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Behaviorism, Autism, and Procrastination
Contents
Chapter 30
Jobs and Grad School
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FUNDAMENTALS
Where should I go from here?
In the heading of most of the case studies and
experiments, we’ve indicated the professional field to which they are most
relevant; we did this to help you select the professional field you want to
enter. Here are the professional fields we’ve often cited and that you might
want to consider for a career:[1]
}
Applied Behavior
Analysis
}
Behavior Social
Work
}
Behavioral Sports
Psychology
}
Behavioral
Medicine
}
Behavioral
Developmental Disabilities
(The Mentally Handicapped)
}
Behavioral
Special Education
}
Behavioral School
Psychology
}
Behavioral
Clinical Psychology
}
Behavioral
Community Psychology
}
Behavioral
Counseling Psychology
}
Experimental
Analysis of Behavior
}
Organizational
Behavior Analysis
(Behavioral Industrial/Organizational Psychology)
} Behavioral Pharmacology
There’s great overlap among many of these fields. For
example, most of the studies relevant to behavioral special education are also relevant
to behavioral school psychology and vice versa. And many are also relevant to
behavioral clinical psychology.
In addition, they’re all relevant to the mother
field—behavior analysis, with its subfields experimental
Analysis of Behavior and Applied Behavior
Analysis. A graduate degree in
behavior analysis would be excellent training to deal with any of the problems
dealt with by professionals in those fields. The exception might be that to
work in the public school systems, you will most often, though not always, also
need a degree in Special Education
or School Psychology. In many human services settings you will often
need some sort of state license that might involve taking up to four
nonbehavioral courses, whether you get your degree in Behavior Analysis,
Behavioral Counseling Psychology, or Behavioral
Clinical Psychology.
Where should I not
go from here?
If you like the behavior-analysis orientation of this
book, you’ll want to choose your graduate program with special care, because
most traditional programs are incompatible with behavior analysis and the
approach this book advocates. For example, the main thrust is psychodiagnostics
in traditional school psychology, traditional clinical psychology, and
traditional industrial/organizational psychology. In other words, these
traditional approaches often relegate the role of the psychologist to that of a
mere test giver, one who purports to measure a person’s “personality,”
“intelligence,” “mental health,” and “aptitude.”
It’s a long story, but we believe most testing does
more harm than good, fatalistically putting a label on human beings, which
generally does more to limit their future opportunities in life than to expand
their horizons, in spite of the rhetoric of the multimilllion-dollar testing establishment.
On the other hand, behavior analysts like Ivar Lovaas,
working with children labeled autistic, have shown that we can save many
of the people who are most lost. Of course, he had to ignore the predictions,
theory, and philosophy of traditional psychology and traditional
psychodiagnostics. And he had to make careful use of the principles of
behavior—a much more optimistic approach.
Unfortunately, testing is sometimes a necessary evil.
For example, many human-services jobs in the state of
In addition to concentrating on diagnosis in terms of
the medical model, of course, traditional psychologists actually do work to
help people with problems. However, their talk-therapy interventions are often
too minimal and too ineffective, often involving little more than everyday,
commonsense advice dressed up in the jargon of psychological reifications. The
general, unstated assumption behind talk therapy is that there is no problem
that a little insight and a little plausible-sounding advice can’t fix. But the
scientific data suggest almost the opposite: while talk therapy can sometimes
help, there are few serious psychological, sociological, educational,
behavioral problems fixed with an hour’s advice once a week.
It may seem we’re coming down too hard on tradition,
but do a quick scan of the graphs in the previous chapters of this book. Baseline
is usually just another name for traditional approaches that almost always
lose.
People often say, “I want to sample the best of the
traditional approaches and the best of behavior analysis and then apply what’s
appropriate to a particular cause.” We call that approach eclecticism;
and, at first glance, it seems the most reasonable, doesn’t it?
But most often eclecticism is like trying to mix oil
and water. And most often, to try to “apply behavior analysis” where it best
fits and to try to “apply traditional approaches” where they best fit means
that you don’t really understand either. And, furthermore, it means that you’ve
not committed yourself enough to any one approach to attain the level of
expertise you will need to be an effective professional who can really
help people.
This doesn’t mean there is no value in studying
traditional approaches from a behavioral perspective. But our observation is it
requires a PhD level of expertise in behavior analysis before you can tread the
dangerous swamps of traditional psychology without getting sucked into the
quicksand of mentalistic reifications and the medical model or else running for
the superficial high ground of rejecting what might be salvaged from
traditionalism. So our advice is this: If, and only if, you think behavior
analysis is the way to go, get at least an MA and ideally a PhD in some form of
behavior analysis. Do this before you risk blowing it with traditional
psychology, at least if you think behavior analysis is the way to go.
Of course, if you aren’t sold on behavior analysis,
you should continue searching until you find something you are sold on, and
then go for it wholeheartedly. Don’t stand at the edge of the sandbox
equivocating. Jump in and get your hands dirty and your shoes full of sand;
start building those castles. Do what you can to work toward the well-being of
your fellow human beings. For info on eclectic grad programs, check out
http://www.abainternational.org/start
How do I find the right grad programs?
Now suppose you say, “Yes, you behavior analysts have
gotten my heart and my soul; where do I go from here?”
Probably into an M.A. program.
Which one?
Well, it’s fairly easy if you can find one with behavior
in the title. But there’s a good chance you can’t because many good behavior
analysis programs are simply called school psychology, special ed., or
even human development and family life. But watch out, because most are
just the same old traditional, ineffective, unscientific stuff.
Where should you look for grad programs?
}
Ask the teacher
of this course.
}
Go to the
Association for Behavior Analysis’ (
http://www.abainternational.org
}
It’s all there
with the programs listed by state, so if you want to select the state with the
world’s most ideal climate (i.e., Michigan, heh, heh, heh) you would find 4
grad programs listed, including—guess which one—WMU’s, heh, heh, heh.
}
Also, look
through the references in this book for authors whose work you like and track
‘em down. One of those authors may be looking for a grad student just like you.
By the way, many of these people are the only, or the only one of two or three,
behavior analysts in a traditional department. That way you’ll get some
unavoidable eclecticism. But don’t think you can maintain your behavioral
perspective in a program with absolutely no behaviorists; you can’t. (You can
probably find the addresses of your favorite behavior analysis
researcher/authors in the
Http://www.wmich.edu/aba/membership.html
}
Go to
E-mail me (dickmalott@old.dickmalott.com), and I’ll try to let you know if we have
any special
} Finally, here is a list of a few of the fine programs
with a behavior analysis emphasis with which I am personally familiar and which
I would personally recommend. There are many excellent ones I’ve failed to
mention. This is just to get you started. And, again, there are many excellent
opportunities with only one or two behavior analysts in a general department.
What are some good MA and PhD Programs?
Again, these are just some of the good programs in
behavior analysis, generally the ones I know the most about. But there are many
others equally as good.
What are some good M.A. programs?
Eastern
Here’s another way to cut the cake:
}
}
}
Southern
}
Southern
}
}
}
what are some good international programs?
There are a number of outstanding behavior analysis
programs around the world, if you’ve got your language act together or are
willing to pay the dues. Here are few I personally know about.
Pontifical Catholic
WHAT DEGREE SHOULD I GET—B.A., M.A., Ed.S., M.S.W., or
Ph.D.?
The B.A. Degree[2]
Behavior analysis may be the only field within
psychology where you can actually get a job using what you learned as an
undergrad and not end up waiting tables instead. If you get a B.A. with an
emphasis on behavior analysis and are willing to move where the job is, you can
fairly easily get a job in human services, especially working with the
developmentally disabled. In 2002, jobs started at around $25,000 to $35,000
annually. I had one B.A. student was pulling down $45,000 in human services,
but that’s not typical. In any case, if you have a good background in behavior
analysis, you’ll probably end up doing what an M.A. normally does.
Unfortunately, we only know of two undergrad programs with an emphasis on behavior
analysis, WMU and the
The M.A., M.S.W., and Ed.S. Degrees
In some ways, the intermediate-level degrees are the
sweet spot, the optimal, most cost-effective applied degrees in human services,
education, school psychology, organizational behavior management (OBM or I/O),
and social work. And plenty of places are looking for behavior analysts in
these areas.
In 2002, M.A. jobs typically started at around $35,000
to $55,000 per year with plenty of room for growth. A few started at $65,000 to
$75,000. One, for a program director started at $85,000 to $100,000. I’ve heard
of other M.A. jobs in autism starting at $100,000, but don’t hold your breath.
Typically, you will begin by designing programs for clients. After a year or
two in human services, you may not be spending most of your time working
directly with clients, yourself. Instead, you will be training and supervising
those who do. With an MA you might also be able to get a job teaching in a
community college.
The Ph.D. Degree
If you’re having a great time in grad school (many people
are), and if you want to keep having a great time two or three more years, and
if you’re in perhaps the top 25% on the exams, in your M.A. courses, go for a
Ph.D. degree. But, otherwise, don’t feel obliged to, because you probably won’t
need it. With a Ph.D. you’ll do all the things an M.A. does, and an M.A. may be
your boss. However, you almost have to have a Ph.D. if you want to do research
or teach in a four-year college or a university, and that’s about as much fun
as anything I can think of that they actually pay you to do.
In 2002, there happened to only be two Ph.D. jobs with
salary listings posted at
OBM + Autism = Solution to Hard Times
One year ago, my students who graduated with an M.A.
or Ph.D. with a specialty in organizational behavior management (OBM) were
getting good behavior analysis jobs before the ink had dried on their diplomas.
But, at the moment (
Clinical Grad School Warning!
The programs that are hardest to get into are A.P.A.
approved, Ph.D. clinical-psychology programs in major universities; they may
have several hundred applicants and may admit only a half dozen. For example,
I’ve never known any students to get into the University of Michigan’s clinical
program, though some applicants have been honors-college graduates with 3.95
GPAs and 1300 composite math and verbal GRE scores!! In 1997, 1068 students
applied to the various clinical Ph.D. programs in the state of Michigan; and
only 48 got in. So, if you’re pretty sure you’re among the top 5% of the students
applying to Ph.D. clinical programs (not the top 5% graduating with a B.A.
degree) go ahead and apply; but in any case, you’d be wise to have a
well-developed plan B in your hip pocket, just in case; in other words, you’d
be wise to apply to some interesting non-clinical programs, as well.
And things are getting even more difficult for
students wanting to get into clinical grad schools. First of all, so many
students have become so enamored with Bob Newhart, clinical psychologist, that
there is now a glut of Ph.D. clinicians, with many new and even experienced
clinicians unemployed or underemployed. Second, with the new emphasis on
managed health care and thus a new emphasis on cost-effective “mental-health”
intervention programs, the insurance companies, HMOs, and such, are no longer
paying $100+ per hour for as many weeks, months, or years as it needs for the
client to resolve his Oedipus complex on the couch of a traditional
talk-therapy clinical psychologist. They want quick, effective, inexpensive
interventions, often to be provided by M.A. psychologists under the supervision
of a Ph.D. psychologist. As a result, the directors of many of the leading
clinical Ph.D. programs have talked about reducing their programs by 50%. So a
bad situation is getting even worse for students trying to get into clinical
programs. And I’m seeing the results; ever year I have one or two outstanding
undergrads who apply only to clinical programs and then don’t get accepted
anywhere. It turns out that this is common nationwide, so that many students
spend several years trying to get into a clinical Ph.D. program.
Let me suggest a couple of alternatives: In addition
to applying to clinical Ph.D. programs, apply to a few clinical M.A. programs
that might be easier to get into, just in case. And/or, in addition to applying
to clinical Ph.D. programs, apply to a few behavior analysis programs, just in
case. And while you are working on your M.A. degree, you can continue applying
to clinical Ph.D. programs if you wish.
Also, there are not nearly as many students who
appreciate the intellectual reinforcers of experimental psychology and the
experimental analysis of behavior, so it’s much easier to get into excellent
programs in those areas. Applied behavior analysis is in between those two
extremes, but much closer to the experimental end, as are industrial, school
psychology, and so forth.
By the way, I think it is easier for M.A. clinicians
to get jobs than Ph.D. clinicians; and I think it will be more so, in the
future. Also, a few behavior analysis Ph.D. programs train their students in
organizational behavior analysis, behavior systems analysis, and staff
management, as well as in the skills they will need to work with mental-health
clients. I think this sort of training may be exactly what the Ph.D.
mental-health worker will need under the new and coming managed health care. A
couple of schools that offer that sort of training are Western Michigan
University and University of Nevada, Reno. There may be a few others.
M.A. Jobs
I got the following e-mail from Sigrid Glenn, founder
and chair of the Behavior Analysis Department at the University of North Texas.
Here are areas from which M.A. graduates from our
Behavior Analysis program have received job offers:
}
Designing and supervising
the implementation of behavioral programs for developmentally disabled
individuals living in the community or in institutions
}
Working with
families of abused and neglected children
}
Carrying out
in-home programs for children with autism
}
Training and
supervising in-home trainers for children with autism
}
Developing
performance management systems in business and industry
}
Designing
instructional materials for private vendors
}
Designing and
implementing behavior management programs in public schools
} Animal training and management for zoos or
recreational facilities.
Where can I find a job?
Some suggestions:
}
Drop me an
e-mail, and I’ll send you the latest list of jobs we know about, assuming we’ve
gotten the list together by that time.
}
Ask the teacher
of this course for leads.
}
Go to the ABA
convention (they have twice as many jobs as applicants).
}
Get a hold of the
ABA Newsletter for behavior analysis job listings.
} Check ABA’s Job Placement Service at
http://www.abainternational.org/start/ It’s really cool.
(Incidentally, these ABA Web addresses may have changed by the time you read
this. But these addresses should contain links to the new sites; if not, just
search for Association for Behavior Analysis and take it from there.)
Board Certified Behavior Analyst
Also become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst©
(master's degree required), or a Board Certified Associate Behavior Analyst ©
(bachelor’s degree required).
As of 2001, the recognition of certification and
subsequently the job market, had greatly increased in a number of states--CA,
PA, MA, OK, NY. And certified behavior analysts report that the certificate has
been a major help in getting a job even in states that have not formally
recognized the certification, because employers are impressed with the national
credential.
Check out http://www.bacb.com/ for the
info you’ll need.
HOW DO I GET into grad school?
The two things that screw up students the most are
their grades (GPA) and their Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores. Many schools
have a minimum cutoff of 3.0 GPA and 500 Quantitative and 500 Verbal on the
GRE. The good news is that not all do (e.g., WMU’s Behavior Analysis program
has a 400 minimum with a combined minimum score of 900). The bad news is that
many have a functional cutoff considerably higher, especially on the GPA, with
many applicants having GPAs of 3.5 to 3.8 and even higher.
What Do I Do About a Low GPA?
Suppose you don’t have the GPA you need; not all is
lost. In most universities, you can retake courses in which you got low grades
and your higher grade will count for your GPA; your lower grades may stay on
your record, but not in your GPA. Here’s how you do it:
}
First, retake any
course, no matter how dumb it was, in which you got a grade lower than a C.
}
Second, retake
any psych courses with a grade lower than a B. Get your Psych GPA above
a 3.5, if possible, and as close to a 4.0 as you can.
}
Do these things
even if you have to delay graduating for a semester or so. (Yes, students really
do follow this advice.)
}
Plot a graph of
your GPA by semester. If it shows improvement in recent semesters, then include
the graph and a brief explanation with your biographic statement in your
application.
}
By the way, in
some colleges, undergrad courses you take after you graduate can still raise
your undergrad GPA.
} And, even if you can’t get your GPA up to where it
should be, check out the grad programs anyway—who knows?
What Do I Do About a Low GRE?
GPA can be a problem, but the GRE usually is
a problem. What to do!?
}
First, get a GRE
training book from the bookstore and review it briefly.
}
Then take the
GRE, either for real or a practice version, like the ones probably in your
training book.
}
If you do as well
as you need, then take the real version right away (if you haven’t); then cross
your fingers and wait.
} But the odds are you didn’t do as well as you need.
Then go to your bookstore and buy some of the GRE prep manuals and computer
programs, and write a performance contract with some real hardass to make sure
that you put in the 150 or more hours of self-study you will probably need to
significantly raise your GRE scores.
What Should I Minor In?
Only after you’ve started on the right GPA and GRE
trail should you worry about anything else; all the rest is icing on the cake.
Forget your sociology minors and your communications
minors. They seemed like good ideas at the time, I know; but I’ve never heard a
grad school prof complain because a student had a weak background in sociology
or public speaking.
What we professors complain about is writing and math
skills.
}
So take a
practical or technical writing minor (or a bunch of relevant courses if you
can’t squeeze in the minor).
}
And take math up
through college algebra and finite math.
} Retake all writing and math courses in which you got
less than a B.
By the way, the math courses should also help you with
the GRE.
Here are some other good minors:
}
General business,
especially for those going into OBM (I/O).
}
Depending on your
plans, social work might be a good minor; but the odds are it will be
completely nonbehavioral or even antibehavioral.
}
And if you’re
interested in behavioral medicine or experimental analysis of behavior, biology
would be good, with physics and chemistry filling in the cracks.
}
Of course other
minors might be appropriate, depending on your specific plans, but the
preceding would be the best for most behavior analysis careers.
} Oh yes, also take all the behavior analysis courses
you can, as well as psychological statistics and experimental psychology. Take
all those courses if you can, but don’t put off graduating to do so. They’re
not as important as your GPA and GRE for getting into grad school.[3]
What Experience Should I Get?
Last and, to some extent, least, go for that practical
experience everyone erroneously thinks is more important than the GPA and GRE.
}
Get as many
semesters of experience as you can doing applied behavior analysis—odds are it
will be with clients labeled developmentally disabled or autistic.
}
And if your professor
has a research project going, get involved with that for a few semesters.
} Also, see if you can help with this course,
participating as a teaching apprentice or paper grader.
All this would be good experience, and it will
look good on your vita. But what’s most important for getting into grad school,
boys and girls?
1.Practical experience
2.GREs and GPAs
That’s right: GREs and GPAs, even though practical
experience is the most fun.
Of course, if you’ve not yet had much experience with behavior
analysis, you may be cautious about committing yourself full tilt to behavior
analysis. Many students who have a chance to take a good behavioral practicum
or get a part-time behavior modification job find that such experience does the
trick. When you find that you can actually help people improve the quality of
their lives after you’ve had just one course in behavior analysis, there’s a
good chance you’ll want to become a professional behavior analyst.
THE TIMETABLE
How Long Can I Procrastinate?
The timetable is important because deadlines will
sneak up on you and bite you on the rear when you didn’t even know they were
there. Many, but not all graduate programs admit new students in the fall only.
May 1, Right After Your Junior Year
Prepare for the GRE. The most important, though also the most boring, thing
you can do with the next 3 or 4 months of your life is to spend 4 hours a day
studying for the GRE. No matter how good your scores are, the better, the
better. First, you’ve got to get them high enough that you will be admitted.
But then GRE scores can also affect your chances for assistantships and
fellowships. Most behavior-analysis programs require only the math and verbal
sections, while clinical programs may also require the analytical sections; and
clinical and counseling pgrams may also recommend the psychology section. At
this point, I have no info on the writing section. But all things change, so
you should check with each grad program, to be sure. You should also check
http://www.gre.org/. And, not only will improving your math and
verbal skills improve your performance on the GRE, also it will probably
improve your performance in graduate school and on the job.
June 1, After Your Junior Year
Find the grad program you want to apply to.
}
Check out ABA’s
grad school listing at
http://www.wmich.edu/aba/GTD/TrainingDirectoryhome.htm
}
Check through EPB,
and check with your professors.
} Review your notes from the ABA convention if you had
the good fortune of attending between your junior and senior years.
July 1, After Your Junior Year
Contact graduate schools. By phone, email, or snail mail and request
information and application forms from all the grad programs you may be
interested in. Apply to a wide range of programs (maybe five or six; if you
apply to a dozen or two, you’ll just irritate your professors who are doing you
the favor of writing reference letters for you). Be sure you include one or two
grad programs you’re sure you will be admitted to, though they are not your
first choices.
You might also check
http://www.gre.org/ again, to make sure the following dates will
work out in terms of getting things to and from the GRE folks in time.
August 1, After Your Junior Year
Apply for the GRE exam. This may be your last chance to get your application
in for the GRE, so that they will have time to get the word to the grad
colleges to which you’re applying.
At my students’ advice, I’m being fairly conservative
in terms of these dates, but they day that to be sure of reserving a seat to
take the GRE test during prime time (late fall and early winter), you need to
do it way in advance. And to be sure the grad school gets your GRE scores in
time, you need to allow 5 or 6 weeks instead of the 10 to 15 days the GRE folks
suggest.
October 1, Your Senior Year
Take the GRE exam. Sleep well on Friday night and go into the GRE relaxed and calm, even
though your whole future depends on the next 6 hours—HA! HA!
But don’t slack off on your GRE prep prior to the
test. Keep logging in at least a
couple of hours a day of review and fine tuning on the GRE; for example, do
speed work because speed saves.
November 1, Your Senior Year
Retake the GRE, if needed. Use this option if your first GRE score sucked and
you’ve been studying hard since then.
December 1, Your Senior Year
Ask your professors to write your letters of
recommendation. Don’t ask the guy who
runs the corner garage and your favorite aunt. Best to ask profs who taught
your most relevant psych classes to write letters. And ask the profs who know
you best, even if it’s just as good old No. 303-99-4569. In other words, ask
your teachers for letters, even if you don’t have any who know you too well
because of the large course sections. Your professors are accustomed to coping
with that problem.
Incidentally, it’s especially cool if you can give all
the recommendation forms, envelops, etc. to your prof at the same time, so you
don’t have to keep contacting him or her. And, when you give your prof those
forms, include:
}
a photo of
yourself
}
a list of the
courses you had from that prof
}
along with the
dates of those course
}
who the teaching
assistants were
}
what grade you
got
}
a copy of your
university transcript
}
and a copy of the
personal or biographical statement you’ve probably had to write for your grad
aps.
} along with a list of the schools to which you’re
applying and their deadlines.
December 15, Your Senior Year
Submit your application to the graduate program you’re
interested in. (I’m assuming that the
earliest grad school deadline you have is January 1. But, I understand some
clinical programs require a December 1 deadline. However, if your quantitative
skills are good enough to pass the GRE, you should be able to adjust these
dates to meet the deadlines of the specific schools to which you’re applying.)
You will probably need to include a biographical
statement—one or two pages max, neat and well written. Just the facts:
}
Relevant
experience
}
Relevant courses
(point out your serious courses, such as your math and writing courses and your
behavior analysis courses)
}
The improvement
in your grades (include a graph showing the dramatic rise in your semesterly
GPA after your freshman year of booze, dope, and debauchery; but avoid the
details of your youthful depravity); don’t assume the admissions committee will
carefully dig through your transcript in search of your virtues
} Your professional goals, and why you really want to go
to the particular grad program you’re applying to—for example, the interests of
particular professors, the articles or books they’ve written that have
influenced your decision (name the professors), the details and aspects of the
grad program that attract you (the fact that their school is conveniently
located and their climate is nice may not impress the admissions committee)
Don’t bother telling the committee how great an
opinion you have of yourself (e.g., I’m well organized, hard working,
brilliant, lovable, sincere, courteous, kind, and humble) because your letters
of recommendation should take care of that. Self-promotion of that sort just
makes you look like a pompous ass, though you and I know you’re really a very
humble person.
Also, don’t bother explaining to the committee that
you are especially prepared to work in human services because you helped your
mother overcome her major mental illness and you developed a self-help program
to cure your own drug addiction.
December 15, Your Senior Year
Follow up on letters of recommendation. The only people more flaky than college students are
college professors. It won’t hurt to check with your professors to see how
they’re doing with your letters, perhaps in the guise of asking if they got
your materials OK and then later if they need any more information.
December 20, Your Senior Year
Make sure you’ve turned in your applications. A few grad schools require that you submit all your
application material by January 1—GRE scores, official transcripts, letters of
recommendation, everything. Wait until January 2 and you may have to wait a
year!!
February 1, Your Senior Year
Your profs always appreciate a little thank you note
for your letters of rec.
March 1 to April 1, Your Senior Year
Your profs always appreciate a little progress note
letting them know what grad schools accepted you and what one you accepted. But
suppose it’s disasterville; suppose no grad school accepted you. Don’t slit
your wrist. Instead call your favorite prof and set up an appointment to figure
out where to go from there, like what are your options to frying burgers at the
mighty Mac? And you’ve got a lot of options:
}
Like getting a
bachelor’s level job in behavior analysis for a year, while you recoup.
}
Like retaking
some undergrad courses. There’s a good chance, undergrad courses you take, even
after you graduate can apply to your undergrad GPA (check with your registrar);
otherwise, you might hold off graduating until you get the GPA you need.
}
Like really
busting butt on the GRE this time and not like the woosie job you did the last
time.
} Like finding a reasonable MA program that may still
have some vacancies.
And, if you don’t have a professor who can help you,
call me, ‘cause Uncle Dickie loves you, even if you didn’t have the good sense
to go to WMU. No kidding--(616) 372-1268.
September 1, Right After You Graduate
From College
Start graduate school. Shouldn’t you take a year off and get that valuable,
real-world experience? NO! At the end of three years you’d have one year of
BA-level experience and an M.A. degree (optimistically speaking). But suppose
you go straight from your B.A. to your M.A. Then, at the end of three years,
you’d have an M.A. degree and one year of M.A.-level experience, which would be
better experience and would have paid more and would have moved you up the pay
scale more than would one year of B.A.-level experience. But more important,
most, though not all, students who stop out for a year end up stopping out for
a lifetime. Once you’ve been out in the real world, driving them big cars and
smoking them big cigars, it’s hard to come back to grad school and
peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. And if you think it’s hard going to school
now, try it when you’ve got five kids to support. Stay hungry for another
couple of years; grab it while you can.
So that’s it. At the end of your junior year, the
clock starts ticking, and so do you. Good luck with it all. By the way, you’ll
love graduate school. Most of your courses will be interesting and relevant and
so will your professors. In addition, you will make friendships with fellow
grad students that will last the rest of your life. Grad school will probably
be the best time of your life.
Oh, yes, you might also check our Behavioral Academic
Career Counseling service BACC on the Behavior Analysis Training System (BATS)
Web site that my grad students built. BACC might have more job and grad-school
info. It’s
http://unix.cc.wmich.edu/~malott/ .
Drop
me an e-mail at:
DickMalott@old.dickmalott.com
Tell me how it went, how it’s going, and how it’s going to go; let me know if I
can help in any way. And remember:
[1]Although we’ve written this chapter in terms of continuing in behavior analysis, most of it applies to students wanting to go on in any field.
[2]I’m not distinguishing between a B.A. and a B.S. degree, nor an M.A. and an M.S. degree, because I don’t think most employers or grad-school admission committees make that distinction. So what I say about the B.A. applies as well to the B.S.; same with M.A. and M.S.
[3] Our suggestions for what courses to take apply just as well to students planning to get a job with a bachelor’s degree as to those planning to go to grad school.