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Career prospects in Psychology? Mature student (30)

  • 29-01-2010 6:23pm
    #1
    herbiemcc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 79 ✭✭


    Apologies in advance if this is not in the right place or has been covered before.

    I'm a 30 year old Chartered Architect. I was made redundant in October and am considering going back to study as a mature student. I still enjoy Architecture but in a lot of ways I think something like Psychology could be more fulfilling. Psychology has always been a background interest and the more I'm looking into it I feel it could be a great avenue to pursue.

    Now, I've also heard that post-grad places are like hens teeth, salaries are crap and it'll take about 8-10 years to finally qualify.

    I just thought I'd ask you guys for a bit of honest advice. I'm still young enough to re-train but at the same time I don't want to be a student til I'm 40 with nothing but a hefty debt to pay off.

    Thanks a lot for your help.


Comments

  • #2
    JuliusCaesar
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,885 ✭✭✭JuliusCaesar


    Hi Herbiemac, I feel quite reluctant to tell you that becoming a psychologist is a long road. 3 yrs undergrad/1 yr HipDipPsych; get experience on low pay; apply for Clinical/Counselling Psychology; get rejected; off to get more experience; eventually succeed; 3 year PhD programme. (Both Clinical Psychology and Counselling Psychology have their pick of graduates with lots of experience.)

    But maybe you just want a degree. Which is worth - just a degree.

    Or one of the less popular specialities - Occupational/Educational?

    At the moment there are few jobs in the area as the HSE has a recruitment freeze.


  • #3
    herbiemcc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 79 ✭✭herbiemcc


    Thanks for the honest advice. I've already done a 7 year architecture course so while repeating that isn't ideal I could do it if I enjoyed the work along the way.

    I'm more put off by the prospect of meeting a complete dead end after 4 or 5 years and being stuck between two careers.

    I'll have to really think about it...

    Thanks again.


  • #4
    JuliusCaesar
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,885 ✭✭✭JuliusCaesar


    Lots of info on the different psychology careers on the Psychological Society of Ireland and the British Psychological Society websites.

    It's a great job and the pay is generally good, but it is usually a long road. Anyway, often people get diverted to a different speciality to the one they originally intended as they find out more about what aspects of psychology they like. I hate putting people off with the length of training, and uncertainty for future job prospects.

    Maybe you could marry the two interests with Design Psychology or something?


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