can practice on your own.

If you're not going to be a practicing psychologist, just a licensed counselor, you don't need to worry about APA accreditation for a doctoral program unless you're looking at working for the government and want to have your degree recognized. In that case, Capella, Walden, NCU, and a host of others have doctoral programs that'll get you the Dr. title, and there's a number of Christian oriented programs out there as well. Honestly though, (especially in the field of psychology) a doctorate that doesn't allow you to get licensed isn't good for much other than to let you teach grad & undergrad level courses, and put the Dr. in front of your name.

ULM ULM's Gateway to Online Degrees (GOLD): Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy: Non-Clinical Concentration in Creative Systemic Studies has a non-clinical doctor in Marriage and Family therapy that is 100% online that is actually pretty nice on a couple levels if you don't need the doctorate for licensure or practice. Its 60 credits, can be finished in three years (if you can handle the dissertation in a timely manner) and best of all... Online students pay instate tuition for the program. Now because its not set up to be clinical, it won't get you licensed as an LMFT. I find this kind of sad, because for my state, the only thing the program is really missing is the internship portion of the requirement.