Psychology Graduate Programs: Taking the Next Step

Most jobs across the many branches of psychology ask for education past the bachelor's level. The good news is that graduate programs in the field are easy to find, offered by colleges and universities throughout the United States and through online providers as well. Before you commit to a subject and a place to study it, a handful of questions deserve your attention.

Begin by settling on a concentration. Psychology covers an enormous amount of ground, so pinning down the specific branch you care about is among the earliest and most valuable decisions you can make. That choice shapes which schools make sense, which degree you go after, and which jobs you can step into after you finish. Give this real thought. Hurry through it and you risk wanting to switch tracks later, which gets expensive fast.

After you have fixed on a field, think about what kind of institution suits you. Students still finishing an undergraduate degree might look at the graduate program attached to their current school. Factor in tuition and the shape of your daily life as you compare options. A graduate degree draws people at all stages: some have just walked out of their undergraduate ceremony, others left school years ago and are coming back. An online program asks certain things of you, while a physical campus offers a different arrangement, so weigh the two carefully against each other.

Then build your list. Write down every school with a program in the area you want, the way you probably did when you were picking an undergraduate college, and rank them by preference. Dig into each one's entry requirements, cutoff dates, the paperwork they ask for, and what the application costs. Putting all the deadlines on a single calendar gives you a fast read on what is due and when. After that, start applying. A rejection should not knock you back. Programs can only take so many students and they receive far more applications than seats, so being turned away rarely says anything about whether you were qualified, particularly when you met every requirement they listed.