Top Psychology Schools

[Ghostrider4042005]

I will be off to college in a little over a year, and I'm pursuing a career in psychology. My high school offers two of psych classes, both of which I'll be taking next year as a senior. I've talked to my guidance counselor quite a bit on some of the places I wanted to go which have so far been the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota. I've made the honor roll all 9 quarters of high school so far am an academic all conference athlete, won an academic letter this past year. I'm involved in my school's band and Spanish club. I will also be SOSing next semester for my psych teacher (Student On Staff). So a couple questions I have is what are some other classes I can take next year and some colleges in the Midwest that have top knotch psychology departments. I'm currently in the northeast part of Iowa. My current classes are PE, Algebra II (next year I have the option of taking advanced math, like trig etc. etc.) band, Spanish III, Modern US History, English III (I can take Contemporary Literature and/or College Computation) health class and chemistry (have the option of taking physics next year). My high school offers A LOT of different classes so I would love LOVE to have any input on this. I would also like to go into relationship counseling for my psychology path.

[karvala]

If, as I understand it, you're asking which classes would be the most apporpriate for a psychology career (besides the psychology classes that you'll obviously be taking), it partly depends on what career path you propose to take. If you're going to take a psychology degree, then some knowledge of statistics will be very useful (you will have to learn it on the degree at least, so a math class would be a good choice), some knowledge of health issues is obviously essential (so health class would be good, and any other biological sciences that are offered), and if you're going into counselling, surprisingly Contemporary Literature can be useful. I should add that, though, that none of them are absolutely essential in the sense that you wouldn't get accepted or wouldn't be able to cope if you hadn't taken them, so don't worry about it too much. Psychology is one of those subjects you can get into from a wide variety of backgrounds if you have the ability, which it sounds like you do. If you're planning on doing a counselling qualification only, many of these pre-requisities are not needed, but then your career options and expertise will be much more limited afterwards.

[keenan]

If you do well in hard sciences or life sciences, A-grades in those subjects always look better on your transcripts. They won't expect you to already be highly educated in psychology, but if you enjoy those courses, by all means, take them. Social sciences also demonstrate a commitment to many issues that psychologists study, so those are good options as well.

As for schools, it depends on what kind of psychology you want to study. You're leaning toward clinical now, but you may still change your mind. In general, look for schools that have GRADUATE programs in psychology that are highly rated. If a school has a great graduate program in psychology, then the professors that are on the cutting edge of research are the same ones who will be teaching your classes and running labs that you will need to volunteer in (later, in your sophomore, junior, and senior years). Since pursuing a career in any kind of psychology requires a graduate degree, you'll want your letters of recommendation for graduate programs to be as strong as possible. Good letters from famous faculty can go a long way toward getting you into the program of your choice, so think 4-5 years down the road and choose wisely. If you think you think you want to go into clinical psychology, make sure that the school has an APA accredited program.

As for schools in the midwest, the University of Chicago, Indiana University, and Washington University are probably the strongest. I'm not a clinical psychologist so I'm biased by my own experiences. The University of Iowa also has a very good program, although its reputation stemmed partly from the fact that two world-class psychologists were on faculty there until they left for USC. I'm sure it's still very good, though. Minnesota has some good people (although I don't know about clinical), and I know of somebody who studied clinical psych at Notre Dame and got into a very excellent grad program and went on to become faculty.

Like I said, I know less about clinical psych than some other areas, and it's really its own animal...so I'm sorry I can't be more specific about those programs. Check US News & World Reports, go to the APA website and look around, and when you visit schools look for faculty with active research programs who are involved in clinical training.

Most of all, when you actually do choose a school, take lots of science classes, do research, and kick ass. Clinical psych grad programs are very, very competitive because so many people want to do this kind of work. You can't let yourself slack off for a semester here or there.

Have fun and good luck! PM me if you want.

[Ghostrider4042005]

I've looked into more colleges in Wisconsin, such as the University of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but I've crossed the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago off my list, I tried finding information on Milwaukee on their school website, but the psychology department page wouldn't load and then there was an error in loading. I'm very interested in Madison, because it's in the top 20, but I'd also like to keep my options open with Milwaukee and other schools near there. Thanks.

[morgainebrigid]

One thing I found useful in college was to always take one class that had nothing to do with my career, just for fun. It will keep you from burning out, and you'll never know when that extra knowledge may come in handy.

[poloplayer]

Don't overlook the schools which are not a part of a University. For example, in Chicago, I think this is the school which is best known for psychology:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

but I think they are only on the graduate level. I've met quite a few students from there as well.

There is another one of these independent type schools in Illinois as well, albeit I can't remember the name.

[keenan]

Originally Posted by poloplayer

Don't overlook the schools which are not a part of a University. For example, in Chicago, I think this is the school which is best known for psychology:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

but I think they are only on the graduate level. I've met quite a few students from there as well.

The highest degree at professional schools like Adler is typically the PsyD degree--these are like PhD's in psychology, but the emphasis is almost exclusively on therapy instead of therapy + research. The programs tend to be a year or so shorter than PhD programs, but an important major difference is cost: While a PhD program will typically allow students to teach and/or do research to offset the cost of tuition (and pay a 20k a year stipend for cost of living), professional programs do not pay students anything, and charge as much as 20-30k per year in tuition. So...you get a faster program and more experience with therapy, but less grounding in theory, fewer opportunities ot stay in academia (if you want that), and some debt on the order of law school or business school.

[poloplayer]

The highest degree at professional schools like Adler is typically the PsyD degree--these are like PhD's in psychology, but the emphasis is almost exclusively on therapy instead of therapy + research. The programs tend to be a year or so shorter than PhD programs, but an important major difference is cost: While a PhD program will typically allow students to teach and/or do research to offset the cost of tuition (and pay a 20k a year stipend for cost of living), professional programs do not pay students anything, and charge as much as 20-30k per year in tuition. So...you get a faster program and more experience with therapy, but less grounding in theory, fewer opportunities ot stay in academia (if you want that), and some debt on the order of law school or business school.

Thanks. I never knew that about Adler (or similar schools). I just knew that it was a big name around Chicago, and a school were many hopefuls are/were applying to.

[Tom Cruise]

hey if you have what it takes to make it big time, go to university of stanford.
that is where the famous pshycologist Philip Zimbardo used to teach. Stanford has an outstanding program and they are universally recognized. as for the courses you should take, well you have to take intro pshycology in your first year like i am doing right now. it is a great course, and you get to do a lot of fun experiments. if you are thinking that i didn't read all the things you typed, well, you are right. this is a psychological phenomenon called the "cocktail party phenomenon", better known as "selective attention". this means i only care about the selected aspects of what you type or say in other cases. well what do you think? interested in psychology? welcome to life after high school my friend.

[Ghostrider4042005]

Stanford, I WISH! For one I do not have the credentials to pull that one, two I don't have the money, three it's an incredible distance away from home. I could make it into Michigan, which is 2nd only TO Stanford, but there's no way I could make it into there. I know what selective attention is, just never heard it referred to as a "cocktail party phenomenon." I really wish I could get into Stanford, but there is just so many other factors that play into me not being able to go there.