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Kraena Pre-Health
Career Library

Therapy & Rehab

Clinical Psychologist (PhD or PsyD)

Diagnoses and treats mental health conditions through assessment and therapy — doctoral-level training without medical school.

Years after high school

9–12

Degree

PhD (research-focused) or PsyD (practice-focused)

Entrance exam

GRE at many programs

Median pay

$100,580 national median for clinical and counseling psychologists (BLS, May 2025).

What the job is actually like

Therapy sessions, psychological and neuropsychological testing, treatment planning, and documentation. Private practice offers control over your schedule; hospital and VA roles offer stability and benefits. Cannot prescribe medication in most states — that is the psychiatrist's role.

The path

  1. 014 years undergraduate, usually psychology
  2. 02Research or clinical experience — essential for funded PhD programs
  3. 035–7 year PhD or 4–6 year PsyD
  4. 041-year predoctoral internship plus postdoctoral supervised hours
  5. 05EPPP licensing exam

Good fit if

  • You want to treat mental health with depth and time per patient
  • You are drawn to assessment, research, or long-term therapeutic work
  • You can commit to a long training path without medical school

Think twice if

  • You want prescribing authority — consider psychiatry or psychiatric NP instead
  • You would take on unfunded doctoral debt without running the numbers
  • You want faster entry — an LCSW or LPC reaches counseling practice years sooner

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All salary figures here are median annual wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 — the most recent full national dataset. 'Median' means half of workers earn more and half earn less. Three things to keep in mind: (1) pay varies enormously by state, city, setting, and experience — a nurse in California and a nurse in rural Alabama earn very different salaries; (2) training lengths are typical, not guaranteed, and programs differ; (3) these numbers change every year. Always verify current figures at bls.gov/ooh before making a decision. For context, the BLS median wage for all U.S. occupations was $50,980, while healthcare practitioner and technical occupations had a median of $86,530 — one of the reasons health care is such a stable field.