Here are all the career’s levels:
- Under-Graduate Student – 15/hr 12hrs MTWTF – The path to becoming a psychologist is lengthy and it starts at the college level. You are being given a small daily stipend from the Institute to help you while you study for your bachelor’s degree as you pursue your career in this field. Do not squander your stipend! Show up to class on time each day while remaining focused on your studies and you should be able to take the next step.
- Medical School Student – 30/hr 12hrs MTWTF – Now that you have been admitted into medical school, your first round of classes will be rather science-heavy. After that, you will begin rotations which is where you will go into hospitals and clinics to shadow and assist residents in particular psychological specialties. During this time, you’ll probably feel like a cross between a mindless grunt and a skilled apprentice. You’ll interact with patients and perform any tasks the resident doesn’t want to do.
- Resident Psychologist – 50/hr 10hrs MTWTFS – Now that you have completed medical school, the real work begins! You will be working directly under licensed professionals to give you hands-on experience in all aspects of psychiatry. Residencies involve didactic courses, clinical rounds, specialty seminars and research components. The hours are long but the learning you will do here will be invaluable as you progress in this career. It is also required.
- Psychologist’s Assistant – 85/hr 8hrs MTWTF – As a registered psychological assistant (or PA), you will diagnose and treat a variety of mental and emotional issues. Additionally, knowledge of clerical and office management tasks is beneficial, since many PAs perform some of these duties as well. As you will be working with people of different personalities and behavioral backgrounds, PAs must also be able to tactfully and effectively communicate with such individuals so work on your charisma as well as your other studies.
Psychological Research Track:
- Lab Tech – 125/hr 8hrs MTWTF – As a lab technician, your duties include human subjects data collection, basic data analysis, database management, and equipment calibration, maintenance and troubleshooting. Oh, data collection may include you sometimes being a subject in experiments. In addition, some administrative work is required, including writing laboratory and study-related documentation and purchasing supplies.
- Associate Researcher – 175/hr 8hrs MTWTF – As an Associate Researcher, your primary responsibility will be to program experiments and to collect, analyze, process, and present behavioral data. You will still only be one step above the lab techs but at least the pay and respect you receive with your new position is better. Keep focused and continue your research and you will go far in this career.
- Research Fellow – 250/hr 8hrs MTWT – As a Research Fellow, you will participate/assist in the writing of publications in scholarly journals, train and mentor Associate Researchers, collaborate with an interdisciplinary research team, and of course perform research on various topics related to psychology. This position can often be only temporary or last until grant money runs out so be sure to work hard and prove yourself worthy of being promoted to a more permanent position.
- Tenured Researcher – 375/hr 8hrs MTWT – As a Tenured Researcher you are basically the same as you were before except now you have job security! Now is also a good time to specialize in a specific sub-field of psychological research as your main focus.
- Dean of Research – 575/hr 6hrs MWF -As the Dean of Research, you now have significant authority over the entire Psychological Research Department. Your responsibilities include approving faculty hiring, setting academic policies, overseeing the budget, fundraising, and other administrative duties. Unfortunately, you will have to give up most research activities upon assuming the deanship. Hopefully the higher pay-grade will lessen that blow.
Clinical Psychology Track:
- Inpatient Psychologist – 125/hr 8hrs MTWT – You will be working in an inpatient facility and be responsible, at least in part, for performing assessments and evaluations on new patients. You may also work as part of a diverse team to provide a comprehensive patient assessment and treatment. Unlike other mental health professionals, as an inpatient psychologist, you have been specially-trained in administering a wide variety of psychological tests, which are often used to assess a patient’s cognitive functioning or to determine the presence of a serious mental health disorder.
- Corrections Psychologist – 225/hr 6hrs MTWT – Correctional psychologists face the daunting task of providing mental health treatment to those placed in custodial correctional settings (prison). Your main responsibility as a correction psychologist is to rehabilitate inmates, and to help them make transition from prison, back into the free world. You must also use your skills to create a safer atmosphere for other staff who deal with the inmates.
- Private Practice – 375/hr 8hrs MTTF – Now that you have built up your reputation in the field, it is time to found your own private practice as a Counseling Psychologist. Counseling psychology is a very broad field of mental health work that includes individual counseling, group counseling, marriage and family counseling, social work, and psychiatry, to name a few. The common thread between these different occupations is that they focus on helping people improve their lives through personal growth.
- Child Psychologist – 495/hr 6hrs MTF – Now that your private practice has become successful, it is time to specialize. Child psychologists are highly trained psychology specialists that provide a host of services to children, and sometimes adolescents and families, who are experiencing some sort of life difficulty. You will mostly engage in individual therapy with clients on whatever their presenting issue might be to bring about positive change. Since most of your clients are minors and are heavily influenced by their home life, you are also often responsible for working with entire families.
- Psychiatrist – 795/hr 6hrs TWT – You’ve have reached the pinnacle of this career (and salary level). As a psychiatrist, you basically diagnose and treat mental disorders via your private practice. (Psychiatrists are medical doctors with specialized training in psychiatry that allows them to provide mental health treatment to their patients.) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Mental Disorders (5th Ed.) is about to become your best friend as you diagnose clients together and treat them with various therapies including medication which you are now licensed to prescribe.
