How useful is a Psychology major?

<p>Ive read various articles online that say psychology is a good major for about any type of work. I want to double major in Psychology and either Economics or Poli Science.</p>

<p>How would this look for career outlook and is psychology really a useful major reguardless?</p>

<p>Psychology is a useful major if you are really interested in helping others and working closely with people. I used to be a psychology major, graduated with my AA in psychology, did research for many months at two different institutions and decided it was not for me.</p>

<p>I feel as though I can help you because I asked those same questions to many professors 2 years ago and got a lot of good information.</p>

<p>If you want to major in psychology don’t expect to make big bucks. In fact psychology is one of the worst paying majors statistically after college graduation. Don’t feel to bad however, it is also one of the easier majors to get a job with right out of graduation. A lot of people won’t tell you this but with a psychology degree your job prospect is actually quite good. You can do social work, teaching high school, or be an assistant to a counselor, or therapist. If you get an M.A in psychology you can be a therapist or counselor yourself. A psychology BA will also prepare you for industry jobs in advertisement, due to the behaviorism courses, and human decision making studies, as well as casinos, and video game companies (Schedules of reinforcement, etc). </p>

<p>It is truly a great degree that can be applied to many different situations. All of which will yield you lower paying jobs, but at least you have very decent job security with this degree.</p>

<p>If you want more job security AND money I would partner it up with a 2nd major in Economics, or something that is going to make you a decent amount of money. Realize that if you do major in economics as your 2nd degree and you get the jobs because of it chances are you will be doing next to nothing in terms of psychology related work in jobs that hired you for your economics background; which would be really unfortunate if psychology is your passion and not econ. </p>

<p>If you want to make sure you make decent money get a 2nd degree in something that you also have a passion for or even a language like Spanish, or Japanese. This will make you more marketable and improve your job prospects as well. Also remember to do a lot of internships and network as you work on your degree. I like to use this phrase a lot but it really is true, its not what you know, but who you know. Having job experience, and contacts in the fields you are interested in working in is invaluable with any degree, especially liberal arts and sciences. </p>

<p>Hope I answered your questions.</p>

<p>Thank you that was very insightful.</p>

<p>I am interested in both psychology and economics and like the idea that if doing some kind of banking work fell through I could get a low paying job (much better than being unemployed) in the psychology field.</p>

<p>After you moved on from the research field did you find the skills you learned from your psychology major carried over to other fields?</p>