# A job in Psychology

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-job-in-psychology/115163>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 20, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-job-in-psychology/115163 "2002-06-20T23:56:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Myst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@Myst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myst)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-job-in-psychology/115163/1 "2002-06-20T23:56:53Z")

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Hey guys, I was thinking…

Psychology was always a favorite field of mine, but when the time comes to choose something to major in, I’m very hesitant to choose Psychology. I’m just not seeing interesting career options. Being a therapist is boring and depressing, not to mention the added years of Med school (at least, where I live). Other jobs, like being a counsler at a school, pay very modest salaries. My dream job would be something like a psychological profiler for the police or better yet, military. But I fear it requires much more experience, and my occasional forbidden substances habit might also hamper my efforts there.

Help me people! Are there any good jobs where you could use a Psychology degree?

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**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-job-in-psychology/115163/2 "2002-06-21T01:03:08Z")

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I used my psychology degree first to get a job first as a child-protective caseworker and then used that experience and the degree to become a parole officer.Now I work as a prosecutor at parole violation hearings. Bet no one ever imagined that as a career path with a psychology degree, but it’s the same path many of my coworkers took. BTW, a psychologist doesn’t go to med school, that’s a psychiatrist. Psychologists generally earn either a PhD or a PsyD  
There are a fair amount of jobs and graduate school programs that require a degree, but aren’t specific as to which degree. After I got my BS in Psych, I started grad school in an MBA program (didn’t finish) Guess what my specialty was going to be? Industrial and organizational psychology.