How Do You Know If A Master’s Degree In Psychology Is Good?
A common experience among recent graduates in psychology training is the appearance of this disturbing question in their minds: what now? Plunging headfirst into professional practice seems to be a terrifying idea for anyone, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it could be because many undergraduate programs tend to focus the content of their study plans on a theoretical dimension and not so much on practice, or that undergraduate training in psychology tends to focus on the clinical area, leaving other branches relegated. at the end of the race.
In this way, there is the possibility that many recent graduates are able to recognize the specific area of ​​psychology in which they are interested and in which they would like to work in the future, but they consider that they do not have sufficient training to delve into it. in the work field. Fortunately, many universities offer master’s degrees to train students in the particular area of ​​psychology of their interest. However, a new question may emerge: How can one know if a master’s degree in psychology is good? In this article we will develop a series of guidelines that can be used to evaluate the quality of the offers of this type of training.
Criteria to evaluate whether a master’s degree is good or not
In recent years, the offer of training for psychologists has multiplied in accordance with the developments of this discipline in its different branches. The spectrum of training opportunities is wide: in the clinical, labor, legal, social, community, educational, marketing, neuropsychology, and we could go on. Such a magnitude of elaborated knowledge makes addressing all fields of psychology a task that cannot be encompassed by the curriculum of any degree training. This reason leads many students to want to specialize in a specific area, and for this, training in a master’s degree is a great option. To make the task of selecting a master’s degree to enroll in easier, below we will detail some tips to evaluate which is the best option.
1. Search online for information about the entity that dictates it
When deciding which master’s degree to enroll in, it is essential to review what is the convening entity There are multiple factors that we can analyze about the university that teaches the master’s degree. Some of them could be the prestige of the center or university in general and in the specific area of ​​interest, or the length of time with which the university has been providing the training. Taking these criteria into account could give us a clue about whether a particular master’s degree is reliable, since there are many programs that could have great benefits or values ​​so affordable that they could raise doubts.
Regarding the latter, however, we must consider that There is the possibility that a specialization course may be very good and yet have only a few years of experience This could be due to the fact that, for example, the branch being focused on is relatively new. For this reason, taking into account the entity that teaches the master’s degree is important, but it would not be advisable to let the entire weight of the decision fall on this point.
2. Review study plans
A good idea to decide whether enrolling in a master’s degree is worth it or not is to check if its study plan is congruent with the degree it offers, and above all, if it meets the expectations we have. It is of utmost importance keep a record of the study plans of the master’s degrees that interest us to compare them Some aspects that we can point out are the subjects or subjects that are taught and whether they have a more practical or theoretical focus.
On the other hand, we can also investigate the specific programs of the subjects that make up the training. Access to these is usually public, so we can start by entering the universities’ websites to review them. If you cannot find them, there is always the possibility of sending an email expressing your intention to learn more about the master’s subject programs.
Once we have access to these, it would be a good idea to analyze the foundation and objectives of the program in question within the framework of the master’s degree that interests us. In these sections we could find information about the epistemological paradigm or the theoretical framework of reference from which the subject is approached. Considering whether a master’s degree is good or not according to this criterion will depend on the type of training that interests us. However, we can agree that a guideline to determine if a master’s degree in psychology is good is that its positioning is explicit in its study plans and programs. The same with the bibliography corresponding to the course. Something we can also look at is make it as up to date as possible
4. See if the teachers are specialized in the area
Another criterion that we can take into account to determine the quality of a master’s degree is to review who the professors in charge of the subjects are. It is possible that the names of some of them will be familiar to us if we are considering the possibility of enrolling in a master’s degree taught by the same university where we completed the degree. If this is not the case or we simply do not know who they are, one possibility is to search for them in the browser to learn a little more about them: where they have been trained, what branch they specialize in and what their ongoing projects are.
Finally, one of the surest methods to know if a master’s degree in psychology is good is to contact someone who has done that training before. This too It will give us a different perspective than what we can access through formal means If we don’t know someone, we can always contact a student or graduate and kindly ask if they would be willing to answer our questions about the master’s degree. Of course, it is important to consider that the response we receive from that person will always be sealed by their subjective experience. Another point of reference external to the master’s degree to know if it is good is to find out if it has agreements with other institutions or companies to carry out professional internships – in case this corresponds to the type of master’s degree we plan to enroll in.
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