<p>i also posted this in the 'other majors' category, but i realized that i was mainly looking for advice from parents, anyways, so...</p>
<p>hey, guys. so, here's my story:
i've pretty much ALWAYS been pushed by my family in to becoming a doctor some day. &, even though i always knew it would be a lot of work, i never realized that i would be in school until i'm...literally 30 years old. after taking AP BIO last year [& almost cracking under the pressure], i really could not see myself surviving through med school. grades just don't come as easily for me as they do for others, & definitely not in science courses. i also think i lack the motivation & passion needed to become a doctor.</p>
<p>SO, over the summer, i came to the realization that i really enjoy psychology & would probably major in it in college. at this point, i also believed i would still be headed towards med school [probably the psychiatry route]. but, now that that prospect is gone for me, i'm really interested to know what some alternative careers may be for me. i understand that i still may need to go to graduate school, & that's okay with me. i'm just looking for a nice medium in between doctor &...hobo, where i'm at least content, making a decent-good living, & not miserable under a pile of books for the next 10 years.</p>
<p>but, NOW, i'm also starting to doubt if psychology is even the best topic to get a degree in. i mean, job stability is really important to me, & i don't want to wake up one day & have NO job prospects lined up. would it be smarter to minor in some other subject?</p>
<p>idk, i'm just really confused at this point. i don't want to switch my major a million times when i'm in college & STILL not know what i'm going to be doing in 10 years. if any one has any advice or experience with this, it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Psychology actually has a lot of wonderful job possibilities for its graduates. If you are interested in research psychology, that does mean a PhD, which is a lot of school. However, Psych graduates can make a good living with a Master’s degree in counseling, social work, school psychology, or a number of other related fields. Depending on which direction you go, there could be a great deal of job stability. If you think you would enjoy that kind of work, it’s a great field to go into.</p>
<p>But since you’re apparently a junior or, at most, a senior, you really don’t have to settle on a major for three or four years. Why not go to college, take a variety of courses, and see what floats your boat?</p>
<p>If you like medicine, but med school plus post doc training will be too much how about a career as a Physician Assistant? A good PA can make 80-100K full time, and trust me, with the coming changes in health care, there will be more jobs. Some programs have bachelor’s degrees for PA’s.</p>
<p>As a long-term career psychologist, I would suggest that you will have the greatest stability with a Ph.D or Psy.D. At the least, you will need a masters. If you are interested in working with children, school psychology which requires a masters, is a very stable direction. There is excellent information on careers on the American Psychological Association website through a pamphlet that they publish discussing different options. Good luck - it’s a very satisfying field.</p>
<p>I’m also interested in majoring in Psychology - applied to most of my schools with that major. Its really interesting to me. I’m not really considering much going down the Psychiatrist road because I believe that means going to medical school, something that I do not think is for me…</p>
<p>Physician Assistants still have to take a LOT of science, including O Chem, Microbio, lots of things pre-meds take. It is not that easy to get into a PA program.<br>
With a psychology degree, you will need to go to grad school.</p>
<p>I think you’re wise to be evaluating your options early on as you are. My daughter is currently a senior in college with a dual major in psych and speech pathology. She grew up wanting to be a pediatrician then attended a med school program in high school where they had Q&A with med students and she realized the same thing you’re saying…</p>
<p>She started out in speech pathology, which is another medical services field which requires a master’s to be licensed, and then discovered psychology. She’s applying to Ph.D. programs for the fall. </p>
<p>Friends of DD started out pre-med, struggled with science classes and decided to change their goal to Physician’s Assistant so that’s an option too.</p>
<p>Above all, I’d say keep your options open and have a fall back plan…if you major in psych but decide not to do graduate school, what would you be interested in doing? I’ve also heard of students who got a psych degree then a 5th year that enabled them to teach K-12. Or psych undergrad then law school.</p>
<p>If you decide to go the pre-med route, what happens if you don’t get in? What’s the fall back plan? Teach Science or go to physical therapy school or other options? I think it just helps to accept that your direction may change a little at some point so what else could you do with it.</p>
<p>A few things to keep in the back of your mind which may or may not make a difference to your situation-
~Ph.D. programs are usually funded, meaning they waive tuition and pay you a stipend to live off of while you’re in school
~Master’s programs are not always funded, so you’d have to pay or have loans
~If you think you might enjoy psych, talk to a psych professor early on if you can about volunteering in his/her lab…you’ll gain valuable research experience that you will need for grad school apps if you choose to go that route plus it will help you decide if you like it.</p>
<p>Good luck and best wishes to you as you begin your adventure!</p>
<p>I have a B.S. in Psychology and have been happily employed in the nonprofit field for over 25 years. I am an executive director now, but have done a bit of everything along the way, from coordinating volunteers to fundraising to doing casework during national disasters. You may not get “rich” but I have always been employed doing things I really enjoy. So much of this is working with people and I have found my Psych degree really useful along the way.</p>
<p>I also have a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in comp sci. I have been in contracts for over 30 years. I started out negotiating contracts for computers. Along the way I got my Masters degree in Business and have been very successful in the business world. There is not one path. It is just a starting point. Friends S is in law school now after a degree in psych.</p>
<p>People with Psychology degrees have very successful careers in marketing, in management consulting, teaching, market research, polling, education, government, politics . . . I imagine that the number of psych majors who are psychologists or counselors is far less than the number who do other things.</p>
<p>My wife started college thinking that she wanted to be a clinical psychologist and work with autistic kids. By the time she figured out that (a) she didn’t want that, and (b) she didn’t like academic Psychology, she had almost finished her Psych major, so she wound up double-majoring in Psych and American Studies. Through a very circuitous path (which also included law school, but not many years of actual legal practice) she wound up in an important role in the education world where she uses what she learned as a Psych major about developmental psychology (and also statistics) daily.</p>
<p>A PhD or PsyD is probably the best way to go. If you want to work with adolescents and you are actually good at it, there is such an incredible shortage of really good people working with these kids, you can write your own ticket. Honestly, I could see as many teenagers as I wanted to see…the heartbreak is that I can’t see as many as I would like and still do a good job. </p>
<p>But, as others have noted, it’s a good major, regardless. Lots of different things you can do with that undergrad major.</p>
<p>wow, thanks everyone for all of the great advice! i’ve been looking in to the work of a PA & i think it might be just right for me. my family is not going to be happy, but i guess i can deal with that :\ it really does sound near-perfect, though.</p>
<p>if that doesn’t work out i think i’m going to stick with being a psych major anyway, go on to get a master’s degree, then take it from there. good to know about all of the options in business & education. i wish we would get talked to about some career options in high school, especially in our senior year. it’s all very confusing, lol.</p>
<p>Sorry if I’m repeating myself, but if you cracked under the pressure of AP Bio, I don’t understand why you think being a PA is the way to go.
Here are the science requirements for the five year BS/master’s PA program younger D is applying to:
General Bio I and II
General Chem I and II
Human Microanatomy
Organic Chem I and II
Biochemistry
General Pathology
Human Gross Anatomy
Human Physiology
Microbiology
Molecular Pathology
Functional Neuroanatomy
Pharmacology
And then on to Clinicals, Diagnostic Procedures, etc.</p>
<p>What about nursing instead? It follows the nursing model, not the medical model, and nurse practitioners are very similar to PAs.</p>
<p>From what I understand,t here are more PA jobs than nursing jobs right now. And getting into a Clinical Psych grad program is very difficult these days. Most will not take you right our of college. they will want you to have some years of work experience and/or research under your belt first. Then, once you are in grad school, decent (APA approved) internships are also hard to come by. I don’t mean to dissuade you- it is a great field. Just very tough to get into these days.</p>