• Question: What qualifications did you have to get to become a psychologist ?

    Asked by anon-286281 to Victoria on 8 Mar 2021.
    • Photo: Victoria Garfield

      Victoria Garfield answered on 8 Mar 2021:

      I did an undergraduate degree (BSc) in Psychology, then a master’s in statistics for psychology and then did a PhD in a somewhat different area (where I work now). I’m not a practising psychologist per se, as after my undergraduate degree I went into focusing more on research, which is what I do now. I think if you want to become a psychologist you’d do an undergraduate degree, then perhaps a master’s and/or get a job working in the area you’re interested in (for example, if you want to be a clinical psychologist then you would try and get a job in the NHS) and then you’d need to do a doctorate in clinical psychology. Not all people who do a degree (undergraduate) in psychology then go into working as a psychologist, as it’s such a versatile degree that opens a lot of doors in different areas.

Comments

  • Photo: Ioana

    Ioana commented on :

    There is no 1 definition of what a psychologist is. You first start with a degree and for me it was an (MA) Psychology degree in Scotland for 4 years. I then did a masters in Health Psychology and I am now doing a PhD in Public Health because I wanted to focus on psychology in medical research.

    Another career I was tempted by (as you can see by my masters degree) was Health Psychology where you need a BPS accredited undergraduate degree, an accredited masters and then you go on to do a 2-year professional doctorate it is called. For clinical psychologist the path is quite similar.

  • Photo: Dennis

    Dennis commented on :

    Hi jack. To this date, I’m not sure if I’m already a psychologist. Right now, I’m managing an online psychology magazine and I’m a PhD student. Here are my qualifications:
    • BSc Psychology (in the Philippines)
    • Master of Arts in Psychology (in the Philippines)
    • MSc Research Methods in Psychology (in the UK)
    • PhD Clinical Psychology (ongoing)
    Goodluck with your studies! ☺️