Do I have to go into a psychology field following graduation?

NEW YORK (CNNfn) – Psychology degrees have long been viewed as a proving ground of sorts for higher education. It’s no wonder.

With more than 40 percent of undergraduates in the field eventually going on to law school, business school or some other professional program, the social sciences major ranks among the highest in post-graduate academic attainment.

But what about job prospects for those with only a bachelor’s degree?

This college professor insists that opportunities in both the public and private sector abound. And, he says, the perception that a psychology degree is best used as an educational stepping stone is giving college students the wrong idea.
“A lot of people think that in order to do anything with a degree in psychology you must get a Ph.D and become a psychologist,” said Charles Brewer, a psychology professor at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. “Most parents, even if they are professionals in their own right, don’t understand what opportunities are open to psych majors.” Brewer notes the vast majority of his former students have found successful careers “in almost anything you can name” and he stressed the greatest advantage of a psychology degree is its “flexibility and adaptability.”

Jobs for Psychology Majors with a bachelor’s degree in psychology

Jobs K Alums Have Obtained With Their B.A. Degrees

C. Finan ’11: U of M Research Lab

E. Yeagley, ’05: Kalamazoo College Admissions Department: Admissions counselor Primary task: Recruit prospective students.

A. R. ’10 : Child and adolescent case manager for the Community Mental Health Center in South Bend, Indiana

Katie: I live in New Orleans now and absolutely love it. With my Teach for America experience and B.A., I am a Director of Special Education at a public elementary school down here. I have big dreams about someday starting an organization for women and by women which focuses on prenatal health and care in some of New Orleans most impoverished communities.

Phil: “I worked as an advocacy consultant with the Open Society Foundation providing strategic support for grassroots organizations and founded the CORE Program, uniting coalitions of ethnic youth from Burma in community organizing and evaluation work. Since March, I’ve been working as a field manager on the Fight for Fifteen Campaign, creating an economic justice movement and new union for restaurant, retail and fast food workers in downtown Chicago. I’ve also been a trainer and board member with the Young People For program for youth activists from across the country. I’ve been participating in career development programs including: a certificate program in Non-Violent Conflict from the Fletcher Institute, a certification in Social Justice Training from Trainers for Change, and anti-oppression training and curriculum support work from International Women’s Partnership for Peace & Justice.”

Wilderness Program Counselor: Many psych majors enjoy working in a wilderness therapy program after college graduation. Jess Eldridge, 04’ alum had an excellent experience with the Aspen Wilderness program.

Refugee Foster Care Caseworker (approximately 20 clients on her caseload; 40 hrs. week; Bethany Christian Services, Grand Rapids; in 2012 entered Doctoral program in Clinical Psychology)

AmeriCorps: I am currently serving with the National Health Corps in Philadelphia. I work as a ‘health and benefits’ advocate at a health center in southwest Philly, which mostly means that I’ve been signing up individuals for health insurance and learning as much as possible about the affordable care act.

Law degree: I am in the process of finishing up my MSW. I graduate in December (yay!!!). I am still working predominantly in educational advocacy in the Ypsilanti and Willow Run School Public Schools, though I do have a small intensive in home family preservation case load. A lot of my focus there has been to get children of families I work with enrolled in Early On or Head Start as well as ensuring mothers are receiving appropriate mental health and substance abuse services and following through on appointments. I’ve been sitting on the Washtenaw Youth Aging Out Collaborative, which works to provide multi and inter-disciplinary services to Washtenaw County Youth aging out of the foster care system. This time I am applying to schools in New York, New York Law School, Brooklyn Law School, and CUNY Law School. These schools are a great fit for me as each has a good public interest law and criminal law program.

Non-profit Assistant Research Project Coordinator: I am working for a company called SARC (Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration), which is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and support of clinical trial research for the prevention, treatment and cure of sarcomas (a cancer of the bone and connective tissue). My current position is “Assistant Research Project Coordinator.” We currently have four clinical trials that are enrolling patients, and two more that we are winding down. My main job is to work with hospital sites to activate and prepare them to participate in our clinical trials. This includes collecting regulatory documents, reviewing Informed Consents, executing contracts, and helping sites obtain IRB approval. Another main part of my job is reporting SAE’s (serious adverse events) to the FDA, and monitoring the site and the data to make sure that everything runs smoothly. This means that I am involved with verifying and organizing clinical trial databases. Another advantage of this job is that there are conferences year round, so there are plenty of opportunities to travel both nationally and internationally if you are interested! Overall, it is an interesting job that encompasses a lot of different duties, so I am not stuck doing the same thing all day.

Autism Specialist: I’m working part-time as an Autism Specialist for a non-profit organization. My direct supervisor is actually a K grad so it’s be great just being able to work with her! I do everything from running social skills groups for kids with Asperger syndrome to coordinating a biomedical support group, educating families about some of the biomedical treatments that their child may benefit from. My SIP has been increasingly helpful in that sector! Besides working, I took a number of science classes at Oakland University this past semester. I’m still really interested in health promotion and disease prevention, and have actually started investigating health psychology programs as well as public health programs.

Rehabilitation Associate: Since graduation, I’ve been working as a Rehabilitation Associate with Ann Arbor Rehabilitation Centers, which specializes in Traumatic Brain Injury, and I recently earned my Brain Injury Specialist certification. Many of our clients suffer from emotional disturbances, increased irritability, and anger due to their injury.

Women’s health clinic assistant: I started working as a clinic assistant at a women’s health clinic in February. I forgot how alive I feel when I’m working with a bunch of strong, wise women for a great cause. It was the first place to offer abortions in Colorado and is one of the only nonprofit/title 10 clinics in America. Almost all of our services slide to zero based on income (even better than Planned Parenthood!). AND I just participated in a research study looking at a woman’s mood impacts attention, memory, and cognitive ability. It was really interesting! And they’re going to have a DNA component pretty soon too. Will be interesting to see the results! Working on a research team taught me the importance of volunteering for research ESPECIALLY when it’s adding to research about women!

Working with Dolphins and in a Rehabilitation Clinic: After graduation I started a dolphin-assisted therapy internship, taking photographs or composed notes to record each child’s experiences during their classroom and water sessions, and toward the end of my internship, I was given more hands-on experience with some of the kids. While I was there, I started talking with another intern about her work as an Occupational Therapist back home in Australia. Although the therapists at Island Dolphin Care were not certified OTs, the type of work they would do with the children during their sessions was very similar to what an OT might do with a child (e.g., sensory integration, handwriting skills). So I made the decision by the end of my internship that Occupational Therapy was the career path I wanted to take in the future. I’ve done some preliminary research on some of the top OT programs in the US, but I have a strong desire to do some more traveling before I settle down into a grad program, so I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be applying for grad school. I’m just happy to know that I know what type of program I want to do, because I had NO idea where I wanted to go when graduation came around last spring.In the meantime, I started working at a company called Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers as a full-time rehabilitation assistant for adults with brain and/or spinal cord injury.

Working in International law (focus on Spain) Financial Times
I was accepted to Michigan State University to study law and obtain my juris doctorate. Three-quarters through the first semester I was hooked and wanted more. The intricacies, delicacies and inescapable relevance of the law and business in our world fascinated me. As a result, I applied and was accepted to the MBA programme at Michigan State as well.
After graduating from both and passing the Arizona State Bar exam, I decided I should put my money where my mouth was. I spent time working and travelling in Asia, Europe and South America to experience firsthand our global infrastructure and the interdependence connecting us all.
After witnessing the effects of the economic crisis in Argentina less than a decade ago, I realized that by thinking outside the box, one is able to turn a seemingly negative phenomenon into an advantageous situation. I decided I needed and wanted to learn more about the international real estate market and the individual and collective laws governing transactions and financing; hence, my application to IE’s LLM in International Legal Practice.