psychology major???

Question

I have always thought about being a psychology major, but I have some questions. Is it hard to get your degree? How long does it take? When you have your degree, how do you get a job? Do you have to intern? Do you work on you own? How much money do you make? I would like to be a counseling therapist and/or a marriage and family therapist. What should I do? My most important question is what is the best university for me to go to? I prefer California but mostly southern California. Please help me.

Answer 1

First of all, to be any type of psychologist, it's not required to have a BA or BS in Psy, though it's preferred. Very few careers in Psy only require a Master's; you need a Ph.D. or a Psy.D. to really have a career in Psy.

Getting a Psy degree is not a walk in the park. You really have to be serious about it and really work hard. If you're really serious about a career in Psy, you should get internships while you're getting your BA/BS. Depending on which branch of Psy you want to go into determines your salary. You really need to research before you make any rash decisions.

As for schools, UCLA has an excellent Psychology department. It's actually better than USC's. I'm currently going to Chapman University in Orange, CA and getting my BA in Psy. The Psy department is quite excellent considering how small the school is. I don't recommend online classes because you just won't learn as much as if a professor is there. A lot of the stuff that I've learned have been through real life examples that are not in the textbook.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Psychology is a wonderful major, but remember that you CANNOT work as a therapist with only an undergraduate degree in psychology.

To work as a therapist, you have to have AT LEAST a masters degree in psychology (preferrably in clinical psychology). This involves 2 years of study after graduating from college. However, not all states allow someone with just a masters degree in psychology to become licensed as a therapist, so in those areas you may need even more education or a degree in social work. With a masters degree in social work (MSW - also a 2 year program) you can be licensed to work as a therapist (LCSW - licensed clinical social worker). To be a psychologist, you would have to get a doctoral degree in psychology. This is involves clinical training and research and takes about 4-6 years to complete after college.

Salaries depend on what type of degree you have. Psychologists make more than social workers, and social workers typically make a little more than those with a masters degree in psychology.

The university that you attend for undergrad isn't really that important, but you should try to go to one with an active psychology department with labs. If you ever do decide that you'd like to pursue a doctoral degree in psychology, it's important that you've had substantial research experience -- it's harder to get into clinical psych. doctoral programs than it is to get into medical school, so the more experience you have, the better chance you have of being able to get into one of these programs.

Answer 3

Getting your B.A. in Psychology might take 4-5 yrs, depending on you gettting the needed classes. If you want to be a therapist.. a Masters in Social Work is a good choice too. When I was younger, U.C.L.A had a very good Psy. dept. Check them out. It's not really hard getting your degree. You just need to buckle down and take the required classes. Have that as a long term goal and each quarter/semester make it your goal to finish "X" amount of units, classes towards your long term goal. With Psychology, you'll need to get an advanced degree and 2000 hrs. or so of training before you practice.. Calif. might have some jobs
that require just a B.A.

Answer 4

Psych is a degree with the most wide of applications: w/ a BS, (bachelors of science) you can go to med school with a BA (bachelors of arts) you can go to law school, get your mba or get a masters or phd in psychology. As a human factors engineer (more stable of a career than i/o) or i/o consultant, you can make a really good living (about 75-150,000/ year) just look at jobs on monster.com. However, you must get a masters. With an mba, you can make pretty healthy income as well (~50-100,000). In clincial fields, (including psychiatry, counseling, etc.) you generally don't make much unless you have a PhD and a private practice (which you can't have unless you are certified w/ a phd) ...even then you prob won't be paid what you're worth. So, essentially, if the careeer deals even remotely with people, psychology applies.
Unfortunately, as with many degrees today, a bs and ba in pscyhology is NOT terminal. Meaning that you have to go to grad school to make anything and/or work in a psych related field (i.e. not McDonalds!).
I would not recommend an internship unless you plan to get your MBA. While most universities design classes where you can intern and get college credit, with psych, you really should be focusing on research experience if you want to go to a graduate school for psychology. Fortunately, most universities have a class you can take (usually pass/fail) where you work 1 on 1 with a professor doing research, even allowing you to conduct your own research and publish (a GREAT thing to put on your resume). This, however, requires you to get aquainted with a member in a field of psych that you are interested (not hard, just email them telling them that you are interested). If you decide NOT to go to grad school in psych (but rather, say med school or law school) you should probably focus more on classes/pursuits that cater to your career trajectory.
Get started early. If you decided to do research and complete a thesis, you really have to get involved at least your junior year (because you first have to become aquainted with your advisor, aka the person you care doing research with--usually takes at least a semester, then it takes a year to complete a thesis).
Email me with any questions.

Answer 5

You will need to go to graduate school after you get a bachelor's degree in phsychology if you want to be a counselor or therapist. Probably a Master's would get you a job, but they are not super-high paying. Without a post-bachelor's degree, you won't get very far in the field. Unfortunately, that is the case for a lot of the liberal arts/social sciences.

Answer 6

You should look at the BA and MA programs that are offered by University of Phoenix. It is not hard to get a degree and it takes about 4 years to get a BA, about another 2 years for a Masters and then you could pursue licensing that would add another 5 years and require a PhD. I am considering the same thing right now. Good luck to you!

Answer 7

The last time I checked (a few years ago) was to become a sex therapist. You first had to go through 4 years of med school and then 2 to 4 additional years to get your psych degree and specialization.

Answer 8

Go for a full time course if you can and go for a university that have some some work placement in their 3 or 4 years.