Career Update: Psychosomatic Medicine, Doctor of Psychology, and Practitioner/Scholars

          Lately I've been mulling over some different paths that my academic and professional careers could take.  I am a Psychology Master's Student at the University of West Georgia.  My focus leading up to the past week has been on becoming licensed as a psychotherapist (ie:  LPC).  I have long since dreamed of also earning a doctorate degree and have had to make some decisions over the past few days.
          Preparing for licensure at West Georgia involves a "clinical" track within our program.  This typically entails three years of study (which include three semesters of practicum) opposed to two years on the "thesis" track.  This effects my doctoral plans in various ways.  Most doctoral programs, if they allow transferring of Master's credits will only do so for 30 credit hours.  In spite of this I was planning on finishing the clinical track here so that if, by chance, I was not to be accepted to a doctoral program; then I would have a back up  plan to proceed with licensure as an LPC.  However, there is a small hitch.  That hitch is that another year of tuition, living expenses, and coursework is a hell of a price to pay for a back up plan I'm hoping I will never need.
          With that in mind I have settled on the "thesis" track here at West Georgia.  I have set up a list of about 7 doctoral programs to apply to for which I'll be working on the applications / interviews this coming summer (the applications being due winter of 2013 for enrollment in the fall of 2014).  I am mostly interested in clinical psychology with a slight motivation towards medical psychology.  However, I still maintain a strong passion for psychotherapy (of the existential flavor) and academia seems to be an environment which I perform well in.  Thus, the training model I am seeking is that of a practitioner-scholar.
          Next fall I will officially enroll in my "thesis" course (semester 1 of 2).  I am enrolled in a "Research Methods" course this semester which I plan to use to set up the foundation for my thesis work.  The focus of this project will be on psychosomatic medicine and psychophysiology.  Specifically I will be looking at the affects of psychotherapy on degenerative illnesses such as (various) cancer(s) and degenerative brain diseases (such as Huntington's Disease).

On a lighter note, these make me smile :)