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I graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from UCSD at the age of 19. During my studies there I had the chance to work in the labs of a few prominent doctors in the field (working with autism & drugs/alcohol abuse) and was so convinced that I would go the whole 9 yards to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Things have changed since then, going to school for such a long period does not seem very practical and the financial prospect seems disheartening, at least for the next decade or so.
I took some time off to travel (scuba diving!) since then and now I'm back in the States at 21, married, and working a $9 an hour job as a food server in a retirement home. It has taken me a while to snap out of denial and muster up the courage to finally admit that I do not have the most marketable degree. My best friend on the other hand chose a business major that landed her a $60,000/year job in San Francisco. I must say that I rather envy her and wish that I went through that route instead.
Does anyone have any pointer as to how I can market myself with my degree? My husband and I are moving to South Lake Tahoe within the next month just to get away from it all and rediscover ourselves. We're not exactly in a pinch for money at the moment but I would definitely like to start a career in... well, anything that can make some bank or at least is worth my bachelor's degree. I greatly appreciate your time to read this and any form of feedback whatsoever.
There are a lot of things you could do with it...but what do you want to do? Figure out what it is that you have a passion or aptitude for.
It's okay if it takes you a while to figure out what it is that you want. But in the meantime, you shouldn't be running after random pursuits suggested by people on the internet. You'll just run yourself down even further.
The only related job I can think of is the mental health assistant/counselor/residence worker level. There are just so many people with this degree, and usually they work as counselors under a more degreed person (RNs, social worker, residence director).
I won't be much help. One of my good friends has a BS psychology. The best he was able to do was get a job in a human resources dept in employee relations. Makes about 40 a yr. He's going to go back for a masters in admin.
My sister got a BS in Psychology about 15 years ago. She got lucky, got a job in a lab for a state university that had partial payment towards getting a Master's and PhD there as a benefit and ended up being a college professor. You're only real hope with it is to get a higher degree and hope it works out.
Though with a psych BS you could try for an MBA and kind of mix the two....for example an MBA in Finance be someone who studies "market psychology" or the more logical route, an MBA in marketing and go into market research. Good luck!
If you really like psychology then you should get a phd in it and you could be a professor of it or something. Or work in counseling. Otherwise look at the courses you took and see if you can just take a few more to get some other degree - like nursing or teaching.
Like it or not, universities have become glorified trade schools, only they won't tell you that a particular degree won't help you much in finding a job. They just want the big easy money by having everyone paying outrageous tuition thinking a degree will guarantee them a job.
Regarding teaching, you might be able to get into a thing called an "alternate route program" where you get a license to teach in a public school without having to get an education degree. You usually need a BS in something and work experience, both with youth and in the subject (i.e. for math being in IT or a Wall St. "quant jock" or a market research analyst (I was both IT and mkt research) helps, but not always necessary, there are just as many people in their 20s doing it as people in their 60s (median age for most of these programs is around 40, which I was when I did it a year or so ago). Psych majors are usually looked at pretty highly for it.
Go to Welcome to Teach-Now.org to learn more. You also may want to Google the New Teacher Project, which has programs in various major cities (though they're usually tough to get into, the NY City Teaching Fellows for example takes in about 1 out of 10 applicants.....the one in Connecticut I went into takes about 1 out of 3 so still pretty selective).
I would at least attempt to get into a clinical psych program. I believe they are competitive to the point where if you did get in there's a good chance they would pay for it. If you didn't, well, at least you don't have to worry about "what if" anymore. However, it would probably be difficult for a married person.
Don't worry too much about not majoring in business, there are plenty of those who aren't in any better situation than you are.
I graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from UCSD at the age of 19. During my studies there I had the chance to work in the labs of a few prominent doctors in the field (working with autism & drugs/alcohol abuse) and was so convinced that I would go the whole 9 yards to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Things have changed since then, going to school for such a long period does not seem very practical and the financial prospect seems disheartening, at least for the next decade or so.
I took some time off to travel (scuba diving!) since then and now I'm back in the States at 21, married, and working a $9 an hour job as a food server in a retirement home. It has taken me a while to snap out of denial and muster up the courage to finally admit that I do not have the most marketable degree. My best friend on the other hand chose a business major that landed her a $60,000/year job in San Francisco. I must say that I rather envy her and wish that I went through that route instead.
Does anyone have any pointer as to how I can market myself with my degree? My husband and I are moving to South Lake Tahoe within the next month just to get away from it all and rediscover ourselves. We're not exactly in a pinch for money at the moment but I would definitely like to start a career in... well, anything that can make some bank or at least is worth my bachelor's degree. I greatly appreciate your time to read this and any form of feedback whatsoever.
Boy, it feels good to be able to open up
Well first off dont beat yourself up over the friend making 60k because even though thats a fantastic starting salary in most parts of the country in san fran thats peanuts when you consider the cost of living, thats probably like making 25k in chicago.
As for psychology degree, even a masters isnt worth much so a ba is essentially worthless. If you actually want to make money in your field you'll need to at the very least get your masters and work under someone for a few year sand then you can work as a counselor, otherwise gotta get your doctorate.
You can go out and get a business job. Half the people I work with have history degrees, teaching degrees, etc. If your not dead set on psychology go get an entry level job, evne though your field isnt geared toward business you do have a ba and thats really what ou need to get in the door at many comanies.
One idea to sorta use your psychology and break into business would be maybe take a few marketing classes and then market yourself as being knowledgable about consumer behavior.
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