I am a psychology major with a minor in sociology. Before stepping foot on campus, I knew I wanted to do psychology but I was unsure about the exact career path I wanted to pursue. I took two psychology courses in high school that I really enjoyed and I was always the friend that people came to for advice or emotional comfort. This made me think about becoming some sort of therapist but I did not know the ins and outs of graduate degrees and the details on how to become a therapist. Throughout my time at Rutgers, I realized I in fact did want to do therapy, so I explored becoming a counselor, psychologist, and also considered social work.
When you are a psychology major, you have a few required courses you must take and then you have a lot of room to take electives in psychology. The required courses include Intro to Psychology, Method & Theory, Statistics for Social Sciences and Experimental Psychology with lab. Other than that you need to take nine elective courses which can range from Abnormal Psychology, Careers in Psychology, Psychology of Addiction, and even Internship courses. Electives are the time that you can explore exactly what you like about psychology, or if you already know what you like, it is an opportunity to learn about them more in depth.
For me, I knew I was interested in working with those who suffer from mental illness so I took Abnormal Psychology and the internship course (Applied Experience) where I was placed somewhere that I got to learn about counseling strategies for those who have been sexually assaulted. This experienced ignited my passion for working with those who experienced trauma – a passion I never knew I had before this internship. I also took Independent study three times for nine credits where I did research with a faculty member. Here I was able to co-author a paper and present at multiple large conferences. Once you take the few required choices, your options are wide open and they are always offering different and cool psychology courses. I definitely recommend exploring some new things because you might find a passion along the way you didn’t even know you had.
In my Abnormal course, I met Dr. Cavanaugh, who I found does research on mental illness with a particular interest in women and trauma. This aligned with my interests so I reached out to her to inquire about joining her lab. I started doing research which I enjoyed and I also maintained a really high GPA so I thought about applying for PhD programs in Clinical Psychology which allows you to do research and also teaches the skills to become a psychologist. I applied to a few programs and did not get accepted due to the fact that they are extremely competitive. I also had considered Masters programs in Clinical Mental Health Counseling where you can become a licensed professional counselor and work in schools, hospitals, rehabs, and more. I applied to five of these programs and got interviewed and accepted to four. Next year I will be starting my Masters at Villanova University and once I graduate I will be able to take the licensing exam for a licensed professional counselor.
In order to narrow down career options, do a lot of research about the different careers in psychology that are available (there’s a course offered at Rutgers on this: Careers in Psychology) and what degrees these careers entail. It doesn’t hurt to explore all of the options throughout your undergraduate career such as research graduate programs or seeing what jobs are available in the field currently and what levels of education they require. Good luck!
Written by Alexis K., a former Rutgers—Camden Undergraduate Student and Raptor Ambassador.