Can I work while studying for my masters degree?

There are more opportunities for psychology jobs as you pursue higher degrees. If you are pursuing an accredited online psychology masters degree, you will have more jobs and responsibilities given to you. According to the graduate psychology department at Rider University, many students with a traditional or online masters degree in psychology work at clinics with drug abusers, battered wives and chronic psychiatric patients.

Unlike psychology undergraduates, studying for an online masters in psychology grants you more opportunities for hands-on work with mentally distressed patients because you have experience diagnosing emotional neuroses.

These jobs are especially important if you are earning an online master degree in psychology because you can work as a psychiatric assistant and develop important skills that you may not gain through online classes. Psychiatric assistants perform routine examinations and, in some instances, treat patients under professional supervision.

For the best online psychology masters, you should look for programs that offer you a flexible schedule so that you can further your education without sacrificing family and work obligations. If you are independently pursuing your psychology master degree online, it is vital that you find field-related jobs to round out your education and put the principles you learn into practice.

Are there any scholarships for traditional or online students?

Whether you are earning your online MS in psychology or mulling over the tuition costs of MA psychology online programs, there are many scholarships available to you either through specific colleges or independent organizations.

Traditional universities with school-funded clinics offer graduate assistantships, which allow psychology majors to gain practical experience and consult with actual patients. Oklahoma University gives their out of state students the chance to work for their psychology department, and in return, they grant a full or partial waiver of their out-of-state tuition differential.

There are also numerous scholarships available if you are looking at different online masters degree programs in psychology. Psychological societies like the American Psychological Foundation (APF) offer 13 annual scholarships for graduate students earning their traditional or online master in psychology. Many awards like the $5,000 Harry and Miriam Levinson Scholarship help students with their tuition or with independent research endeavors, but the APF also gives $3,000 scholarships to women looking to launch their psychology careers, whether it is by pursuing an online MA in psychology or applying to MS psychology online degree programs.

Are there any notable people who have earned masters degrees?

It is not always about the curriculum, the professors and the courses; eventually, you will want to know more about the average psychology degree salary and which influential people also earned traditional or online masters degrees in psychology.

If you are passionate about psychology, it is only natural that you would want to check on its cultural and financial viability. Unfortunately, the most influential figures in modern psychology earned their degrees when it was impossible to pursue a psychology masters degree online. However, both traditional and online psychology majors can learn from the examples of these hallowed psychologists mentioned below.

Harry Harlow was an American psychologist who earned his masters from Stanford University. If you are looking at a rehabilitation psychology degree, examine Harlow’s isolation experiments with rhesus monkeys. Harlow demonstrates the importance of companionship during cognitive development.

William James founded the American Society for Psychical Research after accepting his masters degree from Harvard University in 1969. James championed the idea of functionalism, which states that a person’s cognition and behavior are sculpted by their environment.

Carl Rogers earned his masters from Columbia University in 1928. During his career, Rogers examined how mental processes are reflected through creative expression and free will. Rogers’ academic focus served as a foundation for humanistic psychology, an inspiring force for many counseling practices.

Albert Bandura is a Canadian psychologist who received both his masters and doctorate from Iowa University. Bandura is credited with creating the idea self-efficacy, which states that every personality reflects an individual’s confidence in their own competence.

Albert Ellis accepted his masters degree from Columbia University and his doctorate from the American Board of Professional Psychology. Ellis is considered the founder of cognitive behavioral therapies that counteract mental disorders with goal-oriented therapy systems.

Are there any brick-and-mortar colleges that offer an online program?

Many traditional colleges allow you to pursue a psychology masters degree online without ever entering a campus classroom. Schools like Colorado State University are traditional universities with growing online education portals that offer many online MS psychology programs. Specifically, Colorado State offers a masters degree in industrial and organizational psychology, a growing field that applies psychological principles to the corporate workplace.

Studying industrial and organizational psychology will give you insight into how the morale of individual workers enhances the efficiency of businesses. On the other hand, if you are looking for an MA in psychology online, and you want to focus on more conventional areas of psychological study, traditional colleges like Ball State University offer a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology. During this 30-hour program, you will design a program of study that applies to 1 of 3 concentrations: human development, statistical and research methods or gifted and talented education.

If you have a strong interest in school counseling, you can pursue this MA while you earn your professional license or prepare for a doctoral program. Because so many traditional schools use online learning to adapt to technological advances, students can now earn their masters from almost any college without ever having to commute.