Complete Change of Direction

[nicoli_dominn]

You'll probably laugh, knowing that I was a Composition/Music Business major who graduated with a Music Business degree, and that I now want to apply to graduate school to get an M.A./Ed. S. in School Psychology. It's a long story, so I won't bore you with the whys and hows

Comments

[tisiphone]

Have you taken any psychology classes at all?

[nicoli_dominn]

I have taken Introduction to Psychology...twice. Once at the high school level, once at the college level. (There wasn't much of a difference, but I couldn't get transfer credit for high school courses, obviously.)

I have also done quite a bit of self-study in psychology, but nothing as thorough as an actual course.

[heavymetalkarma]

I would say you need to take some psych classes before applying. Take them as non-degree seeking. I had to do that for archaeology. My creative writing major wasn't gonna cut it.

[dinosaur_cake]

I would honestly just ask the admissions advisor of the program which set of courses would be better to take in your situation.

IMO (if you are serious about this), it is better to take the graduate level courses because they will be more rigorous than the undergraduate courses. The graduate courses will also probably show that you have a stronger interest and dedication to pursuing your degree.

As far as recommendations, I know for Clinical Psych programs, the letters are expected to be from persons in the field or closely related, but I honestly have no clue for your intended field. Sorry, I'm not much help.

[brittdreams]

Career paths? I'm sure tobiahawk will jump in and say I don't know what I'm talking about but, after getting a PhD in Psychology with a specialization in School Psychology, my mother worked for a county school board as a school psychologist, serving 3-4 schools at a time. Now she works in the field of reading research, which is the area in which she wrote her dissertation.

[tobiahawk]

Also, from the NASP description of school psychology practice...

"Intervention

* Provide psychological counseling to help resolve interpersonal or family problems that interfere with school performance.
* Work directly with children and their families to help resolve problems in adjustment and learning.
* Provide training in social skills and anger management.
* Help families and schools manage crises such as death, illness, or community trauma.
"

http://www.nasponline.org/about_sp/whatis.aspx

Also, I still find it extremely odd that when I referred to "clinical training" at all of my interviews, everyone (faculty, grad students) knew what I was talking about.

I'm NOT insulting your mom, really--your/her terminology just threw me off--that's all.

[tobiahawk]

Okay, looking it up, perhaps the technical term for "clinical work" is "practicum/internship training", so perhaps it WAS my error, but the former term still is widely used and practicing school psychs are still considered "clinicans" so I'm not coming out if nowhere... But perhaps I was in error and I apologize.

Peace?

[greekdaph]

Seconding dinosaur_cake's recommendation that you talk to the program's admissions director, especially because you already have a specific program in mind. You might also look up professors at the school whose research interests especially appeal to you and ask them for advice. I know it can be intimidating to approach a program directly, and the quality of the answers you receive can vary widely depending on how friendly and/or busy professors are. But people are often very generous with their time, and the answers you get from them will ultimately be most helpful for you because they'll be specific to your first-choice program.

It's also worth seeing if there's an administrator on the program's staff rather than its faculty who can field inquiries like yours. My program's grad administrator has been in the department longer than many of the professors and is a constant source of wisdom on stuff like this--for every situation you throw at her, she has, like 4 anecdotes about what students have done in the past.

[tobiahawk]

Honestly, I wouldn't take grad school psych classes w/o an undergrad psych background. Make sure you have good experience working with children as well--I didn't have much child experience when I applied, and I think that hurt me, though I did get into a few PhD programs.

Good luck!

[nicoli_dominn]

Most of my experience working with children has been outside of school - for example, lifeguarding, teaching swimming lessons, teaching piano lessons - except for that one semester when I co-taught and co-designed a percussion and music literacy course for a group of 6th-8th grade students at a Boston public school. It was part of a service learning course through my school's internship program.

[tobiahawk]

That's all great child experience to have--it in no way has to be through your university.

[nicoli_dominn]

(And thank you!)