Career Assignment:
Requirements:
1) APA style - first person is fine for this assignment
2) Your paper should be AT LEAST 6-7 pages in length, but a majority of you will do well to make it longer. I would make sure you cover each topic THOROUGHLY. This project will take you a good number of pages to adequately cover.
3) You will not be able to address 100% of all items listed above, or all questions may not apply to your situation.
a. Some questions will only apply to certain career choices and/or degrees/schools.
b. I give these questions more as a guide for what questions to be answering. Some answers may not be knowable (but for some situations they will be).
4) Please include a title page, student paper, APA format.
5) Please include a references page, using your textbook for the course as the source. I want to see that you can do a references page citing a book.
Part 1: Career choices
1. List your top 2-3 career choices (or more if you have more) for psychology careers - you may reference your textbook
2. Research the following for each career choice:
a. Educational requirements
b. Expected pay or salary range
c. Common or typical job responsibilities (e.g. is it clinical work or non-clinical, typical populations of people you work with, job expectations, etc.)
d. Overall job outlook
i. Potential of finding a job in this field
ii. Is it a growing field?
iii. Potential path to get to that job - sometimes you have to start in one place to get to another
3. Why are these your top choices? Why did you rank them in this order? What makes your top choice more preferable than your other choices?
4. Are there any bachelor's level jobs you would consider?
a. If so, what are those jobs and why would you consider them?
b. If not, why would you not consider them?
Part 2: Education
1. What degree programs are you considering? (e.g. PhD, PsyD, master's)
a. Why are you considering these degrees?
b. Would you be able to do your career with different degrees (e.g. could you do your job with a master's in counseling or a Psy.D. or would you need a Psy.D.?)
c. Would you need any specializations either in grad school or even post-doctoral work?
d. Is there a residency, internship, or post-doctoral work?
2. What schools are you considering attending after graduation? (note you might be considering one school for multiple degree options if you're undecided)
a. List your top 2-3 schools (or more if necessary depending on job/career choices)
b. Why are they your top schools? What stands out about them?
c. What are their admission requirements? Do they have any GRE or GPA requirements?
Do you have to submit any writing examples?
d. When is their application deadline? Do they accept students once a year or twice a year?
e. What percentage of applicants is typically admitted? (How many applicants do they typically receive versus how many they actually accept?)
f. What are applicants' typical GPA and GRE scores who are admitted?
g. What does the total cost of tuition to go there for the degree you is seeking (assume a normal time-frame of completion)?
h. Do they offer any scholarships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, or grants?
i. Does the school participate in any research that you might be interested in participating?
Part 3: Job Openings
1. Research a few job openings for your chosen careers. Try to find at least 1-2 job postings for each career you chose in part 1.
2. Did you find many job openings for that chosen career or only a few?
3. Did you find any jobs locally (either in this area or where you are hoping to live)? Or are the jobs in areas you would not mind living?
4. What populations are being served (particularly if a clinical job - even for non-clinical your work may still have applications to certain populations of people or organizations - e.g. working professionals or developing assessments for cities)?
5. What are the requirements for each job? How are they similar or different? How does salary compare?
6. What are the job responsibilities (note some listings may give a VERY long list - just summarize - I'm not applying for the job. Just communicate to me the major things)
Part 4: Next Steps
What are your next steps for the Spring semester? (e.g. taking the GRE, applying to schools, talking with schools, visiting schools, etc.)