I am currently a student, part time, persuing a degree in History. However, unless I go for a PhD, I understand that there is not much I can do with a history degree.
Recently I had begun thinking of getting a BS in Psychology, and then persuing counseling credentials, but have run into the fact that most counselors have at least a Masters. I may continue to persue a masters, based on this fact, but this did raise the interesting question in my head:
What jobs am I qualified for with a BS in Psychology?
sidebar: if you have answers for the same question only with History instead of Psychology, feel free to answer as well.
A BA in psychology is pretty much universal for “I had no idea what to major in in college.” I know quite a few people who majored in psychology because they “think people are interesting” and not one of them is working in even a vaguely related field. In a way, it kind of takes a double hit. It’s not “sciency” enough for the hard sciences, but is too reliant on experiments to develop the kind of critical analysis you’d get with something like a history degree. Anyway, there are a lot of people who know a little about how people think without formal training, and there isn’t much of a market for people who have only that to show.
I promise not to say anything snarky about “BS in Psychology.”
Unless you’re going for masters+ one contemporary liberal arts degree is as good as another. What you do with one is “be educated.” The overall exercise is one in practicing critical analysis and gaining breadth of subject exposure. Whether you use mathematics, psychology, history, literature, etc. as the medium is largely irrelevant.
The degree is useful as a 3rd party attestation to your independence and self-motivation as compared to a high school kid. In other words, you’re like a level 4 cleric as opposed to a 1/2 HD mud-dwelling peasant with up to 3 hp; but you’re nowhere near establishing your own temple or attracting a usefully large group of followers & henchmen. Still, there is a reasonable assumption that you’ll be useful to have around.
You are not likely to be able to set up a private counseling practice with a bachelor’s degree- however, it is not uncommon for caseworker/casemanager type positions in non-profit and government agencies to require/prefer a bachelor’s degree in one of a small number of related fields. For example, a degree in a social science may be required, or specified degrees may substitute for some of the normally required experience.
You’re qualified for more with a bachelor’s in psychology than one in philosophy, but still not much on its own. Psych students tend to be of two types: those who maybe want to go to grad school, and those who just want a degree and are maybe interested in the topics.
By the way, I don’t think there is any functional difference between a BA and BS is psychology. If someone had a BA in Physics, I’d assume it’s a crippled degree. In psych some schools give one or the other; some give both depending on which option or specialty you’re taking. I see no general correspondence in BA/BS vs. whether the department is in the school of Liberal Arts or Science.
I just finished a Neuroscience Master’s, and I see that some of the most interesting research and PhD opportunities seem to want some psychology background.
Some psychology undergrad + neuroscience postgrad would be a pretty sweet CV, if you can face / afford more studying.
History and Psychology are like almost all majors. After graduation, you’ll have two potential paths: grad school or a job unrelated to your major. You just aren’t going to find a job in your area of study right away since those jobs simply require graduate degrees.
Now, “a job unrelated to your major” isn’t necessarily a bad thing, even though it always seems to be said sort of negatively. The truth is that most jobs don’t have an associated major. There’s no degree that licenses you to be able to run your own deli or manage a microbrewery - you pick up that knowledge outside of school.
If you really want to get a job directly in your major with just a Bachelor’s there really aren’t many areas that work that way. Engineering certainly does, and so does business. Journalism occasionally does, but it’s been really drying up. I’m sure there are one or two more, but not many.
But the point is that very few majors are designed to be vocational; if what you want is to study for a few years toward an actual occupation, you might be better off in a community college where that’s really the focus.
I started my college with two years in Pyschology - then switched into engineering. By the time I graduated from Engineering, I had enough cross-over credits that I could have conceivably obtained an additional Psychology degree by taking just 3 more classes.
But I realized it wasn’t worth even that small effort. Psych courses were interesting to me, but I realized it was a dead end path. If I was you, I’d stick with History - another dead end path but at least it is your original interest.
Or, if you want to actually get a job from your efforts, consider the many trades one can apprentice in. Every projection I read says there will be a huge need for more workers in the trades once the economy recovers and the baby boomers retire.
Or, anything in the health care field.
I don’t quite understand. What other purpose is there to attending college except for the paper that says you should get a higher paying job than those who don’t have one? I understand the partying and getting laid part, but even in the 70s we were taking care of that in high school.
I looked this up for my daughter, and “not much” seems like the right answer. You need a Masters for most social work like jobs.
Daughter 1 has BS degrees in Psych and Economics, and now is in grad school going for two PhDs - Psych and Business. Daughter 2 has degrees in Psych and German, and is now in Germany teaching on a Fulbright and also in an Masters program in International Business. Masters are very inexpensive over there.
When I started out, I worked at a community mental health center, in the residential treatment continuum (group homes for the severely mentally ill). I just checked the websites for the local CMHCs, and pretty much all of them have entry level residential counselor or case manager positions that accept a B.A./B.S. degree.
If you’re not interested in that kind of work, there may be some researchers who would hire someone with a four-year degree as a junior research assistant. The medical school here has a couple of positions posted that are research assistant positions requiring a B.A.
Just before going into college I had an adult friend of mine make the following statement.
In college you learn to think.
In graduate school you learn about your subject.
On your job you learn what you really need to know.
He was totally right
People generally don’t hire BAs because of what they know about their subject. They hire them because they learned how to think and have proven themselves disciplined and motivated enough to get through school.
My architecture degree is certainly designed to lead directly into a career in that field. Most of the people I went through the program with are currently working as architects. That said, I work as a graphic designer (at first, out of necessity in a weak job market, but I actually like it more), and I’ve heard something like a third of people with B.Arch. degrees work in other fields – it’s a great design degree in general, and having it was what separated me from the other 50+ applicants for my current job, most of which actually had degrees that were more directly related to the position (art degrees, visual communication degrees, etc.). Since my portfolio was as strong as anyone’s, my boss was interested in having someone around that could approach things from a different perspective and background.
As far as the BS in Psych (or History) goes, why not go to grad school? I did a year of graduate work after I got my undergrad degree, and the best thing is that it didn’t add more to the bottom line on my student loans – I was a TA, so teaching a couple of undergrad courses each semester covered my tuition entirely and earned me a stipend every month that was enough to cover my living expenses. You can’t really beat a deal like that, as long as you have the time and your situation allows it.
The only work I did in psychology with my degree was as an assistant to a professor. If you want to make a decent living in the field, though, you have to go to graduate school.
For what it’s worth, I don’t regret my degree. Half the things I read for fun are nonfiction related to the field. I just didn’t want to go through more schooling.
I’m not coming up with much other than assisting in counseling office. But remember that ANY college degree will enhance your chances of getting a job. The degree indicates that you had the persistence and capability to spend four years in an undergraduate program, and you worked hard enough at it to graduate. That’s something potential bosses like to see, whether the degree is in Liberal Arts or Microbiology.
Since it’s a serious question in the GQ forum, the rest of us were being polite.