minors and job options for a psychology major -- Virtually Advising Q+A

The Q: What are some good minors if I'm majoring in psychology? I'm thinking about using the major with a business minor, or just becoming a child psychlogist. Which one would be better, and what are some other options for this type of major?

The A: Psychology is one of those fields that can work with many different minors. There’s room in many fields for understanding the mental processes of other people. Although there are plenty of options for minors with a psychology major, choosing a minor that’s best for you often depends on what you hope to do when you graduate. A business minor, for instance, can be very useful with a psychology major if you’re interested in industrial-organizational psychology or in marketing.

If you’re interested in becoming a child psychologist, it might be useful to check if your school has specific classes within this field, such as clinical-child psychology and/or infant and child developmental psychology. Some minors that can be helpful for someone interested in child psychology are women’s studies, education, and sociology. Keep in mind, though, that schools differ in the courses that they offer for various fields; therefore, before deciding on a minor you should check the classes offered by that department to see if they match your interest. There aren’t many undergraduate minors that specifically relate to child psychology. It’s usually in graduate school that people can choose programs that are specific to this field, such as clinical child psychology, family systems, counseling psychology, and school psychology.

Moving on to other minors: History, political science, and criminal justice are usually good minors for people interested in the field of law, psychology of law, and forensic psychology. The sciences -- such as biology and chemistry -- are good minor options for a person interested in the field of medicine or psychiatry. (In fact, many medical schools have a high acceptance rate of applicants who are psychology majors.) For people who are interested in psychology as it regards to different ethnicities, a minor in another language and/or culture can be very useful.

There are even career opportunities for people who want to combine the arts with psychology. The fields of art therapy, performing arts psychology, and therapeutic writing have been growing in the last decade. If you’re interested in finding out more about the various career options of a psychology major, I recommend reading Great Jobs for Psychology Majors by Julie, Degalan and Stephen Lambert or Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take You by Robert J. Sternberg.

Finally, if you’re not sure that you want to have a career in psychology – or you’re not sure what specific area of psychology you’d like to pursue -- just choose a minor that you enjoy learning about. Remember: A psychology major can be complementary to many different fields and minors; it all depends on how you want to use it.

—Mariam Mourad, Psych Advisor