I think that all depends. I was working on my Ph.D. when I was in my mid to late 30s, defending my dissertation at the age of 39. It worked for me because I was sufficiently mature, disciplined, and motivated at that age; that wouldn’t have been true for me in my 20s.
Oh, cool. I would make this part of your selection criteria should you pursue the idea further. You are in a great place to investigate options!
A friend of mine is close to finishing up a PhD in Humanities. At one point she cracked under the pressure and tedium. So great was the nervous breakdown that followed that she was shitting blood for awhile.
Just so you know there is a bid difference between a MS and a PhD. The grueling part isn’t the classwork it’s the research. As I said in a previous thread on this, in order to get a PhD you really need to have a passion for the subject such that you can eat, breath and dream about your subject for months on end without getting burned out. If you have this passion than a PhD is a great way to satisfy it if you don’t then you may regret your decision.
To the OP, it sounds like you are pretty early in the process. It won’t hurt too much to take those post-baccalaureate courses to see how it suits you. In the meantime consider what it is about a career as a clinical psychologist that appeals to you. You may find that you could bail with a masters degree and still get a position that suits your desires.
This is looking more and more likely to me.
I’m a 39 year old undergraduate psychology student- I’m only a junior. I’m debating the MS vs doctorate thing. One concern is that there are not really a lot of schools here in Atlanta that DO masters in psych. Most of them are PhD programs, or beyond commuting range. I’d love to get a Phd, but not sure that the time commitment is realistic. There is always Argosy, but it is SO expensive
That’s not good to hear, because Atlanta is where I’d be doing this… We’re only in the Boston area until Dan finishes his residency.
Clark-Atlanta as a School of Social Work. That’s where you get a MSW, not from a Psychology Department.
Ah, good news!
Thank you for posting that, that made me feel SO much better that I’m doing the right thing right now, that my handful of Bs don’t matter, and that starting undergraduate research early (and doing an undergraduate honors thesis) is the “right” thing to do if I want to go to a PhD program.
Here’s another question- how important are you undergrad grades, if you’ve been done with undergrad for 15 years, and with your master’s degrees for 7?
I had pretty good graduate grades, but my undergrad ones were mediocre. I’d hate to not get accepted because I was an idiot for a couple of semesters when I was 18-23 years old.