Question:
Do you have a Bachelor's degree in psychology? If so....?
CuriousCat
2010-01-04 23:05:43 UTC
What type of courses did you take pertaining to psychology? And, what is research design (I have heard this is associated with a psych degree?) Also, how difficult did you find the entire process of obtaining your degree? And, after wards, did you go for your masters or higher?

Sorry so many questions, I am quite curious...thanks in advance!
Four answers:
dvd_clapp
2010-01-05 12:45:12 UTC
I graduated in 2008 with a degree in psychology and now i'm a 2nd year doctoral student in the organizational psychology program at Columbia University. The courses that I took include social, cognitive, personality, experimental, educational, counseling, clinical, language development, business/organizational, quantitative analysis, and several others that I cannot recall at the moment. As you can see, the psych field can be very diverse, which is why other answerers have recommended that you pursue graduate study in psychology if you hope to get anywhere with it. This is very true, a BA in psychology is not very direction-oriented. While it does teach you vital skills and trains you to see the world in a completely different manner, good luck finding someone who will pay you for having those skills.



I was friends with many other psychology majors during college and, not surprisingly, we all enjoyed studying different aspects of psychology. Since it is such a divese field, there is plenty to choose from. As such, it is often important to either double major or minor in something else if you hope to get a job right after college. As I said, Psychology is interesting, but not necessarily useful at the Bachelor's level. I dual-majored in economics and psychology because I knew I wanted to work on the business side of psychology one day. A friend of mine minored in educational policy administration (or something like that) and he is now working toward becoming a school psychologist. I would definitely recommend that you pay attention to your intro psych class and decide which unit you enjoyed the most and take a class dedicated to that unit as soon as you can. If you decide you like it enough to possibly pursue additional study in it, then pick up a related minor or double-major if you can.



Research design is a huge part of psychology because a lot of the field has to do with forming a hypothesis and then testing it. In fact, your thesis and eventually dissertation in psychology will start with a theory, then become a hypothesis, and end with you proving or disproving it with data you have collected. I'm not going to go into too much detail with this because you'll get lots of practice with it in college (hopefully starting with your first psychology class), but it is basically how psychologists prove or disprove and sometimes form theories.



The process for me was quite difficult, but then again I made it hard on myself on purpose. I took anywhere from 18-21 credits every semester from my freshmen year to the time I graduated. Looking back on it I'm glad I did what I did, but I truthfully could have taken it a bit easier and still gotten to where I am today. But I still feel that it is important to at least minor in something else if you're majoring in psychology so you may be taking more courses than people who just have 1 major. All in all, it's not a terribly hard degree to earn unless you make it difficult for yourself like I did.



Psych is an extremely intersting field to study, but plan on going to grad school. good luck!
Kelly S
2010-01-04 23:26:55 UTC
You asked the perfect person. I am in my 4th year of Psychology at National University. NU as we call it is the second largest private school in California. Its not easy. A lot of research and reading and writing. I normally take 1 test each week with a mid term and final each month. I also read the entire book in a months time. I am taking many course on History, Developmental, Psycho-pharmacology, Cognitive, Social, and all aspects of Psychology. If you want to be licensed in most states you must get at least a Masters degree or higher to work in a hospital. The state does allow social workers to have a 4 year degree but its getting harder because of the knowledge gained from higher learning above a BA. Also the Navy has a great Psychology program as an Officer making pretty nice money with no worries about malpractice insurance or having a job when you finished. My wife is going Navy for Med school so its a good place to start a medical career.



I will be taking my MS and then my PhD. You can also get a PsyD also. I have listed some sites to help you. Nu has a lot of great programs as do other colleges. You will want to look at what they are researching to get an idea of what you might want to work on in your Masters and PhD. Yes you can decide what it is you want to research but do not worry about that till you start getting your feet wet in your BA. Have fun it really opens your mind.
SweetTart
2010-01-04 23:19:30 UTC
I am working on my bachelors in psychology right now..



the courses are very interesting, so far I have taken developmental psychology, theories in therapy, and organizational/industrial psychology (I am specializing in human resources)..



My philosophy about degree programs is that they are designed so that you have the knowledge you need before each course so you are not ever going to feel like a course is too much because by the time you take that course you already took the background courses..



It is a very interesting field of study and is good for someone who wishes to work with/for people.
anonymous
2016-04-04 09:28:22 UTC
Even with a higher degree in Psychology, most jobs you will qualify for will require a hair-net. It is good to complete a degree, but there has always been a glut on the market of Psychology majors. Most employers only want degrees in the "hard" sciences and Engineering, even though statistics show that they are poor managers. Strangely, the road to business failure is lead by MBAs. Go figure.


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