Psychology or Engineering/Urban Planning Major?

<p>I realize that these are two drastically different careers paths but I'm really conflicted.
Here are my pros and cons of each major.</p>

<p>Psychology:
Pros:
-I find psychology fascinating and would often read the textbook beyond scheduled reading
-I'm good at psych, it's the only subject that I've gotten good grades in during my first two years at college
-Learning about how ppl work and "fixing" them seems fulfilling
-Being a psych researcher sounds great
-I've already taken a few of the required classes and could probably still graduate in two more years(I'm going to be a junior in the fall).</p>

<p>Cons:
-I don't want to work with people, I hate corporate politics and small talk with co workers, it's not that I'm anti-social(maybe a little) but there's nothing I hate more than going to work in a suit every morning and asking the same 5 ppl that I have nothing in common with how their weekend was</p>

<p>-I would consider being a like a therapist or psychologist and working one on one with a patient, but I'm kind of worried that I would become to attached to the patient, like emotionally, I don't want to have to take work home with me like that.</p>

<p>-My adviser says that you can go many places with psychology, but I don't want to go into business or corporate work, I want to know exactly what job I'm headed towards</p>

<p>-I think I would enjoy research but I don't really like chemistry type lab work, I don't want to get too involved into science, I liked animal bio though.</p>

<p>In Brief: I don't like the typical office environment and mingling w/co workers, I do like research and learning more about people and how they act behaviorally and to a degree, neurologically.</p>

<p>Engineering:
Pros:
-The idea of designing, planning and executing sounds exciting
-I like math when I "get" it, I haven't gotten in years, but I do enjoy it.
-I like working with my hands and I like working on and completing large projects, though the internet has given me a much shorter attention span, when I do complete a project even a book or video game it's very satisfying. </p>

<p>-Engineering seems like a very practical and fulfilling career, it seems like hard work and while I haven't really shown myself that I'm capable or doing well in truly difficult work, I believe that I am, I guess I think engineering will be a great challenge</p>

<p>-Working at Apple or Google would be awesome</p>

<p>Cons:
-I haven't done well in math since my first semester
-I WILL be in school for more than 4 years just to my bachelor's
-I'm not sure I'll be able to stick to it, I have a pretty short attention span and sometimes get frustrated easily</p>

<p>In Brief: I want to build something great, look back at it and say "I made that" and I love working independently or at least with a competent group, but it seems like it requires a lot of work and a larger attention span that I currently possess, it seems more fulfilling that psych, which I would like more as a hobby.</p>

<p>That's it, if it's too much, just look at the "In Brief", if anyone has any personal experience or resources that I could use to better understand life as a psych or engineering major that would be great. Urban Planning was just an interesting suggestion from my advisor. </p>

<p>Really I need to know more about engineering, because it's a field that I'm for the most very ignorant about, are there any short books or intro articles that I could read to get a better idea about it? I don't seem to be as passionate about the field as most engineering majors do but it's something I really feel that I would love to do as a career.</p>

<p>Usually in a research environment you don’t have to wear a suit at all. It’s overall a very chilled out existence, and for the most part from my exposure to it, if you don’t want to interact outside of your projects that’s always a possibility. I’m a high school student working in a crystallography lab so I see the interactions all the time. You really spend a lot of time just focusing on your projects.
But as a psychology researcher I feel that you spend a lot of time with research participants. You need to interact with them to direct them etc etc. Not really sure about it other than my own psych class, where we had to do some research.</p>

<p>Good Luck though.</p>

<p>I think it depends on the kind of experience you want to have more than anything. If you’re not so good at math, you will need to put in a lot more time to really solidify your understanding of the material, and this means goodbye to parties and events. From your list of pros and cons it seems to me like psychology is probably more up your alley, but only you can know what you really want to do. With a short attention span, it seems like putting in the hours required for engineering would just make you miserable, whereas you actually enjoy learning the material for psych.</p>

<p>If it matters: a psychology researcher with a master’s degree working at a relatively prestigious research hospital will only make somewhere in the neighborhood of $40k, whereas an engineer with only an undergrad degree working in a research environment will start at around $60k and quickly move up to $70-$80k+. There are areas where a psychology researcher could do as good as an engineer salary-wise (such as military and defense research), but you’ll have to do some research and networking to break into that field because it’s relatively low key.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for the replies. </p>

<p>Yes salary does matter, I’ll definitely look more into expected salaries. I believe that a longer attention span can be learned just like any other habit, so that doesn’t bother me much. I’m leaning towards Engineering right now but I’m looking through possible psych careers to see if one really sticks out.</p>