Psychology Degrees

[JacksonsMom]

Anyone have a psychology degree?

Here's the deal, I'm 20 years old, in local community college with 33 credits, so halfway through an associates. I'm going to stay at the community college until I'm completed my associates, and then find somewhere else to transfer.

Currently, I'm majoring in business, but I kind of just randomly picked that degree when I was 17 and signing up for "jump start" college while still in high school.

I despise business classes... they bore me, I'm uninterested, thus causing me to never want to go to class, or my mind drifting off during it. I'm the kind of person that if I'm not interested in something, I'm usually not going to do well in it (I know, you always have to do some things you don't like... and I deal with those, but I can't imagine taking all business classes when it comes down to my final years).

However, psychology, I have always been super interested in. I always thought that you can't do much with a degree in psych without going on to get your masters.... is this completely true? I really don't like school, but maybe once I get my bachelors, I will decide to go on... I don't know. I can't see myself doing that but I guess the option is always there.

Anyone have a bachelors in psychology and what can you do with it?

 

[~Jessie~]

I have my B.S. in Psych

I planned on going straight through to get my ph.d. In order to get into the program I wanted, I did a LOT of extra stuff... independent research in a hard to get into group, extra classes, etc. Grad school for a lot of psych programs is generally very competitive, so if you're planning on going to grad school you'll need to stand out.

I was so burnt out by my senior year of undergrad, and I decided to take a break from school.

With my degree, I planned on being a teacher (you can be a social sciences teacher in FL with a psych degree). Of course the year I graduated was the year of major school budget cuts, and there were no S.S. openings except in really bad schools.

I had worked part time in an accounting firm as an admin assistant through college, and I decided to find a bigger firm to see if they were hiring. I ended up getting a position as an office manager, and I make a lot more than I would've made as a teacher. It's not a career in psych, per say, but my company required a bachelor degree for the position.

There are a lot of different directions you can go with a psych degree. It's a good foundation if you want to go on to grad school.

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll be happy to help.

 

[motherofmany]

Common Careers With a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology - Bachelor's Psychology Careers

interesting!

 

[CaliTerp07]

I actually work with several psych majors (in an IT consulting firm). They were hired to design the training program and implement it when we put a new system in. I asked how they ended up in IT, and their answer across the board was "There aren't many options for someone with a BS in psych"

I know it's not fun (or easy), but figure out what you want to DO, and then back track and figure out how to get there. If you want to go get a MSW, or a PhD in psych, or a masters to be a school counselor or something, psych is great. If you aren't sure what you want to do, so you're majoring in psych just to get a degree...I think that's probably a little risky, and you may end up in the business world anyway if you don't have a plan to go elsewhere.

 

[milos_mommy]

I am thinking about double majoring in psych (my first major is film studies) in undergrad.

Two of my good friends are psych majors, one graduated last year and is working doing research, making decent money for someone right out of college, planning on going back for his masters to become a psychologist (therapist).

My other friend is a neural science major, I guess, which is a brand of psych? Or he's doing neural psychology? I'm not positive, but I know he plans on doing the same as the other friend, research and stuff for a year after undergrad, then going back to grad school, probably to be a brain surgeon.

My plan on doing an undergrad in psych is that if I, for some reason, decide not to pursue a master's in film, but I still want to go to grad school, I can easily get into a ethology program.

I've never taken a psych class and there are a lot of other majors I'm considering for my second, but that's one possibility.

 

[Maxy24]

My brother was a psych major, he too found it interesting and enjoyed the classes. However he didn't want to actually be a psychologist. He is a salesman selling some computer product and he likes it a lot, he makes good money, and is very good at selling.

 

[joce]

Other than teacher all of the things on the list of things to do with a bachelors of psychology degree you can do without any schooling.

We got a new psych tech last year who I really like, who had her masters who could only find a job in our ER as a psych tech. Do you know what that job requires? A GED.She gets the same eleven or so measly dollars an hour the other techs do that did not spend years in school and thousands of dollars. She is still working there because she has not found anything else. She does not want to teach. And here in ohio you do have to have your masters to teach and she could with some experience teach college courses but she would have to take a lot more college courses to teach school age kids.

I think you should finish the business degree.Much better to say I have a business degree than a psych degree,even if you work in psych. They go into the same fields as the psych degrees often-sales My friend just graduated and got on with a medical company that will pay for him to go back to school for whatever he wants. Great hours,no weekends.

You want to be a psychologist? What about a nurse practitioner? Much more in demand.

 

[Saeleofu]

I graduated in May and my BA in psychology has benn 100% useless thus far. Can't even get a full time entry level job.

 

[Zoom]

This is one of the most popular degrees out there and as such, the job market is flooded.

Good luck if you do decide to pursue this, it really is an interesting field!

 

[Beanie]

This is one of the most popular degrees out there and as such, the job market is flooded.

Agreed... not that it's a useless degree and it can be flexible, but it's sort of like having a major in English. There's a LOT of people out there toting that major around so it often doesn't make you stand out.

I discovered at a work party not that long ago that many of us who are on-air talent also have minors in psych. It's sort of funny.

 

[Zoom]

Agreed... not that it's a useless degree and it can be flexible, but it's sort of like having a major in English. There's a LOT of people out there toting that major around so it often doesn't make you stand out.

Hey, I resemble that remark! :lol-sign:

 

[Beanie]

Hey, I resemble that remark! :lol-sign:

That's okay, my major is "general education!" It's probably the most worthless degree possible!

 

[Zoom]

No, I think that's "Ancient Philosophy".

 

[JacksonsMom]

It seems you guys pretty much answered my questions about a psych degree. lol. It definitely seems that the general idea is that you can't do much with it. Darn...

The main issue I'm running into is that I really don't know WHAT I want to do. I mean, my dream would be to be a dog trainer, or involved with dogs as a career, but I want to get a degree first before anything just to have to fall back on. I am a dogsitter/walker now independently and have a nice list of clients already, so it's definitely something I'm keeping in the back of my mind.

And I pretty much need to decide on a for sure major, like now. Before I start taking useless classes, lol, when I run out of my gen. ed. courses.

I am definitely interested in communications, but our community college doesn't officially have 'communications' classes. They're mostly just English type classes which a few advertising in between.

 

[-bogart-]

since you have a dog walking business already , i think you should take business classes. i know you said you hate them , but look at it this way . if you know how to make a business run then you can have a profitable business dealing with dogs. why take college as a fall back on?

 

[jammer]

I have a BA in Psychology and Sociology. My current job utilizes my degree more than I would have thought. I took business classes and wouldn't have finished college had I continued with that major. I HATED THEM! I can teach any grade level and it especially prepared me for special ed. HR hires psych majors, insurance companies like social science majors. I don't think it's a useless degree. What I've learned is those that deem it useless either don't have a degree or don't utilize the degree they have.

 

[Beanie]

It seems you guys pretty much answered my questions about a psych degree. lol. It definitely seems that the general idea is that you can't do much with it. Darn...

No, that's not it... you can do PLENTY with it.
But a psychology degree, unless you're going into the psychology field, isn't going to do MORE for you than just about any other given degree.

 

[CaliTerp07]

No, that's not it... you can do PLENTY with it.
But a psychology degree, unless you're going into the psychology field, isn't going to do MORE for you than just about any other given degree.

This.

I have a BA in Psychology and Sociology. My current job utilizes my degree more than I would have thought. I took business classes and wouldn't have finished college had I continued with that major. I HATED THEM! I can teach any grade level and it especially prepared me for special ed. HR hires psych majors, insurance companies like social science majors. I don't think it's a useless degree. What I've learned is those that deem it useless either don't have a degree or don't utilize the degree they have.

That's Texas specific. In Maryland (where the OP is), you need to hold a degree in the subject you wish to teach. To teach elementary, you need an elementary ed degree.

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Where do you want to transfer to? Look into their majors, and talk with a counselor/admissions person there to see what requirements there are for your desired major. Your community college may not have a comm program, but if the 4 year university does they can help make sure you don't waste your time on classes that won't transfer to your major.

Also, business doesn't just mean accounting and finance. I was bored to tears in those classes, but when I got into project management and system design courses, it became oodles more interesting for me. Maryland had 6 or 8 majors within the business school--international business, information systems, operations management, marketing, etc. You may be surprised with the look of the upper level classes required. The entry level classes are much more boring than the upper level stuff.

 

[jammer]

This.



That's Texas specific. In Maryland (where the OP is), you need to hold a degree in the subject you wish to teach. To teach elementary, you need an elementary ed degree.

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I keep forgetting other states have different requirements.

 

[CaliTerp07]

I keep forgetting other states have different requirements.

Yeah I'm about to get my Virginia credentials in secondary math, and I'm finding it VERY difficult to determine which states will accept them as is, which require additional tests, and which would need to me to full on get a second bachelors in math. It's confusing! I feel like we may be stuck in Virginia just 'cause I don't want to deal with the crap involved in moving to a new state.