RE: Help me decide on a major
September 23, 2013 at 11:34 pm
(This post was last modified: September 23, 2013 at 11:41 pm by Darth.)
Be warned about psych.
Here's my understanding of how it works, at least here in Aus (and I've had to do at least one psych unit each semester as part of a non psych course, so I've had a fair amount of discussion with some of the students and sat through some of their lectures where the lecturer/guest speaker advises the students about honours).
3 years Undergrad, a 4th for honours. Then 2/3 years post grad. http://www.psychology.org.au/studentHQ/s...-pathways/ and that's without getting a specialty.
Getting into honours is tough. At my uni the cutoff for honours is a grade of 70%+. But then the decision is up to that department. My own course has so few people, and so few people doing honours relative to the number of lecturers that they're willing to bend the 70% requirement, if you were just short of making the cutoff, at 68 or 69% say, and it's your non-core units dragging your grade down (for instance, the psych units), then they'll do everything they can to get you in. In psych however (with it's hundreds of students) 70% will not get you in without some serious affirmative action. 80% won't get you in either. There are so many psych students, all desperate to get into honours for without it their degree is quite worthless, that they are able to make them jump through all sort of hoops. You need great marks and a resume full of things like volunteering and and stuff to be considered. It's not a course you can just show up for and expect to come out with a worthwhile degree, you'll get a degree no doubt, but won't be able to do much with it. You can end up after 3 years of study in quite the predicament.
Like Pine I didn't much care for the psych components of my course. I went into the psych units thinking that "while it's not the degree I would have chosen, I certainly see how it's of interest". After the first few psych units though, what a load of bunk it is. I get emails from em inviting me to psychoanalysis (freudian) lectures on the Oedipus complex. It's very squishy, soft 'science' in my opinion (though in fairness aspects of my own course aren't much better). And be very, very wary of qualitative psychology, I couldn't believe how bad it was, that lot are intentionally anti-scientific. They rail against empiricism and statistics.
My advice is to balance profit/desire:
First, research the degree in depth, don't just go by "oh that sounds profitable", you might be surprised, and keep in mind the difference between the top tier and lowest tier universities, what is a good idea at one university mightn't be a good idea elsewhere.
Second: Don't choose something purely because your research indicates it's the most profitable. You need to have some sort of liking for the topic.
Third: Depends on where you are but I wouldn't advise spending a year 'finding yourself' by studying general crap if it's gunna cost you an arm and a leg. What Pine advises might work if you're not paying for it, but mightn't be a great idea in America at an expensive college.
Fourth: B.S>B.A, particularly if you want to do something worthwhile in science =P
I have a passion for language and linguistics, rather than opting for linguistics, I went for speech pathology which will be followed by Audiology. That way I get a trade or two out of it.
Here's my understanding of how it works, at least here in Aus (and I've had to do at least one psych unit each semester as part of a non psych course, so I've had a fair amount of discussion with some of the students and sat through some of their lectures where the lecturer/guest speaker advises the students about honours).
3 years Undergrad, a 4th for honours. Then 2/3 years post grad. http://www.psychology.org.au/studentHQ/s...-pathways/ and that's without getting a specialty.
Getting into honours is tough. At my uni the cutoff for honours is a grade of 70%+. But then the decision is up to that department. My own course has so few people, and so few people doing honours relative to the number of lecturers that they're willing to bend the 70% requirement, if you were just short of making the cutoff, at 68 or 69% say, and it's your non-core units dragging your grade down (for instance, the psych units), then they'll do everything they can to get you in. In psych however (with it's hundreds of students) 70% will not get you in without some serious affirmative action. 80% won't get you in either. There are so many psych students, all desperate to get into honours for without it their degree is quite worthless, that they are able to make them jump through all sort of hoops. You need great marks and a resume full of things like volunteering and and stuff to be considered. It's not a course you can just show up for and expect to come out with a worthwhile degree, you'll get a degree no doubt, but won't be able to do much with it. You can end up after 3 years of study in quite the predicament.
Like Pine I didn't much care for the psych components of my course. I went into the psych units thinking that "while it's not the degree I would have chosen, I certainly see how it's of interest". After the first few psych units though, what a load of bunk it is. I get emails from em inviting me to psychoanalysis (freudian) lectures on the Oedipus complex. It's very squishy, soft 'science' in my opinion (though in fairness aspects of my own course aren't much better). And be very, very wary of qualitative psychology, I couldn't believe how bad it was, that lot are intentionally anti-scientific. They rail against empiricism and statistics.
My advice is to balance profit/desire:
First, research the degree in depth, don't just go by "oh that sounds profitable", you might be surprised, and keep in mind the difference between the top tier and lowest tier universities, what is a good idea at one university mightn't be a good idea elsewhere.
Second: Don't choose something purely because your research indicates it's the most profitable. You need to have some sort of liking for the topic.
Third: Depends on where you are but I wouldn't advise spending a year 'finding yourself' by studying general crap if it's gunna cost you an arm and a leg. What Pine advises might work if you're not paying for it, but mightn't be a great idea in America at an expensive college.
Fourth: B.S>B.A, particularly if you want to do something worthwhile in science =P
I have a passion for language and linguistics, rather than opting for linguistics, I went for speech pathology which will be followed by Audiology. That way I get a trade or two out of it.
Nemo me impune lacessit.
