What are you going to do with your doctorate?

Many of the readers of this blog are either health or general psychology students. What can you do with your doctorate in these fields? First, it is important to understand that you cannot be licensed as a psychologist with a degree in these fields. To be licensed, you would need to be in counseling,  clinical psychology,  or a masters level therapist. So what can you do with it?? 

Many of our students go into academia and work as instructors or professors, conducting research and teaching. What would your professional life be like as a professor? It depends a great deal on whether you have a full time or a part time position.  Many beginning faculty members have one or more part time positions, particularly if they are working online. They may be teaching at multiple colleges or universities and teaching several courses at once. This would mean that you would be online responding to discussions, grading papers, and interacting students for many hours each day. 

If you had a full time position, whether online or in person, you would be expected to teach 2-3 classes a term, conduct research (or teach additional classes), and do committee work for the college/ university. If you do research, you will be expected to include students, which means mentoring them in how to conduct research projects.  

What can you do now to prepare for such a position? Get some experience teaching. With a master’s degree you are qualified to teach at a junior or community college (no license is required). Another alternative is look at professional schools, as a grad student I taught an intro to psych class at a paralegal school. The important thing is to get experience in front of a class. Save any teaching evaluations you get, this is proof of your ability as a teacher. Consider getting a certificate in online teaching at Walden, it will teach you some valuable skills that will make you an asset to organizations. 

Also, consider getting experience with research. Sometimes there are volunteer research assistant positions at Walden, but also consider applying for volunteer ones at any local colleges or universities. You will get valuable experience, and may get the opportunity to be an author on posters or publications.  

Plan ahead for your future. Next time we'll take a look at when to use tables and figures in your paper.