Motivation to keep going

[u/Horror_Cost_583]

So I’ve been lurking on Reddit, especially different psychology communities and there’s been quite a number of posts and replies that are pretty discouraging about getting into the psych field, saying it’s basically a waste of time in school and it’s a cop out for students who don’t want to pull their weight, or that the degrees aren’t worth the investment especially in terms of earning potential. I’ve always wanted to study psychology from the moment I learnt about it, which was when I was about 15 years old. I have about a year and half left of classes and one year of co-op. My goal is to secure a research assistant position for co-op and then go on to do my masters, and then PHD or PsyD. I am yet to make my mind up between neuropsychology, forensic psychology, and developmental psychology. Basically, I’ll just like to hear some positivity from people who studied psychology and went to grad school and are now working in their fields. I don’t mind you talking about the thorns and hardships you encountered along the way, but I want to hear about those hardships and how you all persevered and can now look back and say it was worth it, in spite of the hardships.

[u/Attempted_Academic]

All I have left in my PhD is internship. There isn’t a day that goes by that I am not exhausted and annoyed by the amount of work I have to do. BUT, there also isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about how glad I am that I pursued this path. I do a little bit of everything (research, teaching, clinical work) and get to travel all around the world for conferences. It’s a gruelling program, but I can’t see myself don’t anything else and will have flexibility in my career for the rest of my life.

[u/Professional_Dog8088]

I attended a PhD clinical psych program immediately following undergrad. Make sure that you’re ready for the hardest work of your life. I didn’t have a life for my 20s because of the work load - classes, studying, clinical work, research, and thesis/preliminary paper and exam/dissertation. I got poor sleep for years and had no money. I wanted to quit so many times because I was exhausted and burned out. However, I kept my eyes on my ultimate goal and things got so much better once I got to my predoctoral internship year. I graduated with my PhD at 29. Over the past 25 years, I’ve worked in government funded positions, academic medicine, and now as the owner of a small group practice. The hard work and sacrifices I made were totally worth it! I love my job and look forward to it everyday! Many folks my age hate their jobs and ready to retire. Not me - I’m still in the prime of my career! Again, make sure that you want this more than anything you’ve ever wanted and you’ll succeed.

[u/cad0420]

Co-op is rare in psychology. But there are usually paid research fellowships you can do during undergraduate study too. Usually they take the top students, but your metrics would meet the requirements for those fellowship programs since you will need to have good grades to be competitive in the application of clinical psychology programs anyway. 

However it seems that you actually are not studying psychology now because your interest is very vague. Psychology is a huge field where people are all doing all kinds of different research on different things. The subfields you listed here are very different from each other. And even after you have decided the subfield, which area are you interested in? You need to really get your hands dirty in research labs to know if you really are enthusiastic about it or not. It’s very easy to tell. If you are enthusiastic about a subject, boring tasks do not seem like a chore and you will be willing to spend your free time doing it. Competitive graduate programs such as clinical psychology or med school are not too different from other regular graduate school programs, in a sense that there will still be a lot of students going into graduate school without really making sure this is what they want to do. Just because some people can excel in academic performance doesn’t mean they are smart in making decision for their life too. For these people, graduate school is definitely painful. PhD program is something that one has to be really really passionate about it and have strong intrinsic motivation to be able to survive, without any exception.

[u/Horror_Cost_583 → u/cad0420]

Maybe I didn’t clarify enough but my university has a co-op for psychology, which is indeed hard to get into but I did and now just have to wait for my first coop term after attending all the required training sessions for resume writing and interviews.

I am studying psychology and believe once I get into doing research and talking more with my professors and with further research on my own, I will settle on the field that resonates most with me. But thank you so much for your response.

[u/Reflective_Tempist]

I think it has to really do with your goals. You've stated sub fields that require a PhD or PsyD to be successful. If you find fulfillment in the work and accepting of the opportunity costs (time, money, relationships, etc) then there is nothing to really be regretful of. I suppose people who ONLY want to do therapy and/or are pursuing it for some sort of self-esteem/identity validations are the ones who may need to take a step back before jumping in to the proverbial pool.

[u/Horror_Cost_583 → u/Reflective_Tempist]

Yes I’ve always known I’d have to go to grad school for my desired field of work in psychology. I’ve had a lot of setbacks(medical and financial) in terms of finishing my undergraduate degree in psychology to the point where friends and family were advising me to just go to college for a year or two to get a diploma in something lucrative and keep it going. But I refused and am now in a better place. I believe doing co-op will help me gain better insight into what psychology really looks like outside of the classroom, and I’ll eventually narrow the sub fields down to the one I’m most passionate about. Thank you so much for your response.

[u/maxthexplorer]

Neuropsych, forensic psych are all accesible through clinical and counseling psych doc programs. Developmental psych is the comparatively different one because it generally does not involve practice or licensure. And there’s only a few reasons to do a masters before a doc program, it generally doesn’t make sense to do prior.

[u/LlamaLlama_Duck]

I never regretted pursing a PhD in clinical psych. It was hard work, but doable as I was a hard worker that loved what I was doing. I loved the diversity of things I could do: in grad school I taught classes, did research, and saw clients in addition to classes. All I enjoyed. On internship, postdoc, and my first job (that I stayed at 9 years) I got to do a mix of clinical work, research, supervision of students, mentorship of new researchers, and then ultimately I moved to a leadership position for a couple years, too. I recently opened up a group practice, which has been fun as well. My degree is respected, and I feel like I had excellent training.

[u/Wild-Pear-3033]

I am in my residency year, earned my PsyD in clinical psych. Hardest but most rewarding years. Exhausting but fulfilling. So worth it for the work I will be able to do and flexibility. I’m even writing a book. So many options with your degree! You grow so much as a person as well. Unlike other knowledge workers, psychologists have to be transformed to do their job correctly. In grad school you learn to be a healing and calming presence, and you do so much internal work on yourself. Being a psychologist is super rewarding (I’m a resident almost there!)