“Perhaps students should be reminded about the huge amount of responsibility that comes with becoming a psychologist and that it should never be treated as an academic goal because in this field, you work with vulnerable people everyday who come for help during the lowest periods of their life.” At the end of my graduate training, this is a point I think about often as I reflect on my academic journey up to this point. In undergrad, I prioritized getting a 4.0, graduating with honours, and stacking my CV wherever I could in order to finally make into my graduate program. I had a general understanding of what the career of a psychologist would entail, but I was more focused on becoming as competitive an applicant as possible. It wasn’t until I began my master’s, however - after taking courses on things like ethics, social justice, and diagnosis - that the gravity of a psychologist’s influence and responsibility began to sink in. I do think that, naturally, a student won’t fully “get it” until they’re about to fill those psychologist shoes themselves. However, I also feel deeply for my undergrad self, who I can now clearly see often found herself losing perspective of the career path in the sake of chasing the top grades, research opportunities, volunteer roles, etc. Being reminded of the “why” behind the dismal admissions statistics may have added a touch of purpose in my chase for the strongest CV possible. I don’t disagree that the admissions process should be competitive - graduate programs are selecting people who will be working with clients at their most vulnerable moments, after all, and these individuals can and should be expected to demonstrate a high level of competence. However, It’s unfortunate that, to an extent, the highly-competitive admissions system requires certain sacrifices - sometimes at the expense of one’s own mental health - in order to succeed. Would be curious to hear the thoughts of my classmates and colleagues who have gone through graduate psychology training! I know for a fact I’m not alone in this - psych undergrad is brutal if clinical/counselling psych is the goal.
A lot of psych undergrad students and graduates will recollect at some point one of their tutors or lecturers telling them that “only 1% or 2% of you will make it out to be a psychologist,” at some point during their degree. This can be a very hard hitting experience to have especially after a lot of these students have just come out of high school after putting in blood, sweat and tears in getting the required ATAR. It can be discouraging when one is reminded about the odds of becoming a psychologist. Perhaps students should be reminded about the huge amount of responsibility that comes with becoming a psychologist and that it should never be treated as an academic goal because in this field, you work with vulnerable people everyday who come for help during the lowest periods of their life. The hope is that lecturers also remind students about the abundance of career options out there for psych undergrads that can give one as much respect, financial security and sense of purpose as becoming a psychologist. I know now that working as a rehabilitation counsellor that sure does without even having applied or been admitted into a masters of clinical or professional psychology course. Immediately after students hear about the odds of becoming a psychologist the news spreads like wildfire throughout the cohort. This can lead to a highly competitive atmosphere among psych undergrads and that’s why the process of getting into psych honours is notorious for being a brutal experience for some or if not, then most. This can be a very isolating experience because this can manifest into peers gatekeeping their notes and study groups from other students who only wish to learn and help their peers out. On the flip side of things I and other fellow psych graduates have been fortunate to connect with academics such as honours supervisors and peers who have supported us throughout our psych undergrad journey reminding us that our self-worth and capabilities is in fact not associated to our academic merit at all. The hope is that for any psych undergrad or graduate who has had a tough academic experience, this post can remind them that it’s ok to get a fail, pass or credit instead of a distinction or high distinction mark. Because at the end of the day, either way you will end up wherever you’re supposed to be in an academic and professional sense as long as you follow your intuition and purpose. (Disclaimer: the above post may not be a reflection for all psych cohorts across every institution, so please take this with a grain of salt.)
Program Presenter at Batyr | Rehabilitation Counsellor | Psychology (Honours) Graduate
6moThank you for resharing my post and starting up the important conversation about the current approach to training future psychologists Katherine! Much appreciated 😊