Loretta Said:

If I choose to be a Psychology Major, what would my options be for a Master's program, and a career soon after?

We Answered:

Hi Nebm,

My advice to you is to keep your biology major and double major with psychology. Reason for this suggestion it would open up many opportunities in neurobiology and research psychology for you. Without a good degree like biology then your career prospects even with a MSc or PhD degree, in psychology, is fairly limited. Reality is PhD programs in psychology, especially clinical, are as competitive as medical school, which means you need a solid GPA of at least 3.60 to have your application considered. Even if you do not go PhD route for clinical job opportunities at the MSc level is limited due to the fact you are not a licensed psychologist and most insurance companies will not pay you to treat their policy holders. Such a situation means you have to be either supervised by a PhD level clinical psychologist or a MD psychiatrist . Alternatively it means that you can be private practice in some state but you would most likely not receive any insurance payments. However if you are considering the non-clinical route then it means the only jobs for you at a MSc level include Human Resources / Industrial Organizational, Human Factors, or research psychology with an emphasis in consumer behavior.

With that all said there is one more option for you, social work. Social work in many respects is similar to psychology but can lead to a professional level job at graduation, at the BSc / BSW level, provided you are willing to be persistent in your search. This means social work jobs are tied to the economy as many social work opportunities funding, are at least in part, comes from tax revenue collected by the state. In economically prosperous times funding is less of an issue but in economically tough times, like now, funding can be tough thereby limiting opportunities for recent graduates. Another advantage of social work is the terminal degree is the MSW instead of the PhD, which means it is less competitive for admission and less time to complete it. If you were to consider social work the one area for you to consider, given your biology background, would be medical social work. Finally the advice I would give to you is do not major in psychology alone unless you have the grades to get you into a PhD program and if not, then I would recommend either a biology / psychology double major or a major in social work.