Is getting a phd in psychology worth it reddit

I often think that the only reason I didn't get my phD was because I didn't have a girlfriend. I was in the top of my physical chemistry program, passed all the qualifiers, took all my classes, got my first article published in Journal of Physical Chemistry, and then dropped out. Everyone in the program thought I was crazy.

And I know exactly what you mean when you say you'd go entire days without any interaction beyond "I'll take a medium coffee please". Not having a girlfriend to talk with, it was even worse. I did have some friends who were still undergrads, but all they did was get together and smoke and get drunk. I don't get nearly as much from these kind of "clique" or "group" relationships, which tend to be on the shallow side in my opinion, or dominated by male bravado.

Ironically, in my current position (under employed) I feel isolated largely because I'm too educated and I work with a bunch of dude bros. I know that sounds arrogant to say I'm too educated, but I ended up getting a post-baccalaureate, and I read voraciously, take classes on coursera, etc... I'm just interested in almost everything, and would love to find like minded souls who can discuss interesting things without the dreadful competition and one upmanship that plaques most male relationships. At least there are online communities.

I hope I'm asking an appropriate question for this sub. I'm in the US. I'm currently a working speech-language pathologist so I have a masters degree, but for years I've been wishing I had gone the direction of psychology, specifically positive psychology. I really only settled with speech therapy because I felt more secure about finding a job after graduating.

I have no research experience, publications, poster presentations, or titles beyond my degree and certification in my field. I am particularly interested in one program that is highly competitive and admits 15-20 new students a year. I understand this probably sounds insane and foolishly ambitious. But I am constantly listening to podcasts and reading books/articles on this field of psych. I'm completely fascinated with it and the way it ties into tech, economics, & our youth. Two of the graduate group members in this program have written on the field and really blown me away and one will be considering applications for the fall.

Am I totally out of my league and need to be brought back down to reality? Should I just remain a fan of the field rather than try a career in it? Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Edit: In case it's relevant to my pipe dream, I had a 3.9 in undergrad and 3.7 in grad school

Hi,

I’m strongly considering getting my PhD in clinical psychology after I complete my LPC in November of this year. I just paid off my student loans for both my undergrad and graduate school. School was always hard for me, however, I always did well (finished graduate school with a 4.0). I underwent a psychological assessment last October and it was discovered I had ADHD combined presentation, moderate so I’m hoping if I do my PhD it would be easier since I’m medicated this time around.

Does anyone have any regrets? Would anyone not start the process again if they were given the choice? I would love to be able to do the psychological assessments.

Thank you in advance!

J

It depends on how you define "worth it".

If you are speaking strictly in terms of income over time, you will come out ahead by just doing a Masters instead of doing a PhD. As you said, Masters graduates have at least a 3-4 year advantage over PhDs in terms of accruing income at a higher level (as compared to graduate school) and gaining professional career experience. This will also help them reach leadership positions in an organization faster than a PhD would who would take on an "entry-level" position after graduating (albeit typically a highly skilled and technical one in most cases). If your career goal is to climb the corporate ladder to a leadership position, a Masters will typically put you in a better position.

That said, there is much more to life than money (if you disagree, you can stop reading now) and doing a PhD affords numerous benefits. Here are a few that I can think of off the top of my head:

Intellectual fulfillment - There are few (or perhaps no) other opportunities in life like a PhD where you are given the mental and financial space to pursue a topic out of your intrinsic drive to learn/research/discover, etc. You have the opportunity to contribute, in a small way, to the repository of human knowledge. In your own way, you get the chance to leave a little bit of a legacy.

Alternative career paths - I quickly discovered in my career that what you do is more important than how much you make. Doing a PhD opens up certain technical career paths (not to mention academia in its entirety) that a Masters does not. Many of the industry areas relate to statistics, test design, research, etc. This is obviously only a benefit if these paths fit with your interests.

Credibility - If you're an independent consultant, or even a technical specialist within an organization, many people automatically associate a PhD with credibility (whether or not they should is another question but people love using heuristics to make sense of the world around them). Also it's kinda fun when people refer to you as "doctor" - even though I discourage people from doing so...

Opportunity to gain new skills - Kind of related to the first point. Doing a PhD permits you to specialize in learning/doing something that you would not otherwise have the opportunity to do. I learned a ton about research methods and stats in my PhD that brought me to a level well beyond my masters. This was useful for me because I still work as a researcher in industry.

Hope that helps you think through your decision. I know it isn't an easy one.

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