I love chatting with people who are interested in becoming school psychologists, who are eager to know exactly how I became a school psychologist, so I thought I would share my experience here! I’d love to chat more with anyone thinking about becoming a school psych in the future.
My Undergraduate Years: What to study?
I went into college with a completely different area of study: pre-law! I liked it, but ended up taking my first psychology course as a core course (an introductory course), and I just loved learning about it. I definitely believe, first and foremost, that you need to have a passion about psychology, education and children to do this work
During my time in college, I enjoyed almost every single psychology class I took. I was fortunate to be able to participate in number of activities in the field. My first was a developmental psychology course, where we volunteered for a number of weeks in a Head Start program. Later, there was a course on aging where we volunteered in a convalescent home. My first experience with a school psychologist was shadowing one for a day. It was an inner city school, and for the first time, had a taste that this might just be something I would like to do.
During my senior year in college, I thought that I was moving toward the clinical side of psychology. My first semester, I interned at a partical day hospitalization program at a mental health hospital near my school. It was challenging, to say the least, but I knew it was important work. As it ended, I learned that there was a therapeutic day school on campus, and spent my last semester there. The head of the program was a school psychologist, who was amazingly inspiring, and was so great with the students. I enjoyed the balance of her role in education and mental health. When it was time to graduate, my primary goal was to find a job, and I ended up working in the field of social worker, as a Therapeutic Foster Care case manager.
The Real World Experience
You guys, if I could give one piece of advice to anyone thinking of graduate school, it would be to get a few years of real world experience under your belt before going back to school. Especially in a field where your job is to work with a challenging population, the more experiences you can bring in, the better. I worked for 3 years (in Boston and Connecticut) in Therapeutic Foster Care before I decided on any career, and it was the best thing for me. Working in the social work field gave me a glimpse into all kinds of careers I was considering: therapy, education, social work, and ultimately, I really felt like the work that the school staff was doing impacted the kids I had in a positive way. I did some research and found out that I could take up to 2 classes in a nearby school psychology program before matriculating, so I signed myself up!
Back to School
I love learning and education, and as a budding school psychologist, you probably should do. After taking my first class in school psychology, during which we interviewed and shadowed various school psychs, I knew it was the career for me. I applied, and was accepted! The school psych program at my school was 3 years: 1 for your masters, and 2 for your 6th year, including a full time internship. I continued to work full time in social work for the first 2 years. It wasn’t easy, but it was 100% worth it. Because the programs in school psychology are small, I really enjoyed the other women in my cohort, and we still talk today!
Interning
An internship for a school psychologist is a big deal; it’s a huge learning experience, and helps set the tone of who you will become as a school psychologist. When considering where to intern, I knew that there were a few chosen districts I had in mind, and I applied to intern in those. I really considered the district over the school psych I was matched with. In the end, my internship year was rough, as I don’t think we matched personalities too well, but I learned SO MUCH, and it gave me great experience.
The Job Hunt
My classmates and I all had different goals when we were searching for our first jobs. For some, they just wanted a job, so they applied to every school psychologist posting that came up in the state. I took another approach, and really wanted to work in only a few certain districts. There were probably about 8-10 towns I wanted to work in, and as a result, I waited and waited for positions in those to pop up. Of course, as many postings do, they did right before the school year, and I was offered a position in the district I interned in!
Now in my 5th year of working, in my second district, I feel like my time in graduate school was so long ago! To now be entering a position where I’m being as to take on an intern is crazy to me, but I can’t wait to help someone else on this journey.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about my journey to becoming a school psychologist, and please, let me know any questions you might have!