<p>I’ve been told by my graduation coach and psychology teacher that F.B.I. Profing is something to go for if you major in psychology.</p>
<p>I am one two semesters from my BA in psych & I plan on attending graduate school for experimental psych…however, I know of several BAs who were hired immediately after graduation as behavioral therapists at alternative schools (kids with autism, learning disorders, CP etc) or behavioral clinics, and another BA friend was hired to do research at a university hospital on Alzheimer’s. They were able to do so because they had relevant internships as undergrads. As others have said, it’s all about planning. In a few years when they’ve saved from their salaried positions they’ll pursue a terminal degree.</p>
<p>This wouldn’t address the part about 3rd parties filtering away applicants, but a lot of employers, if you take a few classes in something like marketing or econ, that can help you overcome the limitations. Also if you go to a top school, I know some with degrees in history, psych english and the like that get hired as marketing analyst just because the name on the diploma. Others genuinely want to do typically low-paying non profit jobs like social worker, that the OP doesn’t cover at all. They want to help kids, or whatever. </p>
<p>That whole post was only about a <em>research PhD</em> not the psych major as a whole. There’s no reason you can’t make it work if you plan ahead, do internships, take pre-med or business classes, or double major in something more marketable. Or seek employment outside the US where they might not have such discriminatory hiring practices, and the economy is actually growing. I know plenty of grads going to Asia for their 1st career.</p>
<p>“with a BA or BS in psychology you could pursue a masters or PhD in clinical, marketing or another business field, history, statistics, biological sciences, etc. Psychology as an undergraduate degree is pretty adaptable and useful as a foundation for a lot of different career paths”</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem more adaptable than most other degrees to me. As far as bio (the one I am familiar with) goes, many good bio schools like U of I have it only open to those with bio undergrads. Others, like UIC have it open to those with any degree if they have completed the required classes, but those required classes don’t seem to have a single course in common with the psych major path at UIC nor U of I. So I don’t see how it is any more adaptable than underwater basket-weaving for a career path requiring grad school.</p>
<p>“do psychology + pre-med
then do psychiatry -> profit$$”</p>
<p>From my experience very, very few psychology majors consider themselves pre-med or have any intention of going to med school. Psychology is the new “undeclared”.</p>