Psychology Degree

[d1sneyf4n]

Has anyone here graduated with a degree in Psychology? If so, what is your profession now?

 

[karynnix]

Stay at home mom...

 

[d1sneyf4n]

Stay at home mom...

me too! but DH very unhappy at work so I was thinking maybe I should try to use my degree somehow and get a job to take some pressure off of him for awhile. But then DS2 would have to go to daycare and I am not sure I am ready for that.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I apologize in advance, because this is going to come across as a little bitter...I graduated in May 1997 with a B.A. in Psychology and I was also the valedictorian. In desperation, in late September of that year I took a "seasonal" job as a proofreader for a greeting card company. That eventually turned into an on/off position doing data entry for the same company. When I lost my job in 2000, I found another one doing - yep, you guessed it - data entry for another company. Now I'm laid off again, since February, and I can't even get an administrative assistant job. I'm going back to school for an accounting assistant certificate.

I looked into becoming a counselor, but apparently around here, you need a master's degree for that. I don't want to say that a bachelor's in psychology is worthless - I don't feel that education is ever worthless! - but I've found that many employers simply shrug and say "That's nice."

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

The best job my BA in Psych could get me was a security guard at a prison. Ummmmm no. Of course I was six months pregnant at the time and had no interest in carrying a gun!!!

Anyhow.... I have coached, refereed, worked for a newspaper, worked for a marketing firm, and am now a Bookkeeper / Pharmacy Tech. (Family business).

I feel the degree helps in whatever you do, but it will NOT necessarily help you get a job.

Good luck!!!

 

[d1sneyf4n]

I apologize in advance, because this is going to come across as a little bitter...I graduated in May 1997 with a B.A. in Psychology and I was also the valedictorian. In desperation, in late September of that year I took a "seasonal" job as a proofreader for a greeting card company. That eventually turned into an on/off position doing data entry for the same company. When I lost my job in 2000, I found another one doing - yep, you guessed it - data entry for another company. Now I'm laid off again, since February, and I can't even get an administrative assistant job. I'm going back to school for an accounting assistant certificate.

I looked into becoming a counselor, but apparently around here, you need a master's degree for that. I don't want to say that a bachelor's in psychology is worthless - I don't feel that education is ever worthless! - but I've found that many employers simply shrug and say "That's nice."[/QUO


It is a tough degree, in my opinion, to do anything with unless you have that masters, which I do not. This is awful of me to say but I told my 5 year old daughter that if she goes to college and majors in psychology, my husband and I are not paying for it. I know not nice. I just wish I would have stuck with my first choice of being a marine biologist. I took psych 101 as an elective and it was a piece of cake for me. I had to take Statistics for my then major of biology and I had a horrible time so I decided to go the easy route and it has been biting me ever since.

 

[Judy from Boise]

a doctorate would be even better if you think you want to make a career in the field.

 

[Cantw8]

Yes, I do. I'm a lab manager for a biotech company The psyc degree didn't help me get this job, I had two other degrees to fall back on but went for psyc thinking it could be benefical if I decided to go into forensic science

 

[barkley]

one of my degrees is in psychology and the very reason people have posted about (marketability in jobs) is why it was'nt my sole degree.

when i was going to college i met with several counselors and learned that unless i was going to go straight through and get my master's degree in counseling or go into the non cps side (read "low pay") of social work (cps folks have to have a masters) a degree in psychology would'nt get me far. i opted to get my psych degree but i also got another degree that was marketable. when i did go out looking for work i found that it was my other degree that got me through the door for interviews, but in many cases it was the education and skills i had gained in my psych classes that got me the job.

p.s.-i'm retired now but i worked as a teacher and later on for social services.

 

[sue1013]

My DD has a BA in Psychology we told her when she decided that was the major she wanted she would have to get her Masters. After she got her BA she decided she wanted a break from school for a year or two then would go for the Masters. About a year she decided she wanted to be a teacher. She only had to take a few classes to be certified this was in 1997.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

One of my majors was Biopsych. Would have been useful as, at the time, I wanted to go into research. Im not in that field now at all. However, I knew a LOT of people getting psych degrees with no plans for the future when I was in college. Are you a senior and still don't know what you want to major in? Try psych. Or anthro. Knew a bunch of those too.

Really, it's probably not the best thing to take unless you're sure that you want to stay on and get higher degrees later on. Having just a BA in psych really isn't marketable.

 

[missypie]

Gosh, doesn't anyone get their psych undergrad knowing they'll have to go to grad school? My son is getting ready to start college as a psych major because he wants to be a psychologist.

 

[barkley]

Gosh, doesn't anyone get their psych undergrad knowing they'll have to go to grad school? My son is getting ready to start college as a psych major because he wants to be a psychologist.

i give credit to the college i went to for being very clear to prospective psych majors about this. they had a great program and did'nt want it tarnished by people getting just their bachelors and then badmouthing it because of it's low marketability. for that reason it was a very rare exception that anyone in the program was'nt doing a dual degree or already lined up to move into the grad program.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Gosh, doesn't anyone get their psych undergrad knowing they'll have to go to grad school? My son is getting ready to start college as a psych major because he wants to be a psychologist.

I was actually told, "Oh, psychology is a great degree! Any company will be happy to have you; they'll know you'll be able to deal with all different types of people!"

 

[gymboqueenkaylee]

I have a BA in Psych. Didn't use it, went back got a nursing degree. I was able to work on a Psychiatric Floor of a hospital doing leading group therapy sessions and stuff. It really just depends on where you are at. That job I had paid a nice amount too. I also had a job offer to work at a group home for children as a resident couselor or something like that (i called them overpaid baby sitters but whatever...).

 

[MM27]

My sister's undergrad degree was in Psychology and she worked as a case manager for a mental health agency for a few years. She then went back for her masters and got certified as a school counselor and got her teaching degree as well.

 

[Karibeth19]

Stay at home mom...

Me too, and my degree has helped me every day!!! (Especially since I specialized in Child Developmental Pysch...)

Actually, I considered becoming a child development specialist while I was in college, but then I got married, had to work instead of going for an advanced degree, etc, etc. It did keep me from being the kind of parent that freaked out any time my DD wasn't doing something by an age she was "supposed" to be, and made me a much more laid-back mom, which was nice.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Another stay at home mom here. I thought I'd go on to get a master's in school counseling, but never did. I worked for a few years at a preschool and then had two kids and never went back to school. It is a useless degree. I had wanted to switch to elem. ed my junior year, but I had already taken the hard psych classes and wanted to finish the degree. The classes are interesting, but the job prospects are bad.

 

[Acklander]

I know 2 people that have put the psych degree to good use. They both work in sales (high pressure/commission only jobs) and have found the degree to be very helpful in helping them read people and to close the sale. They both make over 6 figures a year.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have a BA in Psych. Didn't use it, went back got a nursing degree. I was able to work on a Psychiatric Floor of a hospital doing leading group therapy sessions and stuff. It really just depends on where you are at. That job I had paid a nice amount too. I also had a job offer to work at a group home for children as a resident couselor or something like that (i called them overpaid baby sitters but whatever...).

My story is similar. I planned to go into psych nursing originally, but wound up on a different path in medical nursing and never looked back.