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Hey, I'm still in high school, but I'm extremely interested psychology. Particularly, criminal psych. Can anyone suggest schools that excel in this area (preferably in major cities).

By nycgal on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 11:59 pm: Edit

There's the john jay college of criminal justice in Brooklyn, and I know that NYU has a decent psych program, but I don't know if that includes criminal. You could always call them

By kiddokid on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 01:00 am: Edit

You're going to have to go through a lot of years of normal psychology to get to the criminal stuff. What people normally do is major in psych at their undergraduate university and then apply to more specialized graduate schools for criminal psychology. In fact... I think that's what you have to do. Brown University excells in the areas of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology and especially neuroscience. There are specific seminars that focus on more specific things like children's thinking and even criminal behavioral psychology, which you can pursue even as an undergraduate. Furthermore, if you are really interested in this field, Brown allows you to contruct your own major. I'm sure there are kids that have graduated from there with degrees in Criminal Psychology. Look at their website for more info.

By Abibored (Abibored) on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - 12:25 pm: Edit

Hey, am interested in Psych too. Am in my Junior year of High School. I've looked into it and for the first coupla years you'll have to go into basic psych classes. If ur interested in some of the Biology behind it, Dartmouth or Duke are great. Erm, safety-wise, maybe USD?
Brown has a great Psychology program. Or even Rice university in Houston.
For undergraduate year, you'll just hafta take up Psych, but attend the lectures on Criminal. After the first two years, you're bound to be able to specialise.

By Drmike (Drmike) on Monday, March 31, 2003 - 08:30 am: Edit

The journey level degree in psychology is a PhD (which is the minimum required for practice or even use of the title "psychologist" in most states). What you do undergrad is only important as it relates to getting in to grad school. If you go to the American Psychological Association site (WWW.APA.org) you can get more information about graduate study and programs. Graduate programs tend to allow a fair amount of opportunity to persue interests, so if there is a professor there with some forensic related interests, you can do that without the program having to have a specialty in that area. (FYI-I have a PhD in clinical, did a field placement in a county jail, intership in a forensic services unit of a hospital, and then worked for the US Bureau of Prisons for 10 years.) Don't worry too much about specialization now...enjoy undergrad!

By Abibored (Abibored) on Monday, March 31, 2003 - 10:10 am: Edit

To be a psychologist.... what sciences would I have to take? I know psychiatry requires some kind of chemistry to make prescriptions....