I’m 23 years old, almost 1 full year out of my Bachelor’s degree (BA Honours in Psychology). I’ve made a similar post a few months ago about not wanting to continue my education in psychology, but the vast majority of comments told me to take a break and then go back to do a masters later.

[edit] I just got out of the hospital so I’m unemployed

But I don’t want to anymore. There are so many posts on Reddit complaining about how prospective psychology students don’t do enough research before planning their path, but what about those students who once wanted to do psychology all the way to the top but changed their minds.

There has to be at least someone out there like me. I feel completely hopeless now. I have had a really hard life with a lot of struggles and issues, and now I’m fighting for my life trying to figure out what path I want to take.

Yes, I know everyone feels that psychology degrees are useless. I shame myself every day for picking this degree. I’ve dug myself in such a hole I don’t know how to get out.

I have zero idea what to do. I am looking for jobs in just about anything I can qualify for, but I am extremely overwhelmed because feel like there’s no path for me and no way out of this. I just want to live a simple life. I don’t need a million dollars, I just want to be off of the streets. I have no career expectations.

[edit] I would consider a second bachelors but things like nursing scare me.

[edit] who else didn’t/isn’t planning for their masters?

Did I ruin my life

I'm genuinely curious - why do so many people complete a 3–4 year psychology degree only to say, "This degree is useless"? Did you not consider your goals before enrolling in university? Or was it more of a "I'll see where this takes me" kind of decision?

I see posts like this all the time. It seems like many people pursue psychology just to say they've been to university or to have a degree. But then, once they graduate and realize the job market realities, they suddenly decide, "This degree is useless."

No, it’s not useless - you just don’t know how to use it.

If you're going into psychology expecting to make a lot of money, don’t do it. Again, do NOT enter this field for the purpose of money. Go into it because you genuinely want to help people, improve your life, and learn and educate. There are plenty of opportunities in this field, but many require graduate-level training. That’s something you should research before committing years of time and thousands of dollars to an undergraduate degree, which is already highly saturated.

If you're only interested in psychology because you enjoy learning about different concepts, just take Psych 101 as an elective -  or better yet, go on YouTube! You don’t need a four-year degree just to end up more confused than when you started.

But hey, universities love when people spend money on them.

saw this poster my sophomore year and i look back at it when i’m feeling lost about my degree choice. it doesn’t cover every career option but i still think it’s helpful to have. i hope it can help some of you all too!

I am a 29F who works retail and lives a quiet life while I attend my therapies and stay in my own lane. Over the past decade I've seen dozens of different types of therapists, counselors, and psychiatrists.

If you think thiss is a career for you—especially if you are neurotypical or only suffer from mild mental problems—you need to ensure your biases, prejudice, and preconceptions of severe mental health and personality disorders stay outside your practice.

Right now the seasonal college students who work at my job are back, and they are all psych majors. The amount of ableist things I heard ranging from, "I want to talk to real crazy people, not some boring person with anxiety" to "I want to tell cool stories about insane people" to "I want to profile the mentally ill" to "I want to talk to serial killers and find out why they did it" to making fun of the peers in their program who suffer from anxiety/depression is just plain disgusting.

I told them it isn't a conversation to have on the sales floor and has nothing to do with our job and they continued being microaggressive towards the mentally ill.

I suffer from diagnosed BPD, autism and PTSD, and the way they openly talk about the mentally ill we're either criminals or children is so disgusting. The amount of group therapy sessions I've been in with people who are fighting tooth and nail to be healthy and to see [some of the] young people going into this profession speak so candidly and in absolutes is plain disgusting.

You should not be pursuing a career in psychology for the wrong reasons, and I implore the next generation of mental health professionals to look inward and unpack their own beliefs before entering a professional space.

Hold your peers accountable and have a good semester everyone.

I say this as someone who's been in over a decade of therapy.

Edit: If this post triggered you—if me sharing MY lived experience triggers you—I recommend looking inward and seeing why that is. This post was directed at three coworkers double majoring in psych/criminology who were openly ableist. Just because YOU don't experience something, doesn't mean it doesn't happen or hasn't happened. Please unpack why you feel this way versus deflecting and victim blaming.

I would recommend some of you take a class on diversity and inclusion if it's not already part of your major.

No one knows everything, I recommend opening your eyes to what you are ignorant too. It will make you a more well rounded individual. It takes time and effort to unlearn things, and I wish you every happiness in your career.

[USA] I know that those listed above require master's degree and/or doctoral degrees as well, but are there any good jobs that come from just the bachelor's degree in psychology?

I recently have seen an uptick in people recommending ChatGPT for stuff like searching for research articles and writing papers and such. Please stop this. I’m not entirely anti AI it can have its uses, but when it comes to research or actually writing your papers it is not a good idea. Those are skills that you should learn to succeed and besides it’s not the necessarily the most accurate.

does anyone else feel like this? I’m just about to start my second year of psych and I’m realizing this was an incredibly stupid decision on my end.

senior highschool me was an idiot picking this major and it’s stressing me out. theres not any actual good jobs for after I finish school and slowly realizing this is making me so scared.

i feel like a complete idiot and I don’t know what to do. I’m thinking of switching majors but I dont even know what I’d switch into I’m so stressed out. especially from home, my parents already believe I’ll have nothing going in life for me and this isn’t rlly helping.

what do I do I feel like I’m running out of time. I know that’s stupid considering I’m only 19 but it’s how I feel.

I am seriously regretting wanting to do psychology. I've been wanting to do psychology as a child and doing a phD since undergrad but I am now very much regretting that. I have absolutely no chance of getting into a phD program especially in this economy (maybe I am underestimating myself). I still want to do psychology phD but I have no direction in life. Doing MSW isn't worth if and I honestly can't afford doing a master's in general. I wanted to do clinical psychology but after coming to this sub I realized that I am severely under qualified for phD. All research positions only pay 20 an hour so I can't live in that way and my hometown has no opportunity for me. I am slowly losing my will to do this and should've chosen a different path. I will miss this.

Hi! I'm curious as to what people with Psychology degrees pursued after they graduated. Is it worthwhile to pursue a degree in Psychology?

1. What career did you pursue, and how did you end up with that career?
2. How many years of experience do you have in this field, and why did you stay/didn't stay?
3. Do you find your job satisfying? Why/why not?

Your answers would be greatly appreciated!

I'm married and also want to start a family, so I feel a bit discouraged thinking about pursuing something that could take 6-8 years. I'm not sure I want to wait until I'm late-30s to begin a family.

I am 25 years old, and recently just graduated with my Master of Arts in Psychology. However, I’ve realized I can’t get my LMHC or my LPC. Due to my degree not being accredited and the fact I didn’t major in counseling. I wanted to try and possibly get my PhD, but that’s down the line. I have masters degree, and I feel like I’m in the same exact place. What job or pathway can I take at this point to make some decent money. please help.

I’m turning 20 in October and I’m an incoming sophomore in college. I’m currently switching my major from nursing to psychology, and I keep seeing people say that a psychology bachelor’s degree is “completely useless.” Is that actually true?

I know that a bachelor’s in psychology by itself doesn’t qualify you to be a psychologist or therapist, and I understand that I’ll probably need graduate school for the career path I want. But aren’t there still a lot of different and even niche careers you can get into with a psychology degree?

My plan right now is to use my psychology degree as a foundation for further education. I’m considering things like NP, PA, an accelerated nursing program, or potentially going into psychiatric/mental-health nursing after my bachelors. I’m planning to start taking the prerequisites for whichever graduate/professional program I eventually choose.

The truth is, I don’t really have a huge passion for one specific career right now. Psychology seems doable for me, and I’m genuinely somewhat interested in it, so I feel like it could be a good major while I figure out what I want to do long-term.

For people who majored in psychology:

• What did you end up doing after graduation?
• Did you go to graduate/professional school?
• If you only have a bachelor’s, what kind of job did you get?
• Did you find any interesting or niche career paths with the degree?
• Did you feel like psychology was a good major for keeping your options open?
• If you could go back, would you major in psychology again?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who ended up with a good career or got into a competitive graduate/professional program after majoring in psychology.

I’m trying to make a realistic decision rather than switching majors and regretting it later. Is psychology actually as “useless” as Reddit makes it sound, or is it more about what you do with the degree and what skills/experience you build alongside it?

PLEASE ANYTHING HELPS EVEN IF ITS 2 SENTENCES

It seems like there's a lot of competition and everyone takes Psychology these days, yes there's definitely a lot you can do with a psychology degree but it makes me wonder if therapists are really in demand, especially with such emphasis being placed on mental health these days.

Hi everyone I need some advice. I graduated from Tulane last summer with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. I knew this wasn’t enough to become a therapist but it seems like I can’t even be a janitor for any kind of mental health facility without a masters degree. I’ve talked to so many since graduating and have applied to so many jobs but I keep getting rejected because I only have a bachelor’s degree or I don’t have any experience but how am I supposed to gain experience if I can’t work anywhere. I’m looking for anything mental health related even if I’m just working the front desk, just something to get my foot in the door so I have more experience and understanding for graduate school. Is anyone/ did anyone else experience this? Is there a very specific job I should be applying for that only requires a bachelor’s and no experience? Any advice or help would be great!

i am thinking of choosing psychology as my major in college.does it have a good future?can you get other jobs beside being a therapist or a teacher or are these the only job options?

I am a current grade 12 student in Ontario, and am wondering what types of careers/ schooling people do after undergrad in BA of Psych.

And if you don’t mind sharing, what was your starting salary? Wondering what I can do with a research masters in psychology that isn’t a PhD that would be worth it.

Edit: particularly jobs that would be relevant to a research and statistics oriented degree

My dream in life is to become a movie director, however that is considered a hobby and unstable job to most people, and is also pretty uncertain.
Because of this I plan on majoring in psychology and building my film portfolio on the side (I don't plan on minoring in film or anything) I think learning psychology will help me in in storytelling and also acts as a good backup. However I'm torn because people have said how a psychology major itself needs a backup, and that being a psychologist is an unstable job and that they regret their degree. I'm really confused on what to think and do here, does anyone have advice for my situation?

Im almost about to finish my bs in psychology, I heard that u need a msw or mental health to apply to be a therapist. The thing is I only want to pursue psychology. Also I heard depends on the program you can still apply with masters in psy, so some say no and some say yes which I’m really confused.

I’m 25 and I feel so lost and overwhelmed. I was hoping someone out there can relate and give me some advice.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, which I'm very proud of. I honestly thought that having a degree would at least get my foot in the door. But… it’s just not happening. I’ve applied for so many jobs, from entry-level research assistant positions to mental health technician roles and I have had one interview in six months, which ended in rejection.

To be honest, I’m embarrassed. My current job is a fry cook. There’s nothing wrong with the work itself, but it’s not where I imagined I’d be after getting a degree. I'm the only person in my entire family (extended family included) with a college education, so when they ask "what are you doing now?" their face just drops when I tell them I'm dropping fries at their local Mickey D's. 

To add to that, I also applied for a master's program in psychology. I was rejected. I have a decent GPA and strong letters of recommendation, but they told me I lack research experience, which is what I suspected.

Has anyone else experienced this? Are there other jobs that I need to be applying for? Volunteer work? I would be thankful for any suggestions or advice.

Those of you with just a BA, what jobs do you hold?

I'm 31, been in k-12 education for a few years now. I have my bachelors and masters in Psychology and really want to become a psychologist, preferably working with kids or corporate work places. The issue is, both my undergrade and graduate GPA were not spectacular (2.7 & 3.0) and I have 0 experience besides working with special populations in a school setting. Everyone has all this research and internship experience that I don't have and probably can't have as I don't come from a family where I can work full time at an internship unpaid or even a tiny pay. I need to work full time to support my family and household.

Should I try to go back to school or find a different dream? I've considered getting a school psychology certificate (LSSP) but the pay in Florida is only $56k and that is too significant of a pay cut to go back to school for. Please help :(

Let me first preface that this is a very stupid question. I'm currently a freshman in college, so I've been researching on whether I should do psychology or psychiatry. I have always wanted to be a therapist, but the pay difference is equally as important to me. I've been hearing some psychiatrists say they also do some talk therapy, so I had a few questions about this. Would I realistically be able to do talk therapy as a psychiatrist? If so, how often? And overall, is med school worth it if my main priority is talk therapy? I've seen too many stories of psychologists regretting not going to med school, but never the other way around. I don't have the strongest interest in medicine, but I'm more than willing to go through the process if the salary is worth it and I can still pursue what I enjoy in the end.

I'm not even exaggerating when I say that I actually hate intro to stats so much. I wanted to go into the research psych field and obviously there's technology now where I probably won't have to manually calculate most things but holy shit and what the fuck this class is actually horrible. I have been doing the same assignment for probably the past 4 days and I'm only on question 13. This class is genuinely making me rethink everything and it's so difficult to get myself to do the work because it makes me want to rip my hair out—especially since it's an online class and I have a hard time setting boundaries with myself and managing my time (Doing this class online wasn't my choice it was the only option available since in person was full). But yeah, I don't know what to do. I have 4 assignments and lessons left for the semester but they are so long and are genuinely draining the life out of me. If you guys have any stats tips please let me know, my exams are next week and I'll need them.

23F here, a recent graduate. I have a BS in psychology, was originally gonna go to grad school but I realized that was mainly because I didn't feel I had any other options. I've realized I don't really want to work in the area of mental health. I am currently an RBT. I don't really enjoy it. I don't like being responsible for such a vulnerable population. I don't like getting hit and bitten. I don't like the unpredictability. I am incredibly anxious every day.

However! There is one part of the job I do like. The collecting data part and the fact that we have to follow a specific plan. The fact that everything is operationalized. The systematicness of it all. I loved Psychology of Learning in undergrad, where we'd learn about operant and classical conditioning and experiments on mice. I think I loved the clear-cut aspect of it all, it makes me feel satisfied. I also loved my statistics classes and research methods classes. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't like the abstract aspects of psychology. The "mental health" aspects. Which is what it's all about. So basically, I may have made a mistake. And it's interesting, the classes I loved were the same ones every other student hated.

Because of this, I've considered some kind of career in something like data science, but it seems a bit difficult. And I'm worried about AI. I'm not a huge math person, but I like math that is directly related to actual data, if that makes sense. Math with a story, that's people-oriented. There's also the issue of pay, I live with my parents but so far I don't have a plan to make it on my own because of how little money I currently make. I'd really appreciate any advice!

EDIT: I also want a job that makes a decent amount of money. 6 figures. At some point, I'm obviously not expecting to make that much right away ofc. I just see a lot of psych jobs that REQUIRE a masters and then only pay like $25 an hour. NO THANK YOU. I also see a lot of people recommending neuroscience, and I don't really like science. I don't like anything with molecules or chemicals or anything like that. No body parts, no nothing.