A Psychology Degree?
 

I am currently a student in the process of attaining a Bachelor's in Psychology. My parents have warned me of how I'll "never find a job with that" and so on. They always tell me business is a better option, something I don't think I am suited for. Although I disagree with them I am not so confident as I once was.

What jobs can one get with a degree in Psychology (if any?), even ones that aren't degree-specific?

Thanks!

my boss is a SR IT admin, he has a degree in psych, thats it.

willravel has a degree in psych too I believe? From my understanding, he has a good job. I don't know exactly what it is that he does, however. :p

One of my BAs is in Psych, but I took the law school route out.

If you're planning on sticking with the BA alone than business degree will do you no more good than a psych degree. With a few exceptions a BA is a BA and you can do the same things with them. They might not all be entirely equal in grading (an B- in Engineering is more smiled upon than an A- in most liberal arts), but at the end of the day if there is something you have your heart in more than others and that you can commit to enough to study hard and earn better grades in than that is what you should do. I mean honestly, if you pursue a degree in a field you don't give a damn about you simply won't be able to put forth the same effort nor obtain the same results and really what you're shooting for is GPA and honors to land the best jobs.

I got a job in the business world immediately after receiving my BA in psychology, making well over $100k a year. If you'd like, I can speak to your parents. :thumbsup:

You're getting your degree in psych, but that doesn't mean you need to work in the field. Plenty of businesses are happy to get people with psych degrees because we're often more capable at things like conflict resolution.

that's what I keep telling them! I am going to have them read this thread haha.

Maybe I can scan a paycheck stub or something. Really, though, don't worry about them. Concentrate on your schoolwork and, for god's sake, network! You need to develop business relationships in the field you're pursuing asap so you don't have to freak out when you graduate (as many people do).

amen to that (from personal experience)

A liberal arts education in general teaches you valuable skills that translate well to the working world: the ability to write well, read well, speak well, and moreover, to think critically.

I don't know how to get 100k a year but god, damn, that seems like SO much money to me.

I'm not going to pretend like it wasn't a lot of luck. Still, it's who you know. That's why networking is so important. If you can impress the right people at the right times, you can get your foot into some pretty impressive doors. Once you've got your foot in there, that's when you've gotta dazzle them with what you've got. jondtg is in a very important part of his life, a time when meeting and impression the right people can determine the next 60 years (no pressure, of course).

That said, it's never too late to impress important people. Don't forget I'll be changing careers (again) in a few years, moving from non-profit business to law. In order to get into Boalt, I'm going to need to network my little white ass off.

a bachelor's in psych got me:

--through my master's in social work.
--three years as a mental health counselor with kids.
--four and a half years as a pediatric hospice social worker.
--$37k a year.
--and partway through the application process towards my PhD that I should start in January with Fielding.

If you're planning to go into psych as a career, don't plan to stop with your bachelor's or you really won't make much.
If not, have at it, toots, the world's your oyster.
It's a great start.

By the way, jondotg, enjoy college.

Pretty much what they should have done in highschool but fail to do these days.

well if u can wait a few years, by the time ure finished with your degree you can take wills job.

I was in your shoes jondotg.

During my first 3 years in college I was a psychology major. I really enjoyed evolutionary psychology and animal behavior. However during my 3rd/4th year in college I realized that unless I got a graduate degree in psych, there truly are very little psychology specific jobs out there (plus my GPA was horrible so the chances of getting into grad school were slim). So I panicked and decided to stay in school another 2 years and get a BS in Biology, mostly focusing on genetics since there's tons of biotech jobs in Seattle. So after SIX years in college I graduated with a BS in Biology and a BA in psychology.

My plan worked, after graduating I easily got biotech jobs (first as a temp in one company, then hired as a permanent employee at another). However during the course of working for about 2 years I became interested in the stock market and options trading. During my breaks I would be checking market news and seeing how my stocks were behaving. When I went to parties or weddings I would ask people if they played stocks or how their business was doing. Well it turns out a friend of one of my roomate's was creating a stock trading start-up business (which I didn't know about at the time) and after we talked for a few weeks about stocks he offered me a job that payed a good deal more than my biotech job. Plus it was doing something I enjoyed all day!

So here are the lessons I learned.

1. It didn't really matter what degree I earned. the extra 2 years I spent getting my biology degree was a waste. Get your BA as quickly as possible, make contacts, and get out of college. (But of course have some fun too ;) )

2. Like others have said, Networking is of the utmost priority both in school and the job market. Networking increases your 'luck factor.' I completely got randomly lucky with this stock job, however it would not have been possible if I had not gone to some parties and talked about what I enjoyed most with anyone who would listen.

Wow that was quite a digression! As for your original question about possible psych related jobs, one area you may want to look into is human resources. Every major company has a HR department and if you go to your local craigslist HR job category there are typically tons of ads for HR jobs. Psych majors are well suited for this because we typically have high emotional intelligence and empathy (plus we are slightly manipulative muahaha). If you are interested in this field it would be a good idea to do an internship before you leave college.

Well that's all the info I have, I hope it helps !

You seriously wouldn't want my first job. It was one of those "deal with the devil" jobs, which is why I left for a job with less pay.

BTW, it's good to see you around, D.

My wife initially earned a psych degree.

You certainly won't get much of a psychology job with a 4-year degree. A masters would be the minimum for a therapist or social worker and a doctorate would actually be needed to make real money in the field. However, as everyone here has said, use it in another field and you'll be golden!

You can always go for a 4 year or 5 year program (PHD or PSYD) and become a Dr. Always jobs openings there.

If you are going to do that, get the M.D.

I actually did not want to go into a psychology field, I can't afford graduate school.