I’m currently a 2nd year psych major and getting my AA-T in Psych at the end of Spring. My GPA isn’t the highest because I started college earlier than most and was super lazy and had little work ethic. I thought I was just smart enough to breeze through but recently I’ve developed a better mentality and my grades show a definite upward trend. I intend to transfer to a UC and double major in psych and neuroscience or cognitive science if possible (if not I’ll likely switch to cognitive or neuro). My ultimate goal is to become a psychiatrist. I’m very passionate about psychology but I’m currently taking a bio psych class that’s really making me feel like neuroscience is the better fitted major for me.
My parents are stressing me out though. They’ve never been on board for my major and find psychology to be a waste of time and money and never hesitate to tell me. They’re satisfied with me saying I’ll double major or change my major, but recently my mom has been bringing up me changing my major to nursing (the most common suggestion) again. According to her neuroscience and cognitive science have little job opportunities besides becoming a professor, which isn’t true at all. She said she doesn’t mind paying for me to spend extra time in college, which is a total disregard for my time and the effort I’ll have to put into a major I don’t care for. They think I won’t make it to med school or that I’ll give up and they want me to have a career. I get that, but this recurrent bashing of my major and capabilities is exhausting. I’m tired of arguing with them. Should I just switch my major? If I become a nurse I’ll have a career in healthcare and my parents will be satisfied. They’ve been trying to convince me to be a nurse since like freshman year of high school.
If you have no interest in nursing, I definitely would not switch to that as a major. Nursing is a very challenging and demanding profession and you have to really want to do it to be successful and find enjoyment and reward in it.
^This. I feel like many parents just toss out a suggestion of a nursing major because they’ve heard tales of high salaries and high demand. The market isn’t that simple, first of all. But on top of that, nursing is a difficult major and a challenging job. You need to be interested in it!
You want to be a psychiatrist. That’s a medical doctor. That would mean four years of college and four years of medical school, plus residency - and it doesn’t matter what you major in in undergrad. Psychology or neuroscience are great majors for someone who wants to be a psychiatrist.
You can also have a career in health care with a major in cognitive science, psychology, or neuroscience. Hospitals have many non-clinical staff who work there: research coordinators, administrators, epidemiologists, finance, management. Or maybe you want to work in another field - a psychological sciences major with good internship experience and skills can find employment in a variety of fields. (I work in UX research, although I do have a PhD.)
Nursing is a very time intensive degree especially if it’s not what you want. I actually am one of those people who always suggest it to people as a career because it’s a wonderful starting point to get your foot in the door for a financially secure career. Plenty of nurses go on to advanced practice care such as NP even in psychiatry (VERY in demand BTW)
With your degree in cognitive science it’s likely you’ll need a graduate/doctorate degree to advance your career. You have options like: medical school, occupational therapy, physician assistant or go into research. All these fields have different requirements to get into and all are very competitive. You do have the option to go to an accelerated nursing school after you have a bachelors degree, it’s usually a 15-18 months program.
I really recommend you job shadow all different types of fields and hone in What you really want. Your parents might be more understanding if you have some hard data and a plan for your future. Good luck!