Top products from r/AcademicPsychology

>About half.

Ah, yes, >60% is so rare. As rare as the Hope Diamond.

>And that's this poll.

This "poll" is the APPIC match survey, so it's everyone participating in round one of the match.

Nice try at dismissing data that doesn't agree with your argument. You'll go far in science.

>If you go to actual universities websites and Check around you will see that there are only a handful that are as high as 50% most were in the 20-30% range.

Check Norcross' book.

>There was a thread a while back discussing this with a lot of links and comments from people who choose applicants.

Huh, there's so many threads and links, yet you can't post a single one, but you sure can dismiss the APPIC data I provided. Again, you're quite the scientist.

>Considering most take on 20 or few students and it being hard to get in, . As a BA student your likelihood of getting in is even lower.

Again, the stats don't support your argument. >60% don't have master's degrees prior to admission to doctoral programs, thus their likelihoods of admission were not lower.

>I've never had a professor that got in a PhD program without their masters.

Oh no, you bested me with your anecdotes! I....am.....defeated.....

>However I have friends in other fields who have. It seems much more common in other fields. I think that's because there is less competition.
>
>
>If you are competing with Msc graduates who have a few published papers and you are just a B.A with some side experience, you aren't going to beat them.

Nice false equivalency there. Clinical programs care less about your master's degree and more about the research you've done. All things being equal, having just a BA vs having a master's degree isn't a tie breaker. It comes down to fit, personal characteristics, and what research ideas you bring to the lab.

Finally, as I've alluded to Norcross' book in the past, I thought I'd quote directly from it:
https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Graduate-Programs-Counseling-Psychology/dp/1462525725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510792237&sr=8-1&keywords=Insider%27s+Guide+to+Graduate+Programs+in+Clinical+and+Counseling+Psychology

>A Master’s Degree First?
A common question during our graduate school workshops is whether students should secure a master’s degree before seeking the doctorate. Fortunately, our workshop participants and you realize that no simple answer is possible to such a complex question. Nonetheless, the following are some broad reasons for seeking a master’s degree first.

>Low grade-point average. The vast majority of APA-accredited doctoral programs will not consider applicants with a GPA below 3.0.

>Weak GRE scores. Similarly, most university-based doctoral programs rarely accept bachelor’s-level applicants whose combined Verbal and Quantitative scores fall below 1,000 (or 145 on the revised scale).

>Scarce research or clinical experiences. Doctoral admission committees understandably desire that
you have had some direct experience with those activities you intend to pursue for a lifetime.

>Uncertain career goal. Indecision about your subfield in psychology, or outside of psychology, is a strong indicator for a master’s program initially.

>Late application. Doctoral programs hold to earlier deadlines than do master’s programs, so those students waiting too late to apply will be redirected to master’s programs.

>Terse letters of recommendation. By virtue of late transfer into a university or into the psychology major, some students lack sufficient contact with faculty for them to write positive and detailed letters of recommendation expected by doctoral programs.

>Inadequate coursework in psychology. Doctoral programs require a minimum level of education in the discipline prior to acceptance, typically at least 15 to 18 credits of psychology course work.

>Completing a rigorous master’s program in psychology can correct many of the foregoing impediments to acceptance into a doctoral program. As we describe in Chapter 8, students typically strengthen their grade point average, acquire clinical and research experience, sharpen their career goals, and establish close relationships with faculty during the 2 full-time years of a master’s program. For these and other reasons, many students opt for a master’s degree at one institution before seeking the doctorate at another. Doctoral psychology faculty were surveyed in detail regarding the value of a clinical master’s degree for gaining admission to their programs (Bonifzi, Crespy, & Rieker, 1997). Assuming a good undergraduate GPA and good GREs, the effect of having a master’s degree on the applicant’s chances for admission was negative for 7% of the programs, neutral for 48% of the programs, and positive for 45% of the programs. However, assuming mediocre GPA and mediocre GREs, the effect of having a master’s was more neutral than positive overall. Put another way, it is clearly the applicant’s overall credentials—rather than possession of a master’s degree per se—that carries the day. This same study (Bonifzi et al., 1997) and our own research (Mayne et al., 1994; Norcross et al., 2004) consistently demonstrate that Ph.D. clinical programs hold a positive bias toward baccalaureatelevel applicants. By contrast, Psy.D. clinical, Ph.D. counseling, and Ph.D. school psychology programs view master’s degree recipients more favorably and accept higher proportions of master’s-level applicants. Keep these biases in mind as you consider the selection criteria of graduate schools.

Lots of great suggestions here. My grad program used SPSS but it annoyed me that someone had to pay for it, so I learned R. Like others mention, if you learn R it can be easier to go back to SPSS. Also, others who use SPSS might think you have some kind of superpower.

Like u/bobbyfiend says, the best is to do use it on some projects. This forces you to learn something that is important and you have interest in solving. The internet is amazing, and most answers in some form or another can be found on Stack Overflow (make sure to ask the questions in the proper format and search first), /r/rstats (a bit more friendly than stack overflow), or on some of the email lists.

In general, I would say there are a couple of resources that most people could benefit from as they start to learn:

-Andy Field's Discovering Statistics with R - It does have some irreverent humor, but is a good read

-Hadley Wickham's R for Data Science - this resource is free online but can also be bought through Amazon. Hadley is a R celebrity responsible for creating the 'tidyverse' series of packages - packages which make R more beginner friendly imo.

You will definitely want to look at your subspecialty and see if there are any people working in R there. They may have some other resources. Again, you can read books and watch courses all you want, but it is critical to practice (and practice using something you are interested in can help exceptionally). Ultimately, I used my dissertation as an excuse to dive into R - there was pain, and I probably could have done it quicker if I stayed in SPSS - but I learned a lot and now use R and Rmarkdown - and really do not think I plan on going back. Another user mentions looking at others' code, and this has also helped me to make my code more efficient and reproducible - a big strength of R (love that you can use Git).

I'd definitely start with a cheap Psych 101 textbook to familiarize yourself with the field, it's history, and the varieties of interest. This will help you form a good idea where I start your personal research and what areas your really enjoy. You may want to try listening to some Psych podcasts. Here's a recent link that may help with that: https://www.reddit.com/r/psychology/comments/4k34h7/list_of_psychology_podcasts_i_like_any/


The book that made me fall in love with Psychology: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812974441/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1463813577&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=the+lucifer+effect&dpPl=1&dpID=51RaFfGSSUL&ref=plSrch

If you have a good idea of what you'd like to learn about, you need to look for Scholarly articles online. Google scholarly data banks and I'm sure you'll find some good stuff.

Hope this helped some. Good luck with your interest. let me know if you have further questions, I'd be happy to help however I can! Psychology is a wonderful thing to study.

Hi! If you can, let us know a little more about what you think you're interested in already, or what you already know something about. Psychology covers a lot of very different things.


Here are a few broad books which I found interesting before I studied it formally, for if you're not yet sure where to focus:

• Psychology: A very short introduction - Covers the basics, easy to understand, and will give you a good idea of what you want to know more about! (There's also one of these 'very short introductions' to the brain, which you might also find interesting. It's more biology and neuroscience, but there's a lot of overlap to psychology.)
  
  
  
• The Man who mistook his wife for a hat, by Oliver Sacks - A very interesting selection of stories, about the bizarre and mysterious things that brains can do when they're not operating quite as normal. Very easy to read, and very personal and involved with the patients themselves.
  
  
• How the mind works, by Steven Pinker - A longer, slightly in depth book, although it still covers a wide range of material. Quite a lot of jokes, and it's well written!
  
  
  
  Anyway, I hope that helps, and let me know if you do have any particular interests, and I'll see what I can think of! Psychology is really great, and I think there's an area of it to keep almost anybody interested.

If you're interested in neuroscience am I safe in assuming you're also interested in neuropathology? If this is the case then I strongly recommend you read any books by Oliver Sacks. He is considered the David Attenborough of Neuroscience and has spent his life exploring peculiar neurological disorders. His book "The man who mistook his wife for a hat" is the best starting point and consists of numerous peculiar case studies of patients he has treated over the years. Very easy, yet fascinating read, can't recommend enough.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Man-Who-Mistook-His-Wife/0330523627


With regards to more theoretical reading, look into the following people and the theories and research attributed to them, you will most likely learn about these people in detail on your course.

Piaget for Child Development (very interesting stuff)

Bandura for Developmental/Learning/Social

Baddeley for Working Memory

Miller for Cognitive

Milgram for Social Psych

Asche for Social Psych

Good luck and enjoy!

Edit: Formatting issues.

I have just recently jumped through these hoops myself so I'll share what little bit I've gleaned:

However, first a preface: As with many things in life, there is no 'cut & dry'/'black & white' way of looking at things - especially grad school. You may have an amazing GPA but horrendous GRE scores, or amazing work experience but a poor GPA, etc etc. Also, there are many different ways to go about finding an answer to your questions. I'll attempt to address these as thoroughly as I can (aka, this is going to be stupidly long).

Grades:
First off, unless you are trying to get into an Ivy League school, the 'usual' cut off for GPA is a 3.0. So, based exclusively off of that, you're looking good. Now, let's say your GPA goes downhill a bit more. Sweat & fear not my friend! While most schools tend to say that their "cut off" is a 3.0, they will still look at your application if you are kicking ass and taking names in other areas (GRE scores, work experience, volunteer experience, lab/research time, background, etc.) Speaking of GREs, have you taken them? If not, you are a bit behind schedule and should definitely start studying for them and signing up to take a few.

Masters then PhD or all out PhD:
I looked (extensively) at these options and here's what I learned/think I learned. If you are at a deficit in some area that won't get you into a PhD program, then a Masters would make sense. However, this has ups and downs. Assuming you take the average time for each degree, a Masters is 2 years and a PhD is 5, totaling 7 years. If you got into a PhD program from the start then it's only 5 years. You save two years of your life, school work, money, time, etc. However, upon completion of a Masters, your Undergraduate work means jack, so your current worries won't be there when you get the Masters. However! (so many 'howevers'...), unless the school you go to for a Masters (School A) -and- a PhD, then the likelihood that a majority of your Masters classes from School A would transfer over to your PhD program (School B). So, you'll end up having to retake classes you've already taken and just putzing around. Although if School A also offers a PhD, then it doesn't matter. That being said, I did not find many programs that offer a Masters as well as PhD during my search for schools. One advantage to getting a Masters first is it gets you more time in the field/lab/writing/etc. which not only helps with solidifying that Psychology is what you want to do but also helps you look good on paper for PhD programs. One advantage to getting into a PhD program and bypassing the Masters is the time you save. Your thought of getting into a lower tier Masters program then going to a PhD program makes sense, it just takes more time and money out of your life.

Funding
On average, you are lucky if you can get a TA/RA position that gives you a stipend for Masters programs. It is fairly common for Masters students to get loans. Tuition waivers are virtually non existent; however, this does not mean you cannot apply for fellowships, grants, scholarships, etc. With regards to a PhD program (one that has <10 students), it is fairly typical to either receive a full tuition waiver and/or some kind of stipend (typically in the form of a TA and/or RA).

You mentioned an interest in the Clinical side of things. Speaking fairly broadly, a PhD in Clinical Psychology is fairly research heavy as well as fairly Practice oriented (think a 50/50 blend). A PsyD is much, much more Practice oriented (about 90% practice). There are many more doors open to you with a PhD than a PsyD. If your only dream job is to work with clients in a practice then a PsyD is worth looking at. In a PsyD program, you usually (I'd guess in about 98% of schools) have to foot the bill by yourself (all of it, sadly) and then your dissertation is typically a case study. In a PhD program, you are going to get a pretty heavy research caseload that have you churning our papers and research. You may or may not get many clinical hours, clinical supervision, practice time with clients, etc. in a PhD program. I can't say it enough, while the PhD has quite a hefty component of research to it, you can do many more things with a PhD than a PsyD (not to bash on the PsyD...).

Edit 2: While PhD programs typically offer a tuition waiver and/or a stipend for TA/RA work, it is typical that you still take out loans, albeit a smaller amount than for a Masters. However, a PhD program is twice as long as a Masters so depending on the amount you take out, it may be more expensive (loan wise) to go the route of a PhD.

Lastly, I would discourage you from even looking at schools that are not APA accredited. If you are unsure, you can either read the program description on the school's website (they will prominently announce their APA accreditation) or you can go to the APA website and search for accredited schools here.

I lied. One more piece of information. Go to a nearby Borders, Barnes & Noble, your college bookstore, etc. and read/look at the latest copy of this book. It's pretty thorough and lists out so much information for you.

Best of luck to ya.

Okay, well you don't need a doctorate to talk to people and help them. You can get any number of master's degrees (LCSW, LMFT, LCPC, etc...) in 2 years to do talk therapy v. 4-6 years + an internship year(+ a dissertation most likely, too). There's a big difference in the price and purpose of these programs, as well as the years it takes to complete.

My recommendation is that you start with this book: Career Paths in Psychology: Where your degree can take you to get an overview of all the different kinds of opportunities are out there in the field and what best fits your interests/life plan. Intel drives ops, right?

Then check out The Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology (if clinical or counseling psych is what interests you) to find the program that best fits you.

An EXCELLENT response. I'm a research psychologist and I think that is an absolutely fair summary of what to expect if you go the grad school route.

As far as "what you're expected to know", this will vary by which of the four options you choose; the best RAs i've mentored are always interested in two things: stats and current literature. Google Scholar your favorite topic in psychology and the backwards/forwards links will connect you to a wealth of ideas. As for stats, they get a bad rap, but i can suggest a few books that might turn around anyone with stats-loathing:

-Andy Field's SPSS/R how-to books. Honestly, the man has probably done more for beginning psychologists than Starbucks. Very readable, even good for more developed psychologists to get ideas for new analyses.
http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Statistics-Using-Andy-Field/dp/1446200469/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419965487&sr=1-2.

-Mac & Creel: Bible for signal detection theory, a cool way of thinking about perception as a process of separating signal from noise.
http://www.amazon.com/Detection-Theory-A-Users-Guide/dp/0805842314

I hung out on the studendoctor Psych forums a lot before applying to Clinical PhD programs, and while you might claim they have a strong anti-PsyD bias, they all seem to feel that a PhD will get just as good clinical training--if not better (but again, that could be their bias :p)--than the PsyD. But you definitely wouldn't want to go a research-oriented school if you hate it. I'd check out the Insider's Guide book if you haven't?

http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Graduate-Programs-Counseling-Psychology/dp/1609189329/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374273749&sr=8-2&keywords=insider%27s+guide

The book lists all the PhD and PsyD programs out there right now. For the PhD programs, it ranks each institution on a scale of 1 to 7 from totally couseling oriented to totally research oriented. It could definitely help you if you decided you wanted to throw some very counseling oriented PhD programs into the mix. :)

Edit: Here's a thread similar to yours where master's-levels clinicians discuss not wasting time with a PhD program if your heart isn't in it, though. Just in the interest of seeing both sides of the coin.

I would also recommend checking out the book Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology to help you get more information. This book will describe differences between PsyD and related programs and will provide the average GPAs of different programs so you can get a sense of what to shoot for. In addition, there is also a nice section toward the beginning of the book that describes what programs are looking for in addition to good GPAs and GRE scores. It's not just about getting good grades, so if you decide you want to go for a psych major, you will want to know what else to do besides doing well in psych classes. Good luck!

I need a little more information.

3.78 is a decent GPA, double major is unique. Do you have GRE scores? How many years of research experience will you have when you apply? It sounds like you don't have any research experience yet. Working in a social lab and a child lab, will you get experience in your areas of interest? Sexual victimization and eating disorders do have some overlap but they can also be very different lines of research.

As to your first question, the important thing to consider when applying to clinical psychology phd program is not "safety, maybe, reach" school but your research match with professors. You need to have defined research interests and pick out faculty to do research in these areas.

First thing you should do: get this book http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Graduate-Programs-Counseling-Psychology/dp/1609189329

It's an amazing resource and it was my bible when I was applying to clinical psychology graduate programs. Get it, read it, love it.

My go to recommendation is Scott Lilienfeld's 50 Greatest Myths in Popular Psychology. Easy to read, thought provoking, and super interesting. I'll bet an upvote that you currently believe at least half these myths. :-)


http://www.amazon.com/Great-Myths-Popular-Psychology-Misconceptions/dp/1405131128/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457820114&sr=8-1&keywords=50+greatest+myths+of+popular+psychology

First, and most important: as you've read, if you're going the PhD route #1 thing is lab research experience. You can have a 4.0 and no research and nobody will want you. That said if you're thinking PsyD or masters, nobody is going to care about research and you're likely better off spending time on the clinical side. Even for a clinical PhD program having a resume with clinical work on it will potentially hurt you (but only at the research heavy ones). So if you plan to go to a research heavy program, avoid the clinical volunteer stuff or if you do, make sure you have research on there too.

A lot of psychology is not like it is on TV. There is a decent book that I read back in the day that will give you a sense of what your day to day life will actually look like http://www.amazon.com/Career-Paths-Psychology-Where-Degree/dp/1591477328/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374196758&sr=8-1&keywords=careers+in+psy. But at the end of the day you won't truly know until you start your program. The fact that you're starting early gives you plenty of time to get your resume looking good. Would advise you to carefully consider going to a program without full funding b/c unless you're seeing rich patients and not accepting insurance you won't be making a boatloads of money. Good luck.

Five years after graduating, these are the books I still open up:

• Theories of Personality
  
  A great chronological overview of psychological theories beginning with William James. Shows the development and shifts in ideas involving personality while also going fairly in depth with each theory.
  
  
• The Amazing Brain
  
  Beautifully illustrated book on the structure and development of the human brain. Starts with the basal ganglia and the limbic system and describes how newer and more complex structures were added over time. Helps show that the brain was almost jerry-rigged over time as opposed to being a purposefully constructed organ.

The book "Graduate Study in Psychology" is published by the APA every year and lists every accredited psychology PhD/Master's program in the country, by state. I think they include Canada as well. I believe there is an online version of this, but I could only find a list of clinical programs right off hand. This in my opinion is the best resource. It gives average GRE scores of students accepted into the programs, as well as how many students applied and were accepted last year.

If you are still an undergrad, your psychology department probably has one of these lying around.

Wow this is a tough call!

1. Have you considered going the psychiatric route? Med school would probably offer a better ROI than a psyd (though idk if research experience is a must).
   
   
2. I think it’s worth applying to a few PhD programs. No lie without research experience it may be a bit of a long shot, but you could pick a few from the Norcross book that place a fairly equal weight on clinical and research experience. If your background includes a lot of statistics/lab work you may be able to leverage those experiences in your applications.
   Book- https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Graduate-Programs-Counseling-Psychology/dp/1462525725/ref=nodl_
   
   
   
3. Out of curiosity, if you are able to prescribe medication with your NP, how would that translate to you post doctorate? Would you be able to prescribe medications legally alongside of therapy? I genuinely have no clue about this but if you could, that may increase your salary range and make the ROI of a psyd program more worthwhile (this is total conjecture though).

If you're into Social Psych:

The Lucifier Effect - Philip Zimbardo

Zimbardo decided to write an update on conclusions of the Stanford Prison Experiment in the wake of the Abu Graib scandal.

Politics and Psychoanalysis:

Leaders and Their Followers in a Dangerous World: The Psychology of Political Behavior (Psychoanalysis and Social Theory) - Jerrold M Post

The Mind of the Terrorist: The Psychology of Terrorism from the IRA to al-Qaeda - Jerrold M. Post

Not really a psychoanalysis guy myself but they may be worth a read if you are into geopolitics as well as Psych.

General Psych:

Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century - Lauren Slater

This one may border on the pop side, I'd call it easy reading. It's a narrative that discusses many of the more famous Psych experiments of the 20th century. Definitely a good summer read, Pop or not highly recommended.

No problem!

1. It's been a while, but I think this book helps to figure out the research requirements of the programs. In a general sense counseling programs seem to be more focused on practice, whereas clinical programs are more research/academia focused. Ultimately, you wont be able to completely know until you interview and talk to many current students/faculty. No matter where you go, your last year or two will be primarily focused on research.
   
   
2. I was the same way. I didn't look super hot on paper because I wasn't a superior student in undergrad. I'm in the midwest. No, where you go to school has little to do with where you end up, especially in smaller college towns where your city will most likely already be saturated with psychologists. California is a bit of a different story. Unless you go to school in CA, you'll probably need to take a few extra courses (psych of sexuality) to transfer your license. Our past faculty had to do that at age 50 to make the move to CA. Remember that you will most likely do your internship in another state, then look for a job in another state. Your nearly two years of clinical post-doc hours will give you plenty of time to fulfill state requirements.
   
   You can PM me if you would like more...

Your plan sounds reasonable. A couple of years experience teaching would be valuable and look good on an application. I have heard that this is a good book on the topic:

http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Graduate-Programs-Counseling-Psychology/dp/1462518133

Good luck!

Undergraduate prestige is an issue but one that can be overcome. You definitely need to do research with somebody - and that means having some kind of in-person connection. Doing an MS after undergrad and/or working in a lab for a couple of years is the most common path to a PhD program now, so really you're asking about what will get you into somebody's lab.

And if you're sure you want to be a therapist, consider other paths to being a therapist - PhD isn't the only (or necessarily the best) path. See here for a good discussion.

Any tutorial by Andy Field is excellent, he was our statistics tutor at the University of Sussex and is one of the best lecturers I have come across. Someone has already linked you to his 'statistics hell' website below. Although you are looking for online tutorials id strongly recommend buying or borrowing his textbook 'Discovering Statistics using SPSS'. It is very easy to follow and starts with all the basic aspects of using SPSS before going into the complexities of the program.

link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Discovering-Statistics-Introducing-Statistical-Methods/dp/1847879071/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1404320969&sr=8-2&keywords=discovering+statistics+using+spss

I love this book for engaging people to think critically and have fun with psych.

There are a few titles I really love. I hope you like a few things on the list, if you have any questions let me know.

• Developmental Neuropsych: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog; http://www.amazon.com/The-Boy-Raised-Psychiatrists-Notebook-What/dp/0465056539
  
  
• Social/Cog: The Righteous Mind; http://www.amazon.com/The-Righteous-Mind-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777
  
  
• Unconscious Cognition: Sway and The Hidden Brain; http://www.amazon.com/The-Hidden-Brain-Unconscious-Presidents/dp/B007K4F7RU ; http://www.amazon.com/Sway-Irresistible-Pull-Irrational-Behavior/dp/0385530609
  
  
• Cog: The Seven Sins of Memory: http://www.amazon.com/The-Seven-Sins-Memory-Remembers/dp/0618219196
  
  
• Social Cog/ Neuro: Loneliness; http://www.amazon.com/Loneliness-Human-Nature-Social-Connection/dp/0393335283
  
  
• Neuro, Cog, Soc: Wisdom; http://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-From-Philosophy-Neuroscience-Vintage/dp/0307389685
  
  
• Social: Telling lies (like the show Lie to Me? This is the research behind it) and Out of Character; http://www.amazon.com/Telling-Lies-Marketplace-Politics-Marriage/dp/0393337456 ; http://www.amazon.com/Out-Character-Surprising-Truths-Lurking/dp/0307717763
  
  
• Intelligence w/ Genetics: The genius in all of us: http://www.amazon.com/The-Genius-All-Us-Insights/dp/0307387305

50 Myths of Pop Psychology is a really great book. It'll help you take your psych understanding from a very intro level to something more advanced. One of our problems when we teach intro to psych is that we include all of the theories that are historically relevant in a very superficial manner, and never dive deeper with students to really talk about our modern understanding of anything. 50 Myths includes the major misconceptions people have of our field including things you probably learned in your intro class for their historical value.

Here is Occupational Health Psychology: https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Occupational-Health-Psychology-Second/dp/1433807769/ref=sr_1_2?crid=23K4PM6UI8F10&keywords=handbook+of+occupational+health+psychology&qid=1574832541&sprefix=handbook+of+occupation%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-2

​

Here is also a great stats textbook: https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Statistics-Using-IBM-SPSS/dp/1526436566/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=andy+field+statistics&qid=1574833320&sr=8-1

The same author also has a interesting version of a stats book: https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Statistics-Reality-Enigma/dp/1446210456/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=andy+field+statistics&qid=1574833347&sr=8-3

I mainly use SAS nowadays, but Andy published one of the most popular and easy-to-use SPSS and introductory/intermediate statistics books.

I highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Statistics-Introducing-Statistical-Method/dp/1847879071/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

I recently used Andy Field's Discovering Statistics Using R when I was in a similar position to you are now and wanted to go back over the basics, and found it very useful. It's written in a very light and conversational tone (which you might find very humorous or very annoying, I believe it divides opinion) so it doesn't feel too much like a textbook, although it is one. He's also written a book called An Adventure in Statistics: The Reality Enigma which looks like it could be exactly what you're after, but I've not read it personally so can't say for sure whether it's any good.

If you're primarily interested in doing psychotherapy, there's also a broad variety of options for more professional degrees, from masters programs in social work and clinical psychology to PsyD (doctorate in psychology) programs that are "scientific practitioner" programs. Some Ph.D. programs are also much more focused on clinical work than others. Get yourself a book on the process! This one helps for clinical and counseling programs in the US (and Canada, I believe?); this book discusses the application process.

I'd also talk to professors and get insight from them, rather than strangers on the internet.

My program requires a number of stats classes and my advisor requires a number more than that. My program also offers a few data science-related specializations, which are, of course, optional, but great.

For some independent learning, Andy Field's Discovering Statistics Using R -- https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Statistics-Using-Andy-Field/dp/1446200469/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538060236&sr=8-1&keywords=discovering+statistics+using+r -- and datacamp.com are both handy resources.

It's a little silly but I really loved the coloring book version: http://www.amazon.com/The-Human-Brain-Coloring-Book/dp/0064603067

In regards to your second question -- I strongly suggest you pick up a copy of Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. It will be an amazing tool and reference point when trying to decide on (or even search for) programs in the field.

https://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Graduate-Programs-Counseling-Psychology/dp/1462518133

I'd recommend this book for the question about careers: http://www.amazon.com/Career-Paths-Psychology-Where-Degree/dp/1591477328/

It was very helpful for me in sorting out the different options and varieties of ways in which people get to their eventual jobs.

The APA has a similar book that's just come out for looking at graduate school in psychology, but I can't speak either way to the usefulness of that one.

There are a lot of recomendations on here but for memory, I would suggest Daniel Schacter's the Seven Sins of Memory

If you have an interest in creativity or problem solving, perhaps you may want to look at John Kounios' the Eureka Factor.

Happy Reading!

Edit: Formatting
Edit 2: still bad at formatting

For a stats program, I recommend learning R. It's free and powerful. No need to worry or wonder whether your university will have a license, as you would for SPSS, SAS, STATA, etc.

If you really have no stats background, you might find Andy Field's popular book series Discovering Statistics to be a good place to start. He's re-written this for several stats programs, but you'd want the one called Discovering Statistics Using R. That should be plenty to keep you busy. If not, then go a bit more into factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and Bayesian statistics.

Although it's a bit more specific than you're looking for, check out this book by Dr. Lisa Diamond:
http://www.amazon.com/Sexual-Fluidity-Understanding-Womens-Desire/dp/0674032268/

Dr. Diamond is a leading researcher in this area (she has several journal articles that might be on topic for you as well).

Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology

Was recommended by a Prof and it details everything you need to know to get started on graduate school stuff. It's seriously worth the investment, it will answer so many questions. Worth nothing this is primarily focused on the States with some minor focus on Canada. If you don't plan on studying in North America, the general info will still be helpful but a lot of it is about the individual programs.

I just asked this question in r/books and got back the recommendation of Undoing Gender by Judith Butler; reflections on gender and sexuality from Feminist Theory and Queer Theory. I haven't read it but I'm waiting to order it.

http://www.amazon.com/Undoing-Gender-Judith-Butler/dp/0415969239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343950959&sr=8-1&keywords=undoing+gender

One I do like is Lisa Diamond's Sexual Fluidity, a longitudinal (10+ yrs) study focusing on bisexuality. She defines sexual identity as something in flux that changes and is molded over our lifetime.

http://www.amazon.com/Sexual-Fluidity-Understanding-Womens-Desire/dp/0674032268/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343951135&sr=8-1&keywords=sexual+fluidity

For the most part I prefer anonymity on reddit. If you want specific details about programs this book http://www.amazon.com/Graduate-Psychology-American-Psychological-Association/dp/1433812207/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381270161&sr=8-2&keywords=apa+graduate+study+in+psychology+2013 will answer most of your questions. This was my bible when applying to grad school. As for what you pursue it is up to you, and honestly you can't know if you made the wrong choice, until you make one. Best piece of advice given to me regarding indecisiveness.

The only book I ever really liked is out of print:
http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Cognitive-Psychology-Reed-Hunt/dp/0072858958/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

This book gives a good historical and theoretical overview of Psychology (all its various subfields) both within North America and the rest of the world.

There are 2 resources I'd like to refer to you which helped me a lot in my own process.

The Insiders Guide to Programs in Clinical Psych

This PDF

In addition to the names already mentioned, I'd check out Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Any specific area of psychology?

I think this is a must for young people expressing interest in the field. Scott Lilienfeld is hands-down one of the most well-respected researchers in psychology, often seen as the arbiter of controversial issues and adequately dissecting the literature to present the most informed point of view.

The biggest take-away point that you need to stress is that psychology is a science. Regardless of what material you choose to cover, your students need to get past the typical newcomer mistake of thinking about psychology as hugs and intuition.

Given that you can't reasonably survey the field in 3-4 weeks, maybe just tackle big misconceptions. You might find this book helpful for thinking about myths to tackle as you move across subdisciplines in the field (e.g., clinical, cognitive, social, etc.)

You need this book... and remember there are other types of programs besides clinical psychology that do the exact same things that they do, but are less competitive because they are less known...

Try the Human Brain Coloring Book.

Seconding the Andy Field comment. http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Statistics-Using-Andy-Field/dp/1446200469

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Influence-Psychology-Robert-PhD-Cialdini/dp/006124189X

Theres a book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw

Theres a talk on the topic