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(More customer reviews)In this volume, the most current APA career guide available for psychology, Robert Sternberg lends his name to a collection of articles covering the fourteen major career options in psychology. Sternberg writes no more than a three page Introduction and a five page Epilogue. The tone throughout is moderately persuasive. Each contributor has been hugely successful in his or her niche, and accordingly, tends to downplay problems while elevating opportunities.
The articles are not of equal quality, but all tend to cover much of the same ground. A general overview of the career is offered. Entry requirements, including skills and personality traits, are discussed. Each addresses details such as potential compensation, "a day in the life of ...", and a short review of the advantages and disadvantages of working in the field. Those chapters not dealing with academia and counseling tend to have more detail. Some even have recommended reading lists. All have references.
The fourteen careers include academia (separate chapters on the different academic departments, i.e., psych, school psych, and business), counseling (private practices, schools, community organizations and hospitals covered in separate chapters), government research, public school work, industrial/organizational psych, consumer psych, human-factors psych, military psych, and health psych.
Those considering a career in psychology should note that a doctorate is considered the entry level education requirement. I am avoiding the temptation to capitalize every word of the preceding sentence. Without a PhD there are few, if any, career options available in psychology.
Acceptance into an APA accredited doctoral program is quite competitive. In the few programs I have personally evaluated, less than ten percent of the applicants are accepted. The head of one psych department warned me that it was easier to get admittance into medical school than it was into psychology.
Assuming a four year undergraduate education, immediate entry into a doctoral program, and a one year post-doctoral fellowship (generally required to compete for the best positions), a career in psychology is likely to be a nine to eleven year investment. If you are thinking of making this investment, read this book. Better yet, drop by the graduate psychology department of an APA accredited program and chat with a professor. Find a graduate student to interview.
All things considered, psychology is more of a calling than a career. If you can be happy doing something else, maybe you should.
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Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take YouCareer Paths in Psychology is a must-have resource for students contemplating a career in psychology, for psychologists considering switching between areas of psychology, and for professionals thinking of switching to psychology from another field. In this comprehensive anthology, authors selected for their distinction in their chosen careers offer their professional-and personal-perspectives on 19 different graduate-level careers in psychology.
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