Guys help me out.
I'm thinking of majoring in Psych. How bad of an idea will this be? All opinions appreciated.
Also, if anyone else has questions about their own major, feel free to post them here.
>>1246569
Doesn't really matter what you major in at this point.
The market's totally fucked and everyone wants 5 trillion years experience in some highly specialized subfield before considering to actually pay you.
It really doesn't matter what you major in anymore.
Experience > Degree
Feel free to go to school, get internships/work experience while you go though. It's the only way you have a chance of not working retail the rest of your life.
I'm almost 30. I have 3 friends who majored in psych.
One with 30 years experience in a job, now counsels former members of his niche
The other was wholly unemployable and after being kicked out of 4 rental agreements finally got their shit together and went to law school
The other just got fired from an assistant manager job at aeropostale.
I'd say it's not the best choice UNLESS it figures in to a bigger overall plan. If a psych degree is specifically needed for where your going, then absolutely do it. But otherwise, you'll get better general results from other degrees.
>>1246569
Psych B.S. and Psych M.S. here.
ONLY get a psych degree if you are going into counseling and 100% sure you want to go into counseling.
You can be sure by going to work at a mental health facility. Just get a job as a grunt tech for 6 months or so.
If you still find it interesting and are passionate about working with people's minds then go for it.
>>1246569
Psych major isn't really worth much on the job market without specialized skills or (at least) a masters degree and therapy license.
>>1246569
solid thread anon
I'm 23, gonna graduate law next year and fucking hate it wanna master on something business related like marketing, I wanna do something social where I communicate with people and sell them shit but at a a high end level. Thoughts?
>>1246569
therapy seems to have low standards of getting into while having decent pay. then you can move to another english speaking country and get into education as a side along with therapy and make an easy and decent living. getting into education in america always seems to be terribly competitive and frustrating along with all the red tape and entitled students.
i'm a psych major in my 3rd year but i'm in SE Asia. the course is easy and the types of people who get into it are like that. that also makes it easier to get the upper hand since standards are low and easily topped. there's a lot of problems in psych such as theory versus practice (clinicians don't follow research and just go with what they think works), low standards for licensure http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2014/04/the_maintenance_of_certificati.html#more, the APA being in the FDA board pumping out meds that don't quite work for money, publish or perish, etc.
you can get into:
>research and academics (takes a certain kind of person)
>therapy (not hard unless you're dealing with legit crazies)
>HR (could pay well if you get to be a director somehow. would not recommend though)
>consultancy (take some business units and maybe an MBA if you'd like. probably expensive where you are)
personally, i hate the course but i'm still going to make use of it. i wanna just keep studying stuff like biochem, nutrition, exercise physiology but it's too late to shift now while on my parents' dime. i'll pay for my own studies eventually and it's not like i learned nothing.
>>1247657
lots of anons always have something to take away from sales, even when it's shitty. maybe you should start there. there might still be threads with that sales guy around. check the archives.
sales will probably be good for you when you pitch your ideas to investors or banks.
>>1247279
If I end up doing Psych my plan is to get a Masters Degree
>>1247838
It's great that I would have a few options. My hopes are that I'll end up being a therapist, but I'm afraid that I'll find out I'm not good at handling people on such a personal level.
>>1247657
23 is really young, so you definitely have time to change paths. You should probably try to get a job that is sales-based, even if it's a shitty one, just to start.
If you're afraid of having to go to college for a couple more years, remember that if you keep on the law path now, you may have to stick with it for the next 30+ years of your life.
>>1247936
What I suggest for you to be more sure of to help make the right decision is to read statistics, psych papers, and textbooks beforehand. Pretty much just ask a syllabus from anyone who's taken psych and give yourself the chance to appreciate it. If you find that you hate the stuff, don't do it. Just torrent the books and use Google scholar and that site with all the free journal articles.
Get into some counselling sessions or workshops for cognitive behavioral therapy to get a feel of the therapy bit. Anyone can join.
You'll have to deal with Gen psych, Cognitive Psych, Experimental Psych, Research Methods, Cognitive psych, Industrial psych, Psych assessment, and others depending on what your college offers. But these are ridiculously easy and 70% of the time it's just reading the textbook.
The other 10% is asking people to answer surveys, participate in experiments, interviews and focus group discussions. While the last 20% is arguably the most draining if your groupmates are incompetent are writing papers and doing presentations.
I'll tell you this though: learn how to learn. That's the best thing I got out of college. Give me a deadline anytime and I'll get it done. Finals tomorrow? No problem. I can ace that, just give me a night. Presentation? Just rehearse and I'll always look more competent than my groupmates. Use psychoactives that work and apply what you learned. Caffeine, theanine, R.rosea, fish oil, sleep, orexin, melatonin - I know what to do to get me an A. I can cover the whole semester in one night and cut a month of classes. Give me the worst profs, the best profs - all the same. It's finals right now and I'm having an exam on abnormal psychology later this day. But my average has been 3.0 for the past 6 semesters. Even if I get a 2.0 my average will be 2.85. Bounce back in fourth year, get an easy sem this year. Focus on what matters to you in this life and you won't even be able to understand anymore why everyone else is stressed out.
>>1246569
I got my BS in psych, and a little while ago graduated with my masters in social work.
A BS in psych is a colossal waste of time, unless you're going to get your PhD it's just a complete waste. The only jobs for a Bachleors in psych are to be an inpatient punching bag or something similar, all of which pay like shit, treat you like shit, and have no benefits.
If you're set on counseling and doing that line of work, then switch your major to social work and then get your masters. If you got decent grades in your BSW then many schools have accelerated programs for BSWs that let you skip an entire year of your MSW, saving you a year and tuition. But this is only possible if you have an undergrad in social work, not in psych or something equally stupid like sociology.
Oh, and an MSW pays ok, but not great for the amount of school it takes to get it. It's a notoriously stressful field and you have to find the right place to work that doesn't treat you like shit. If you're looking for money then anything in the behavioral sciences is the WORST choice to make.
