[indy]

Hi, looking at starting the college search- and avoiding it until the last minute, but I figured I could maybe get sort of an idea of what others have done before me.

I am really interested in psychology/sociology especially personality and interpersonal interaction. Part of how I found this site but I have no idea what I would do with a major in any of those things in the real world. (I definitely don't want to be a psychologist I could never listen to people and give them advice all the time... research maybe?)



Anyway I was wondering what other people had done/ were planning to do and whether a general liberal arts degree would be helpful or just boring.

[Phoenix Down]

Hi, looking at starting the college search- and avoiding it until the last minute, but I figured I could maybe get sort of an idea of what others have done before me.

I am really interested in psychology/sociology especially personality and interpersonal interaction. Part of how I found this site but I have no idea what I would do with a major in any of those things in the real world. (I definitely don't want to be a psychologist I could never listen to people and give them advice all the time... research maybe?)

Anyway I was wondering what other people had done/ were planning to do and whether a general liberal arts degree would be helpful or just boring.

I'm going to say this now. Psycology is what people major in when they decide their original major was too hard, too borring, or non-existent. Not to say there aren't people who just like psyc because they think psyc is the most awesome thing in the world. It just seems that it's also the most popular back up plan... and for good reason: It's very interesting and the course work isn't too terribly demanding (compared to say... engineering)

That being said. There are shit tons of psyc majors... Those psyc majors graduate only to find their job prospects really suck unless they go to graduate school... Some people decide that they just wasted their time. The others... Well they go to grad school if they can.

Why do I say If they can?
Grad school costs a lot of money... If you already owe a boatload of money from your undergrad degree. The governement is going to less willing to lend you money... especially since quite frankly there isn't a whole lot of demand ( compared to somthing like... computer science)

Oh right... about demand. There isn't much. So getting into a good graduate program is insanely competitive. And we all know... if you want anyone to listen to you in acedemia, you need the most fancy-ass papers you can get your hands on.


My advice. If you're not sure, DON'T DO IT.
There are people who could not stand to study anything but psyc, and I think they should be psyc majors.

If you're going to major in somthing you're 'meh' about, it might as well be somthing that pays well... or is likely to have a paying job.
---------------------------

Now you might be thinking but the ENTP in me doesn't care about job prospects. No, it doesn't if it has somthing awesome and exciting in mind... But if it MUST do somthing less than exciting, it would at least like to be adequately compensated. We're risk takers, not idiots.

-------------------------------
by the way. Apply now.
I know this might is the nth time you heard this but DO IT EARLY.

My ENTJ brother regreted not applying early himself, so he MADE sure I did.
By that, I mean he took it upon himself to be my drill seargent.
And for that, I am forever grateful. Secretly of course.

[Rugwyn]

In my experience, ENTP's need rationality too much to ever become clinical psychologists, which I'm glad to see you've ruled out already.


TPABM has a lot of good information, so I'm mostly going to just agree with her.

Personally, I'm majoring in Philosophy with minors in a foreign language (Icelandic or Italian) and a second major in business. I would like to teach college, so I'll get my masters in that. If it doesn't pan out, I'll fall back on my business minor and start a hookah lounge :]

[indy]

Thanks,
I was worried about the whole psych major thing, some of the - more recreation focused seniors of last years class seemed into that as a major as they thought it would be easy- and I cant wait to get away from those people. But anyway I hated econ so I don't think business would be a good idea. Anthropology is interesting to me but I have no idea what I would do with that in the "real world". I suppose I could teach but I think I'm to impatient to do that...

I don't suppose there is a major devoted to figuring out how people around you think so... haha... umm I think evolutionary psychology is really interesting but that just goes back to psych. I used to think I wanted to be an editor for like a publishing company but I think that might have too many deadlines for me plus I would have to learn to spell and learn all the comma and semicolon rules. And again other that doing that I don't know what I would do as an English major.

Oh and in response to Phoenix I'm a Junior so I don't quite have to have apps in, but we are doing practice ones and counselors keep coming and asking what our target schools are and things but I know I will hate doing applications next year, but will be equally glad when I'd done so thanks pretty sure that was a run on sentence...

[agokcen]

Engineering is where all the cool kids are. Just sayin'.

[dagnytaggart]

ECON is where all the cool kids are. Just sayin'.

Agreed.....

[WildWinds]

I'm doing biology, plan on getting into research.

You could do psychology and get into research, that might be more in your area of interest. Neurology is another option that ties into psych, but thats going to be a lot more heavy in science.

[Phoenix Down]

Rocket Science. For serious yo.

[eithnii]

I am really interested in psychology/sociology especially personality and interpersonal interaction.

That's why I'm enrolled in a psych major. :)

If you're still considering a psychology degree, you might check out The Psychology Major's Handbook Amazon.com: The Psychology Major's Handbook (9780534533878): Tara L. Kuther: Books . I'm still reading through it, but the author tells you what you can do with each level of degree (bachelors, graduates, etc) and about the fields.

I think something to keep in mind is psychology could combine well with other degrees such as human services, forensics, health, and so on.

[YourMom]

Econ is not business. It's a part of business, like calculus is a part of engineering, but the program shouldn't be judged based on one single class.

Psych would be interesting. But I'd do it with the intention of using those skills in business. I may start a research and development business in that field if I were to study it.

Personally I'm studying Material Engineering. I'm in my last year. Is it my passion? No. Am I content with it? Yes. It gives me credibility in the eyes of others, no matter what I end up doing with it. I started an energy consulting company which I plan to turn into my career, and I plan to one day bring in research and development into it as well. For now though, I'm only helping businesses save money on their energy by designing more efficient solutions. Check it out if you want to see more: Prime Energy Consultants.

My biggest piece of advice to you is too not fret too much about it. Just pick one field and roll with it. If you don't like it after one year you can always switch out and do something else. We ENTPs don't like to give up though. We get bored sometimes, but if it's intellectually challenging we hate quitting. At least I do. Especially when people start telling me I can't do it.