<p>I am planning on going to graduate school and get my PhD. However, I was wondering what kind of work will be available with my undergraduate degree, right out of college. </p>
<p>Also, do you recommend gaining experience through work and internships before I get my graduate degree for psychology or should I apply to schools for the semester following graduation?</p>
<p>I’ve known several people who majored in psychology, and I would recommend going to graduate school immediately. The impression I have is that you can’t really do anything with an undergraduate degree alone.</p>
<p>In that case I hope you have a passion for studying and conducting Psychology research because even with Ph.D, psychologists are rather underpaid for their work.</p>
<p>You need a Dr. before your name before you get any “good work”.</p>
<p>An undergraduate major in psychology is a liberal arts degree, so you would have the same opportunities as other liberal arts majors. As far as opportunities more directly related to a psychology degree, your best bet is to seek an entry-level direct service position in a developmental disabilities agency. These jobs are plentiful, but they do not pay well and they can be hard work with a changeable work schedule. However, due to the turnover in the field, you will be well-positioned for promotion within the agency in a relatively short-time. This will increase your pay, but also responsibilities. After direct service positions, you can be promoted to a group home supervisory or a case management position. Other administrative or supervisory positions may become available if you stick with it and demonstrate your competence. Positions are available in community-based residential programs and vocational programs. </p>
<p>If you are interested in working with persons with autism or other developmental disabilities, you can gain very extensive and valuable experience. Unlike what a previous poster said, you will get to do good work, even without a doctorate. You may have an opportunity to see a very wide range of challenging disabilities and behavior and psychiatric disorders, often far exceeding what you may encounter in many graduate programs. If you go to graduate school, especially in a specialty like applied behavior analysis, job opportunities are relatively good at the masters-level (especially if you are certified in behavior analysis). </p>
<p>Back in the day, many bachelor’s-level persons started out in these entry-level positions in order to get experience for graduate school. Later, this changed as people with BAs wanted to start at the top. Now, it’s more difficult for BAs to take these jobs if they have a lot of student loans to repay, but the attitudinal change that they were too good to take these jobs definitely pre-dated the major increases in the cost of a college degree. </p>
<p>Having said that, a lot depends on what areas of psychology interest you. For many areas, it is better to proceed right away to graduate school. If you have an interest in developmental disabilities, child behavior disorders, applied behavior analysis, etc., however, I’d recommend getting some experience first. </p>
<p>Psychology is a very diverse field, and you should definitely consulting the APA publications on graduate study in psychology to consider the many different options and opportunities in psychology subspecialties and related fields.</p>
<p>Psychology isn’t a science.</p>
<p>For those of you who gave advice, thank you very much. Zapfino, i appreciate you writing all of that- it helps a lot. </p>
<p>By the way, psychology is the study of the science of mental process and behavior; therefore, it is a science.</p>
<p>No, it’s not. It’s a bunch of BS generalizations. More akin to astrology.</p>
<p>mcdonald’s</p>