Figuring out what to do after college is challenging and sometimes stressful. On this page we have compiled links to a wide variety of resources to help you out.
What are the most common career paths for psychology majors?
An undergraduate major in psychology prepares you for multiple different career paths. At times the choice of career path may feel overwhelming, particularly if you have friends who have very clear career paths or have known what they want to do for a long time. However, for most students the reality is more complex - alumni with psychology degrees go into an extremely wide variety of careers - so wide that there isn’t an easy way to summarize the top couple of career paths!
Recently we analyzed the jobs that psychology majors from Pitt go into. This report looks at alumni who graduated from Pitt with bachelor's degrees in psychology between 1992-2010; this was done so that it captures people who aren’t just a few years into their careers. This analysis is done by EMSI, a labor market analytics company. It is not perfect because it aggregates data based on social and professional profiles from many different online sources. But still, it gives a decent picture from the table below.
| Social and Human Service Assistants (21-1093) | 4.4% |
| Postsecondary Teachers (25-1099) (i.e., college professors) | 3.0% |
| Physical Therapists (29-1123) | 2.8% |
| General and Operations Managers (11-1021) | 2.6% |
| Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education (25-2021) | 2.4% |
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers (21-1023) | 2.4% |
| Registered Nurses (29-1141) | 2.2% |
| Educational, Guidance, School, and Vocational Counselors (21-1012) | 2.1% |
| Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychologists (19-3031) | 2.0% |
| All other jobs | 76.1% |
- Psychology students go into such a wide variety of jobs, that 76% are lumped into ‘all other jobs’ - because most of these categories have less than 2% of psychology majors.
- There definitely are a number of students who go into mental health broadly, as well as physical health. There are also some who become teachers. But collectively, these numbers are fairly small - less than 20%.
- Only about 3% of alumni go on to become college professors. We do not say this to discourage you. If this is your dream, go for it! But we do want to dispel the view that this is a common path. In reality, psychology majors go into a wide set of careers!
- Because we have limited data about Pitt alumni, here are some details about psychology majors nationally.
- Nationally, psychology majors go into a very wide set of careers. As you can see, it is so wide that many categories are very broad, like “sales” or “management”. Another common path is careers in business.
- About 4% of psychology majors earn a PhD in psychology or a professional degree in psychology or another field (e.g., PsyD, MD, JD).
- Roughly 13% get a master’s degree in psychology.
- About 30% get some sort of graduate degree in fields such as education, health, and social services.
In summary, majoring in psychology can open many different doors for you rather than limit you to a specific set of paths. So if you feel somewhat worried that you haven’t figured out your path yet and feel like so many others have, know that you are not alone and in reality your peers will go on to a wide variety of careers that they likely never expected.
General Resources
- The psychology advising office is here to serve as a sounding board for you to bounce ideas off of as you are thinking about different career paths as well as to give specific advice if you have identified a path you want to pursue. Since meetings for registration are short, we encourage you to reach out to your adviser at other times in the semester aside from the enrollment period to talk about possible career paths. Drop-in hours are also available daily throughout the term and are a great way to start a conversation with an advisor or have quick questions answered.
- Faculty in psychology and across other departments at the university are also available to discuss career paths. If you aren’t sure which faculty may be best able to support you, start by reaching out to faculty you’ve gotten to know during your time here. That should serve as a good starting point.
- Pitt’s career center is a great resource. They encourage you to meet with them early on during your time at Pitt, not just right before graduating (though you can also meet with them right before graduation).
- Time Out with the Career Center is a podcast from Pitt's career center about some big-picture ideas to help guide students at the University of Pittsburgh. You will hear about exploring your interests, critical thinking about resumes and networking, job searching tips, and hear from professionals/alumni. This podcast was created to help students understand and navigate the world of work.
- Pitt’s Outside the Classroom Curriculum offers many different activities to help you make the most of your time at Pitt. In particular, the Career Ready Guide is an interactive online course to help you prepare for your career after college.
- Pitt students have access to LinkedIn Learning. There is a series of videos called Become a Successful Job Hunter. The sections below have links to individual courses, but first, check out this course Job Hunting for College Grads
Identifying your Fields of Interest
- See other pages on this website for psychology-related jobs
- Preparing to Use Your Bachelor’s degree in Psychology is a very thorough website from the American Psychological Association with tons of information about careers that are relevant to many different career paths, not just those directly related to psychology.
- Psychology.org has resources for exploring psychology-related careers.
- PsychMic is a podcast for you to explore career paths in psychology.
- DrKit.org has many videos to explore a wide variety of careers, as well as careers related to psychology.
- Read interviews of former Pitt psychology majors to see what fields they are now working in and discover strategies for pursuing similar pathways.
- MyNextMove and O*NET OnLine are two fantastic websites sponsored by the US Department of Labor, Employment, & Training Administration. They allow you to browse a very wide variety of jobs, learn about them by watching videos and learn about average salaries. The Interest Profiler will suggest possible jobs for you based on your interests. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook also has complementary information.
- Learnhowtobecome.org has useful and easy to find information about what degrees you need for various careers (e.g., careers in therapy). This can help you identify your interests and learn how to pursue specific careers.
- Video from Penn State about what kinds of careers an Psych major may consider.
Networking
- Pitt Commons is an online platform designed exclusively for members of the Pitt community. The platform allows students, faculty, staff, alumni, postdocs, and friends of the University of Pittsburgh to establish networking and mentoring relationships that are meaningful and specific to their unique interests and professional goals. As a member of Pitt Commons, you can:
- Build your professional network and cultivate meaningful connections
- Become a mentor or mentee
- Join groups based on common interests
- Ask questions or provide guidance on discussion boards
- Explore career and networking resources
- Networking through Pitt’s Career Services
- LinkedIn is the primary social network for professional networking
Searching for Jobs
- LinkedIn Learning Course: Job Search Strategies
- Handshake is Pitt’s comprehensive career services platform that allows you to view and apply for jobs and internships and find out about career fairs and on-campus interviews.
- LinkedIn Course: Job Search Strategies
- See the many links from Pitt’s Career Center
Searching for Psychology Jobs, Internships, and Lab Manager Positions
- Psych Jobs Wiki: Predocs and Lab Manager Positions. This is part of the same website that is a wiki for posting about psychology faculty jobs - it now also has a section for lab manager jobs.
- Psychology Job & Internship Opportunities: For Undergraduate Students and Recent Graduates Seeking Full-Time or Summer Employment
- There are likely many other resources for finding such jobs online, especially through social media.
- Consider reaching out to a faculty member if they are doing work that really interests you and ask if they might have funding for a lab manager position.