<p>I absolutely love psychology. I even ran a website doing advice and talking things out with troubled teens/young adults for years (of my own accord, did not make money, just got enough donations to pay for the site fees). </p>
<p>I would love to pursue this major, but no one ever has anything positive to say about it. Why is this?</p>
<p>Are there no jobs for psych grads? Or are the jobs that ARE available to them the same ones they could've gotten without the degree?</p>
<p>I generally want to go into research psych and then a more biological, cog-sci type of PhD program, but I'm scared to death to do so with all the general consensus towards Psych majors.</p>
<p>My other train of though was to just do a nursing program (nurse anesthetist preferably) because it's shorter, in demand, and high paying.
I wouldn't entirely hate it, but it wouldn't be what I love either.</p>
<p>What to do?
Why is psych such a "terrible" choice in major?</p>
<p>Psychology is one of the most popular Bachelor degrees in the country. I don’t really understand why this is so. My best guess is that one can declare psychology as their major in junior year of college and still graduate in four years. Some majors like nursing and engineering do not give that option. Psychology is probably seen as an easy Bachelor’s to get, too.</p>
<p>However, most of the relevant jobs require at least a Masters degree. Not everyone who gets a Bachelors in Psychology will go to graduate school. The Bachelor degree itself is not useless, but rarely does it ever lead to a relevant job. Maybe some office jobs or marketing jobs, but nothing like counseling or therapy that people can associate with psychology. In addition, there just aren’t that many therapy jobs available, at least not enough to meet the number of people who do obtain a Master’s or even a Ph.D. That’s another thing: you need to be incredibly patient and keep up your marks in order to be considered for Master and Ph.D programs if you do want a related job. And then there is the issue of tuition and other costs. 8+ years of tuition can be staggering if one is funding their own education. </p>
<p>So yes, people look down on psychology majors. That’s not to say its useless, but competition, time, and costs can make obtaining a degree in psychology almost pointless for many. I have an older brother who obtained his Bachelor’s in Psychology recently. Right now he’s working and saving some money to go towards his Masters. I’m sill in high school, but I feel that some people don’t realize the work input required for a major like psychology. You cannot be na</p>
<p>Barring engineering, one can pick any major junior year and graduate on time. It’s simply a question of taking 4 classes in that major every semester.</p>
<p>That said, any non-STEM major is pretty much looked down upon. I used to not think much of psych majors myself, but then I met my roommate. She pretty much declared in her first semester, and was going to do law school afterwards, but then her advisor suggested she do a higher degree in organisational psych, which is apparently a booming new field. Compared to the majority of my (STEM or otherwise) friends, she’s way ahead of all of us in terms of achievements, goals, and employment opportunities, even as a psych major.</p>
<p>And that’s how I learned that it’s the person that matters, not the major.</p>
<p>Initially I considered medical school to become a full-fledged psychiatrist. More guarantee in return for my investment, but like RedUmbrella said, the whole 8+ years and accompanying tuition is kind of a deal breaker.
I’ve already completed almost all of the pre-med curriculum (and the whopping 3 required psych courses). I’m not too worried about competition, because I’ve never gotten anything under an A in psych, and don’t plan to going forward. It’s fun and comes easy to me.
But if the market is over-saturated with psych majors, even in graduate levels, then I’m afraid to put in the work and money. Nursing is a much safer, shorter, and less expensive route. You can see how I’m torn.</p>
<p>vienneselights, you bring up a good point. It really is up to the person, I suppose. Being in the pre-med curriculum, I know plenty of upper level science folk and math majors that are just stuck, or working whatever job they could get and hating it.
I’ve noticed that I/O psych tends to be higher paying as well. I’d definitely consider that. It would make sense, since you are working for corporations and not trying to run a private practice for one-on-one counseling.</p>