Should I major in Social Work or Psychology?

Question

I really am interested in Psychology and how the mind works, yet I keep getting pushed in the Social Work direction because at my school, it only takes you a year after your bachelor's degree to get an MSW, as opposed to a PhD. in Psychology that would take me anywhere from 8-10 years to earn. I'd also like to make the most logical choice considering that I want to start a family and yet maintain my career. Any advice?

Answer 1

If you are really interested in individual psychological issues than you should do a psych degree. Social work is so much broader and you may find a number of the classes of less interest to you. Social work tends to look wholistically at a person in the context of their environment and looks at making changes in both the person and environment. Psychology tends to look narrowly on those intra psychic elements of behavior and feelings and seeks to make changes at that level. As other's have mentioned if your state has a licenced professional counselor credential then you can get licenced with a MA in counseling or counseling psych. An MSW is usually more versitle than an MA in psych and some jobs still look more favorably on an MSW becuase the programs are well regulated through accreditation. Also with a BA in pscyh you can go on for an MSW but it will take two years rather than one. DA.

Answer 2

GO WITH PSYCHOLOGY!!!!

I can not emphasize this enough! You don't have to earn a PhD in psychology in order to get a decent job (that's the oldest stereotype in the book). However, you probably will need a Master's degree, which depending on the program that you enter, will usually take about two years to earn after you complete your Bachelor's degree. I think that you will find the extra year of school to be worthwhile. There are so many different avenues that you can take when pursuing a master's in psychology. Whereas with a master's in social work, you can, well....Be a social worker, working 70 hour work weeks for a horrible salary, and having to put up with all of the mindless bureaucracy that goes along with that position. Of course, I am very biased because I'm a psychology graduate student.... But all that aside, I hope that I was helpful in persuading you to avoid making what could be a big academic mistake!

Did I mention that you DON"T need a Ph.D to work as a professional psychologist? All you need is a Master's in counseling.... Not every therapist holds a Ph.D!

Answer 3

I have a psych bachelors degree and one of my best friends got her MSW years ago and another just got her Ph.D in Psych. If you're interested in counseling, than I'd go with an MSW, since you can do similiar work that a Psychologist does, without the extra years of college and a residency (my friend with the Ph.D is massively in debt now). My friend with an MSW has worked as a grief counselor in a hospital, a counselor at a counseling center, resident counselor in an adolescent runaway home, and now runs an employee counseling program.

My friend with the Ph.D in Psych got burned out at a city counseling center, so she went to work for a corporate employee counseling center instead.

I'm really interested in this because of my degree, so I found out about another major, it's a master’s degree in counseling, which also requires a supervised internship. It sounds similiar to the Ph.D in Psych, but with not quite as many years of college. Here's more info about this career path:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos067.htm

Good luck!

Answer 4

I don't think you would get a degree in social work just to save some time. It seems you are really interested in psychology. You're young and you have the time to get that degree in psychology and it will be much more rewarding for you. Social workers are mainly government employees, like one responder said, working with alot of red tape and bad working conditions and not enough pay for the work they do. As far as starting a family, I think you could plan it out in a way where you could still have children and work on getting your degree and also work, or start a family after you get your degree. I wanted to major in psychology, but I'm not a kid anymore and now I regret it. I say go for it! Good luck to you.

Answer 5

I'm in the same boat right now. It will depend on what you would like to do with your degree. I want to pursue a career in Drug and Alcohol treatment. I was advised to attain a degree in social work b/c insurance companies approve that degree over psychology.

Answer 6

Go for the psych major. It may be more work, but it'll be worth it. Social workers work themselves to death, don't get paid well, and have little job satisfaction. They have to deal with massive amounts of red tape to get anything done, and often have to stand by and watch bad situations unfold because the law does not allow them to stop it. With psychology you can do some good for the world, have much less bureaucracy to deal with, and you'll get paid better. Plus, if you're a psychologist you can always start your own practice and set your own hours so you can be with the family.

Answer 7

You have to choose what you love otherwise it will be a complete chore for you. Social work is my field as well. It is noble work and it can be stressfull too. But you will be able to start a family sooner. Good luck.

Answer 8

with a MSW you can do counselling if that is why you want to do psych

Answer 9

Neither...those are both pseudo-intellectualism persuits. You should get a degree in business administration.