Career Options Outside of Clinical and Counseling

Careers Outside of Clinical and Counseling

Earning a degree in Psychology provides students with the flexibility to go into various fields (e.g., health services, biotech, education, advertising, marketing, human resources, law enforcement). It is impossible to cover all the jobs that Psychology majors could enter within a single module.

Given that the coursework is specific to Psychology, it is especially important for students to acquire necessary relevant experience depending on what the career goal is. Unlike majors such as business and engineering which entail coursework directly related to various sectors in their related fields, when majoring in Psychology, students may need to take additional steps to ensure that they have the necessary experience to be ready for the job market upon graduation, depending on their post-grad plans.

Below are some examples to consider:

• If a student is interested in school counseling or student affairs, the student should be encouraged to explore the Counseling and Social Change minor and/or PSY 491 (3 options), to gain more applied counseling experiences. Volunteering with students of the population age of interest, if possible. 
• If a student wanted to major in Psychology and had an interest in advertising, the student should try to obtain an internship or part-time position in advertising or a similar area, such as content marketing. Coursework in graphic design could also be beneficial.
• If a student is interested in human resources, the student should get involved in the SHRM organization Links to an external site. on campus and work towards obtaining an internship in HR or a related area. You can also see if the student is interested in the I/O emphasis and/or completing any of the courses in the series, and whether they've considered a minor in Business.
• If a student wanted to attend a professional graduate program after completing their Bachelor's degree (e.g., law school, med school, any health professions program, e.g., dentistry, optometry, etc.), students should be sure to supplement their Psychology coursework with coursework and/or relevant experiences that are closely tied to their program of interest. For example, if a student wanted to go into law school, they should seek pre-professional law advising from SDSU Links to an external site., complete a fair amount of coursework in Political Science, and intern at an immigrant help center, for a political campaign, or as a legal assistant at a law firm, depending on the student's specific interests.

Note: Even Business and Engineering students are encouraged to complete an internship prior to completion of their degree to be better prepared for the job market, so it is not necessarily that Psychology majors are the only students who need to gain this relevant experience. It is more so that Psychology coursework is not always closely related to the field of interest (unless the student is planning on pursuing graduate school in psychology, therapy and/or counseling). However, a degree in Psychology provides students with other skills, such as critical thinking and analytical skills, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, as well as writing, research and statistical skills (depending on the students' experience), which can be applicable to various careers and fields, hence the flexibility.