What can you do with a BA in psychology?

amother

Blue

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 11:14 am

I'm absolutely not looking to become a psychologist. But I absolutely love psychology! If I'd get a BA, what are some things I'd be able to do with it? Things along the lines of coaching? Advocacy (say, for children who have gone thru abuse, are struggling at home/school)? Any creative ideas that I might not have thought about?

debsey

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 6:00 pm

Get a master's and then a doctorate. THEN you can do something. Honestly, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Do yourself and any potential client a favor and get educated. A BA is just a stepping stone into actual professional training.

Rubber Ducky

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 6:04 pm

You need an advanced degree. There are a few 3-year doctorate programs. Also, some social workers do counseling — it's a masters and maybe it's faster, you may want to investigate that option as well.

tigerwife

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 6:05 pm

As long as you have all the right pre-reqs, you can basically use it for anything. I have friends who went on to medical and therapeutic fields with their Psych degree. They just made sure to take the right Bio classes, too.

ETA- what I mean is that they were able to get into the graduate schools of their choice with a major in Psych. Not sure what you can do with a BA alone.

amother

Slategray

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 6:38 pm

It sounds like OP wants to do the kind of job where a degree is a bonus and not a requirement. Advocacy and coaching are examples she gave.

Look up CASAC. I'm not sure if I'm reading it correctly but it doesn't have advanced degree requirements on the ny government website.

chocolatecake

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 7:43 pm

a neighbor of mine has a ba psych and he works for ncsy. im not sure his exact position but it is something social as opposed to administrative. a secretary in my office has her ba in pysch and never continued for her masters. see what good the ba did her..... a random idea just came to mind what about a nursing home activity coordinator.

cooksallday

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 8:20 pm

in Canada it might be different, but a bachelor in Psychology is more of a gateway to higher education (reiterating what most people have said). I have a bachelor in Psychology and got a bachelor of social work in addition to it, which gives me more options. A bachelors education definitely opens more doors than college education, but masters will give you the ability to do counselling related things you mention. Bachelor in Psychology won't train you for what you're looking for specifically, and wont give you the qualifications either.

doctorima

Sun, Jan 24 2016, 9:25 pm

Not sure this is what you want, but you asked for creative options: You could use your degree to teach HS psychology, and share your enthusiasm to get others interested in the field.

amother

Smokey

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 12:58 am

I have a BA in psychology. I never went further in my education. Worst mistake of my life. Its many years later, never had a chance to continue, for many reasons, and I am still searching for what to do with the rest of my life and I have had menial jobs here and there.
Get an MA. That you need to continue, to almost anything.

DrMom

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 1:33 am

Sorry, I just had to post this:

But seriously, you could use it as a jumping off point for many different fields. What interests you?

cnc

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 2:40 am

amother wrote:

CASAC is a two year certificate program and pretty low starting salary. It stands for certified addiction and substance abuse counselor.

Raisin

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 5:04 am

chocolatecake wrote:

Some professional jobs just want people with a BA and they don't really mind what field. Eg business, management, non profits, HR. They may not hire a person without a BA.

wondergirl

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 8:29 am

You cannot do much with a bachelors in psychology, you would need to get a masters to do higher level work. I would suggest you get a bachelors in social work, that would allow you to work in the field and you would be able to get a masters in social work in one year instead of two should you choose to get a masters. I think that getting a bachelors in social work is the better route especially if you know for sure that you want to work in the field.

amother

Sapphire

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 9:56 am

I have a bachelors in psych and went on to an accelerated nursing program. I knew all along I wanted nursing, I just needed to get a bachelors first to get into the program and I found psych interesting. I did the psych credits on top of the science prereqs.

perquacky

Mon, Jan 25 2016, 1:24 pm

Thanks for the laugh, DrMom. I have a BA in English, but I was lucky to find a really great way to put it to use--without having to go to law school or teach.
Psych degrees, from what I understand, are not much good unless you go on for an MS or PhD.