<p>My daughter is finishing up her Sophomore year at Notre Dame and informed us that she wants to change her major from Accounting to Psychology. She says she hates Accounting and only chose it because of family pressure. She has taken 2 psych classes at ND which she enjoyed. I guess my questions are 1) What kind of a job does a ND grad get with a psychology degree? 2) Do they have employment at graduation? 3)Do most Psych majors go to grad school? 4) Is it wise for me to call the ND Psych department or should I stay out of it? 5)If she switched majors will she graduate on time? I am numb.... Any help will be appreciated.</p>
<p>First thought is she should focus on her finals and not this right now, so all sides should hold off on any more discussion 'til she’s home. Plenty of time over the summer to figure it out. I’m sure Psych classes are more interesting than accounting, but as you sense, for career prep accounting is hard to beat.</p>
<p>stay out of it</p>
<p>I agree with the other responders - now is not the time to get into the discussion and you should not contact the university. Use the summer to have her do research on the major, job opportunities (will they require grad school?), etc. She is old enough to start planning and taking responsibility for her future. She may be able to combine psych with a management degree, and find a great career in human resources, training, or talent development. This would keep her from losing credits she has already earned and either major/minor, or double major. Psych also works well with a marketing major/minor since understanding human response to marketing strategies is important in developing successful marketing campaigns. If she wants only a psych major, she will most likely need grad school to work in the field.
Just some insight from an HR exec.</p>
<p>First off, don’t freak out. The good news is, there are jobs out there in psychology. It’s not like she picked something like art history or american studies. The bad(?) news is that most of them require a graduate degree (master’s, MD, PsyD, PhD, etc). But if that’s the route she goes, there will definitely be grants and loans available to her, so she should be very capable of supporting herself after graduating from ND if that’s what you are concerned about. However, if she isn’t interested in grad school, it is definitely possible to be employed right after graduation with a degree in psychology. It just might not be in the field or super high paying. One of my best friends from ND got her degree in psychology and is currently happily employed working for a school. My cousin got a degree in psych from a different school and has worked for several group homes for the mentally ill.</p>
<p>Also, she can probably graduate on time with no problem. Arts and letters majors typically only require like 30 credits (which is like 10 classes), which is totally doable in 2 years if you have most of your general requirements out of the way.</p>
<p>I understand your concern for your daughter. “Following your heart” as far as your major is concerned is really only a good idea if you have some idea for how to make yourself employable after graduation, but you should try and trust that your daughter has thought of this unless she gives you an indication otherwise. If she has a plan, then choosing psych could be a smart move on her part, especially if a career in accounting would have made her miserable.</p>
<p>You should definitely stay out of it as far as contacting the department. If you have concerns, wait until after your daughter comes home for the summer, and then maybe have a discussion with her about what her plans are. Listen to what she has to say about why she changed her mind and what she wants to do in the future. If she has a viable plan for her future, then you should be glad she’s found a career path to pursue that she thinks will make her happy. If not, then you can try to help her explore the options she will have with a psychology degree. But you have to ultimately let her figure it out for herself. And definitely don’t just try to convince her to go back to accounting. That probably won’t work and won’t be all that productive. She’s an adult and has to make her own decisions. And switching her major to psychology might not be a bad one.</p>
<p>Will your daughter have student loans to pay back? That should definitely be a factor. As the parent of a graduating senior (and the spouse of a faculty member), I can tell you that most A&L seniors do NOT have jobs yet. Many business and engineering majors do. Your daughter needs to know this. She should contact the Department of Psychology and ask some frank questions about the employment track record of its graduates. One of the challenges faced by the College of Arts and Letters is that, notwithstanding the lip service often paid to the importance of a liberal arts education, employers (especially those who recruit on campus) are simply not interested in hiring its graduates. That’s one reason that a new business concentration has been added. </p>
<p>Not every psych major goes on to work in a field directly related to her studies. That is true of the vast majority of liberal arts graduates. It’s easy to see why two entry-level psych courses are intrinsically more interesting than are accounting courses, but it’s important to understand the realities of the labor market before making the switch.</p>
<p>I’m a CPA. If she says she hates accounting, I would trust that and pursue a different major. People seem to either like accounting or not and if someone does not, I would never advise them to pursue it.</p>
<p>S graduated 2011 and switched from accounting to sociology. He is pursuing a career as a state police/conservation officer. He did not have his “career” job at graduation. He was at the end of that lengthy, cumbersome application process in May 2011. He made it to the end and did not get hired that application cycle. He chose not to pursue other hiring opportunities due to that process. He did have a paying manual labor job at graduation and worked throughout the year until applications were again opened.</p>
<p>I believe he switched majors after sophomore year and I agree an A & L degree is obtainable in the last 2 years at ND. If he would have had student loans, I would have been more emphatic about an “employable” degree, but then, CPAs have that type of attitude :)</p>
<p>H’s niece graduated 2011 with a PhD in school psychology and has had a difficult time finding a job, even though she had stellar grades and would interview very well. I was surprised, as we have a real shortage of school psychs in my area. She took an extremely low paying job and put her massive loans into further deferrment.</p>
<p>I agree with letting her get home for the summer, decompress a bit, and then research her alternatives. However, isn’t she already registered for fall classes? She will need to make plans and contact the appropriate advisors, as some necessary classes may be filled.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses. You have given us a lot of insight. To answer a couple of your questions, Claremarie :yes, she will have about $50,000 of student loans at graduation and we have paid $59,000 thus far. And sryrstess , yes she has already registered for her fall classes.
Your posts have put me at ease and I definitely will wait until finals are over and she catches up on sleep before this discussion starts. I will also show her your posts so she can see different viewpoints and scenarios.
If anyone has anymore thought please post them. THANK YOU ALL</p>
<p>Here’s one more point to consider. Perhaps your daughter could switch into another major within Mendoza, and take psych classes as electives (or perhaps even as a minor). It is extremely difficult for non-business majors to get into ANY courses offered by Mendoza, and switching into A&L would probably prevent her from taking any marketing, finance, etc. courses that might help enhance her resume come job search time.</p>
<p>She might also still be able to double major if she’s feeling ambitious. Arts and letters majors really aren’t that difficult to add on.</p>
<p>Claremarie, Your post is a bit scary. My son is a PLS major with a minor in Italian. He is interning for a political organization this summer in DC. I hope this will be a nice addition to his resume, but I am very concerned about his ability to secure a decent job by graduation. He has not had success on campus with getting any business related internships (he does have an accounting class under his belt -which he aced even though he doesn’t “love” math). He said he sensed recruiters immediate disinterest when they found out he is an A&L major.
I suppose the bottom line is that it’s very important to consider both sides of the coin: the subjects you love and the practicality of your major.</p>
<p>I graduated with a BA in psychology last year and I am currently a human resources manager - this is a fairly stable profession, and if I moved up the ladder into an HR generalist or director role, I could make substantially more (without need for graduate school). However, I do desire to apply to PhD programs, possibly in marketing/consumer behavior, labor and human resources, or social psychology. </p>
<p>Some students with bachelors degrees in psychology go to graduate school for a masters degree in social work, masters in counseling, masters or PhD in statistics, PhD in clinical or other research fields (social, developmental, cognitive, neuroscience, industrial & organizational); while some gain jobs as admissions counselors, residential counselors, drug addiction counselors, and human resources, just to name a few. Others pursue different jobs in business/management and/or marketing. </p>
<p>Some double major in psychology and education, or psychology and business (the two most popular combinations at my college), which can then add teaching and other business professions to the list of prospective careers. </p>
<p>My point is that a degree in psychology may seem a little scary to you at first in comparison to accounting, but it is very versatile. There are lots of different directions you can go in, and you are not limited to attending graduate school in the area of psychology if you want to pursue something else. Personally, I would double major with something else (unless it will set her back another year or so), just to open up some more options if she is not interested in graduate school. </p>
<p>As for whether it will take longer to graduate, that depends on ND’s general ed requirements and program requirements and how she spent her first two years. She will meet with an academic advisor to discuss this, if she hasn’t already.</p>
<p>Do NOT call the department - it is time to start letting your daughter figure out her own life. She needs to take on the responsibility of doing the research on job prospects, program requirements, etc. You can certainly ask her as many questions as you need to make you feel comfortable with her decision, but make her do the research and ask the questions of her professors and advisors. You would not call a prospective employer to ask questions for your daughter, no? </p>
<p>The best thing you can do is break down the loan costs so she knows about what she will pay a month; then consider rent (unless she lives at home and works to pay down loans for a while first), car loan/insurance, etc. Then consider the wide range of salaries she could make, from $25,000 to roughly $45,000, depending on the area and industry. Think of the worst-case scenario (low wage, how will she pay her loans?), and see how she responds. If she really loves the idea of psychology, she’ll find a way to make it work even after considering the numbers. If not, she might turn toward something else.</p>
<p>“He said he sensed recruiters immediate disinterest when they found out he is an A&L major.”</p>
<p>My son had the same experience. IMO, the College of Arts and Letters needs to be more careful in its reporting of employment statistics, and clearly separate out those graduates who are pursuing grad school from those who are actually employed at or shortly after graduation. And A&L students need to understand that employers who recruit on campus won’t be all that keen on talking to them. That doesn’t mean that these graduates will never find a decent job – obviously most ND grads eventually find very good jobs – but rather they won’t find one through the on-campus recruiting system.</p>
<p>Campus recruiters are looking for high-demand degrees and skill sets, particularly ones that can offer quick payback for the company. Most A&L degrees do not offer that, and do not justify the expense of campus recruiting. The above suggestions to pair an A&L major with another major/minor increase the chances of offering an in-demand skill set. It’s about making money or solving a problem for the employer. I don’t expect the school to make the lack of job opportunities for grads in certain disciplines more obvious as it reduces the number of students in the programs and, ultimately, the need for the programs. Better career advising early in the process would serve everyone’s interests.</p>