Psychology majors have it rough.
They have the lowest job satisfaction of all the college degrees out there.
Just check it out!
Ms. Seidman said that the least satisfied career changers she works with tend to be those who fell into general majors, such as philosophy or African-American studies, and ended up in unrelated fields. When those people apply to jobs outside their majors, she recommends that they don’t even put the major on their résumés. “It’s not something you want to advertise,” she said.
How interesting!
I feel like these are the top 3 possible reasons why:
- The lower ranked degrees are too general to be specific to an actual job role, title and definition (as mentioned above) but I know tons of people in the “lower ranked” satisfaction fields who love their jobs
- There isn’t a demand (sorry, it’s true!) or the market isn’t ready for them yet (environmental engineering)
- The top ranked degrees seem more technical in nature using math, science or computer management skills, or are considered “fun” like Advertising
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Some of the top ones are quite specialized….maybe students in more specialized fields know themselves better (hence decided to choose a specialized field) and so they’re more satisfied as a result.
The market seems to value quantitative skills where an employee can make money for their company such as those in finance, accounting, etc. The market also values problem solving skills such as medicine, law, and tech skills. Those types of skills are the ones that the market values the most.
In college they advise you to get any degree because college faculty say that unless you go into something specific then most employers want to see that you have a college education. But the problem is that many industries require specific degrees. In some careers such as those in sales they want you to have any 4 year degree.
It seems that people with liberal arts degrees take awhile to find jobs, some of them don’t find jobs and go back to college for a second bachelor’s degree or go to a community college for technical skills. Some professors are even advising for people to not go to grad school for another liberal arts degree.
http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the/44846
I’m not trying to make my post a technical vs. liberal arts degree. I think the expectation for college these days has changed. People used to go to college for higher learning but now people want to also come out with practical skills so they can support themselves. Back when our grandparents went to college a lot of employers were happy to have college graduates because so few people went to college. So any college degree was good to have, but the truth is these days the market values specialization.
Employers were also willing to hire high school graduates and provide on job training back in our grandparents days. These days they don’t really want to train and want you to know the basics already. A college degree is used to screen applicants for an interview since so many people want jobs.
Specialization, Return on Investment.. all of these things pay more because it’s harder to get those skills and to get the experience for them.
It’s all about supply and demand.
I'm curious as to what the "Other Majors" are.
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\”Everything Else\” 🙂
You know that's really weird. One would think that psychiatrists make quite a bit of money. Or at least I paid mine quite a bit, and apparently that fee wasn't a very high one either. As for Economists, I think the market (well in my country at any rate) is already saturated with them.
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I am admittedly clueless as to what an economics degree can do for you except being an economist. It can be a good supplementary degree for working in the government perhaps.
Well, you can work in a bank, or at the stock market… of course it depends on your exact major. Well, I guess finance is a separate degree in Canada. I did 2 years as an economy major, up until I has to decide on my actual "major" (3rd year, out of total of 4). And as far as I know, there weren't any majors which made you "just an economist". There was Economical Computer Science, Management, Marketing, Finance, Internation Relations, Accounting, Statistical Calculus (no idea where that would help, aside teaching) and something about Economy for Agriculture.
So yeah… maybe that was a "fancy" university. 😛
Yes, finance is a separate degree. I think they call it high finance, then there\’s accounting then there\’s economics.
That DOES sound like a fancy university! 🙂
A psychiatrist is an MD who completed pre-med courses and medical school…definitely not your run of the mill pscyhology major. Therapists, social workers, etc. typically all have specialized graduate training as well, typically you cannot see patients without graduate education and licensing.
As far as Economics, it is a huge major at most universities. Most undergraduates from most programs with a BA or BS in Economics do not have the skills necessary to do the work professional "Economists" do, which is perform Economic analyses, develop models, make recommendations upon them, etc. To perform that type of work, one usually needs a graduate degree in the discipline, or they need an exceptionally strong undergraduate degree from a top program with a higher level of more quantitative classes than the major typically requires. For people with these skills, their skills are in exceptionally high demand at Economic Consulting firms, Strategy Consulting firms, banks and hedge funds, and any big corporations (for example, Google employs Economists to develop models to analyze their extremely rich data, and many big corporations have Economists that develop models to forecast events in the future) and the starting salaries are often eye-popping.
Oh I see! Thank you for clarifying.
Interesting. Here's my take on the reason for the lack of satisfaction for liberal studies/social science type majors: You major in something like African Studies or Cultural Anthropology because you're idealistic and passionate about learning about the world around you. You have big dreams of being a professor and doing important research in the field, or maybe of working for an NGO in a third world country. Then you end up in a completely unrelated job that slowly sucks the life out of you as you spend your days filing meaningless reports on customer satisfaction. It's a recipe for dissatisfaction.
I started out as an Anthropology major, then somehow fell into Information Technology. I hated it. Now I'm milking unemployment while I try to build a new career as a writer/entrepreneur.
I've thought about going back for a Masters or even a Ph.d in Anthropology, but it would be more for personal reasons than out of any desire to make a lot of money in the field.
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OH I see! That\’s an interesting story Trever (hey, thanks for coming over from EM).
Why not try to do IT on the side as your day job while you do writing/entrepreneurship on the side and build up a client base? Or does it take up all your time?
And here I was considering going back to university.. "Back to School" anyone?
In fairness, being in my late 30's, working towards a degree part-time at this point would be more about personal accomplishment than monetary gain anyhow.
For the moment, I'm still struggling with whether the personal accomplishment I would get out of completing a degree would ultimately be worth the rather high cost of doing so.
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Well I think if you can swing it, and it will make you happy (and without regrets!!) for the rest of your life, then go for it.
Hmm… I have a Communications degree and have found it to be an incredible asset to almost any job I apply for, as well as my daily life. Maybe the people who took this survey just haven't found a decent job 😉
LOL! Good call. I think Communications is so general (like business) that it can apply to anything. What do you do?
I'm a Chem Engineer.. but there is NO correlation between my Chem E major and what I'm doing in my semiconductor job now… probably because I focused on BioEng.
I guess I'm satisfied in that I feel pretty stable right now as far as career path goes….I'm just happy to have a decent paying job….. but this definitely isn't my passion. Honestly I chose the major because at the time I disliked chemistry the least and Chem E had (and still has) a ton of job prospects. If I ever won the lotto I'd be outta there, stat!! 😛
LOL!!!! So your career plan is to win the lottery? 🙂
TBH, I'm not surprised by the Biology or the Psychology.
The biology because I deal with biology majors every day. And it seems like at least half of them have these unrealistic dreams of being doctors (though they aren't capable) or marine biologists (without realizing that this isn't a standard biology bachelor's degree job). There is a lot of idealism in the major about what they think they'll be able to do and a rude awakening when they're out of college to find out they either get to teach biology to high school students, work as a grunt in some sort of lab, or go to graduate school to do anything more satisfying. So that number doesn't surprise me in the least.
As for Psychology. The general adage at my University is that if someone isn't fit for college they major in Psychology. The major is saturated. The job prospects not so hot. That said – didn't Debt Ninja major in Psychology? He seems pretty satisfied with his job, so I guess he's in the minority. =)
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I think you\’ve hit on another point — the majors that are the most saturated are the hardest to break into and the hardest to make money in. Perhaps it\’s just a question of popularity.
It seems that if you want a job that pays well you need to go into something practical like nursing, accounting, programming, etc. I would have loved to have majored in art history or graphic design, but I realized that many people with those degrees struggle. I'm tired of being poor and I get teased about being an accounting major, but I know it will always give me the ability to provide for myself.
I also think that with certain subjects you don't need to go to college to learn them, like art history. I can learn about it by going to the library. So that saves me money too. I also think having at least a 2 year degree makes you stand out, I'm going for my 4 year in accounting, but having some degree makes you stand out and it makes you look like you care about knowledge and that you committed yourself to something.
Its the best way to prove you did something positive with your life when you have to interview with a boss especially when they might not know anything about you. College used to be the sort of place where you went purely for knowledge but our world has changed so rapidly, college has turned not only a place for knowledge but a place where you need to pick up vital work skills if you want to survive and not become homeless.
I'm not saying that practicality is what matters, because it does matter, I also think its important to go for your dreams but sometimes you need to do a practical job until you can do the job that you love.
Or the two might intersect — you might be happy AND be in a practical job 🙂
I would think that env. engineering would eb something just about to explode!
Funny that English beats out both Comms and Marketing (which are arguably the more marketable degrees, and marketing generally corresponds with higher pay than the other two).
Marketing tends to be confused with Advertising I think. Marketing is more getting products to the shelf, organizing suppliers, managing that sort of thing. Advertising is commercials and so on. Perhaps that has something to do with it — seeing as people imagine that Marketing is the same as Advertising
In addition to the psych degree needing more schooling, a lot of people I knew chose psychology because they didn’t know what they wanted to do, but they thought psych was interesting. So the lack of satisfaction may be partially an effect of people who still don’t know what they want to do.
Good point. Maybe they\’re still \”lost\”.
I also graduated with a BA in Psychology. Like what Sara and Ellie said, it’s virtually impossible to get a job in the field without at least a Master’s. One reason may be because Psychology is so wide in scope and contains many specialties, a BA only gives you an overview. Grad school is where you focus and learn about your chosen field.
I found the greatest interest in social psychology/consumer behavior and chose to pursue a career in Marketing/Advertising. I just started in an entry level position with an ad agency and am very satisfied =). But I can definitely see why some Psych majors would be unhappy with their degrees.
Is that the same as Paco Underhill and what he\’s doing about consumer habits and so on? That sounds interesting!
I love that art major isn’t listed on there. I can guarantee that the level of satisfaction is much higher, even the pay is probably much lower. The “other majors” category is just silly. It made my giggle.
I think that\’s under \”Other Majors!\” My mom is an art major. She loves LOVES LOVES it.
This is so interesting! Most majors cluster close to average, so psychology really stands out (beyond the margin of error).
My U has a couple thousand Psych majors–far and away the biggest major. I've never understood it, but I suspect that for students and their parents, psych sounds closer to vocational (in the sense that there is an actual job waiting at the end of that BA).
But note that the below the graph, it says that the survey was limited to those who are currently in jobs deemed satisfying, well-paid and with growth potential. They have jobs, but just aren't happy with their career paths. Hmmm.
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That\’s what I thought too. It seems to be around the 50-ish range.
Ha! My degree is in history and my minor was marketing. I’m fairly happy with my job but I’m in sales, not doing anything related to history. I tried looking for a job in marketing but that was about impossible when I was searching for my current job. I’m surprised that economics is so low on the scale.
Economics surprised me too.
Hah, I was a psychology major! I like my job a lot, however, but I can understand why other psych majors do not. If you don’t go to graduate school, it’s hard to find a way to use your degree, especially if that degree was clinical psych-focused, which mine was not (we focused on research, which is what I now do as a career).
Perhaps that\’s the reason why? Extra schooling required?
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Speaking as someone with a psychology BA, I'm totally down with this graph. You can't really get a job in your field – period – without at LEAST a master's degree. When I graduated, I fished around for anything that didn't involve working at a retirement home or with the severely disabled (as a nurse), and there's really nothing out there. You either have to have 5+ years experience or some form of higher education. Too bad it cost me $80K to get this worthless piece of paper and that it'll cost me another $50K to get a master's just to get a job in the field….
That\’s what Sara was saying too 🙂
Are you in the US? It certainly doesn't cost that much to do a MA in psych in Canada! I would agree that almost everyone in my honours psych thesis class was planning on psych grad school, an MSW or teacher's college, as job pickings were slim otherwise. I have m PhD in psych and I love my job.
What shocks me is how unsatisfied people are overall!
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I think there is good and bad in every degree. I don’t love my job all the time, and I can see how people can love the subject but hate the actual job itself.
Well, "satisfaction" with one's job depends on the person's own self-perception and overall happiness in addition to factors such as employment, income, work environment.
It's obviously not true of everyone in the major, but there are a lot of Psychology majors who select the major because of their own experiences with therapy/psychologists or psychological issues. Someone who struggles with anxiety or depression, for example, is less likely to be satisfied with his or her job…
Oh really? I had no idea psychology majors went into the field for that reason. What Ellie D and Sara are saying as well, is you need a Masters to do \”anything\” in that field as well.
I have Math and Engineering undergrad degrees, and I don't use either in my job, but I'm glad to have them because it's basically a big bright stamp on my resume that says "This guy is somewhere between "at least kinda smart" and "huge nerdy brainiac"" which is what I think most employers are looking for.
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I don’t think it is surprising that nearly all those jobs with a high satisfaction are science/maths/engineering based. These jobs require a lot of technical and advanced learning to get the job and them constant on the job learning to keep the job. So those who have the jobs most likely love the them as they were prepared to put in long hours to learn what they need to know.
On the other hand Psychology while a great general arts subject doesn’t really provide you with any specific skill hence those with majors tend to get jobs else where and thus are unsatisfied.
Where is music on there? Psych majors can get jobs after they get their masters. Music can get jobs depending on what you want to do in music (performance, education, business, music therapy, nonprofit arts, creating music,etc). I always like to see what people write about music majors because my husband and I both have degrees in music.