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Psychologist

What To Learn

High School

What high school courses should you take if you're interested in this career? Get your answers from the Human Services cluster Counseling and Mental Health Services pathway.

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Additional Information

Prepare to spend some time at university. You'll need a bachelor's degree in psychology to start. This degree takes four years to complete and can be taken at most major universities.

Get involved in research as soon as possible, even while working on your undergraduate degree. "Get into university and get started in a research program as soon as you can. Spend some time in the labs and get to know what's going on," says Peter Weissenberg, an organizational psychologist.

Graduate school is a necessity. There are more than 600 universities in the United States that offer graduate programs in psychology.

Getting into graduate school to study psychology may be difficult -- graduate school committees look for people who are able to function well without supervision. Any experience you can get supervising or conducting research on your own is a big help in getting into graduate school.

Beyond graduate school, if you want to practice psychology by seeing clients, you will need to get licensed or certified by the state in which you plan to practice. Every state has its own licensing requirements, which usually involve a graduate degree, an exam, an internship and possibly more.