Psychology Majors Are Booming. Here’s Why
Credit: 1393709660 / E+ / Getty Images- Graduates who majored in psychology can often enter the workforce right out of college and pursue employment options like “applied psychology” — data-driven careers that utilize statistical analysis.
- They can also use their psychology degrees to enter healthcare graduate programs like nursing, occupational therapy, and even medical school.
- The number of students getting bachelor’s degrees in psychology grew 72% from the 2000-01 academic year to 2020-21 — from 73,645 bachelor’s degrees earned to 126,944.
Multiple recent reports have named psychology as a top major locally and nationally — but it’s not a new trend. The major has been growing since the early 2000s and hasn’t lost steam.
Students are flocking to earn psychology degrees, seeking to learn more about themselves and the world around them. Many also want to gain critical thinking and analysis skills to apply in the workforce right after their undergraduate studies. And some want to keep the door open for a future in the medical field.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that psychology ranked fifth out of the top bachelor’s degrees earned in the 2021-22 academic year at 129,600. Also, the number of psychology degrees earned increased over 75% from 2000-01 to 2021-22.
One psychology professor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tells us why the major is so popular and what his students stand to gain from it.
Interested in Pursuing a Psychology Major?
Learning about human behavior doesn’t mean you have to work in psychology. Part of why the major is so popular is that it opens doors to tons of different fields.
Why Are More Students Pursuing Psychology Majors?
Professor Patrick Harrison teaches psychology and is the director of Instructional Development in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He told BestColleges that the reason psychology majors are so popular is because people are “inherently social creatures.”
Many of Harrison’s students have gone into psychology because they had an experience with therapy or they want to better understand themselves or family members. People are genuinely curious about people and societies.
Another reason more students are majoring in psychology is because society has gradually normalized talking about psychology. Harrison said discussing mental health conditions, for example, is a lot more mainstream now than it was even 10 years ago.
In the past, people didn’t ask questions about other people and sometimes even themselves, but this generation’s movement toward self-awareness and self-understanding propelled the discussion to the public, Harrison said.
Harrison also said students go into psychology because these classes teach students to think differently, analyze the validity of claims, and apply the scientific method to the information they see every day.
“We live in a world of information, misinformation, and disinformation, and what prepares people well to navigate all this information,” Harrison said. “The ability to use evidence-based, critical thinking, the ability to not only evaluate the claims of other people but to make claims and defend them with evidence in their own lives.
“People go into this because it changes the way you think. You can be a political analyst. You could be a meteorologist. You could really do anything with this kind of methodology.”
A Multitude of Options After Graduation
Harrison said that a psychology degree program not only prepares you for graduate and Ph.D. programs but also for lots of other careers requiring just a bachelor’s degree. There’s a misconception that you can’t get a job in this field unless you go to grad school.
Apply Your Psychology Major Right Out of Undergrad
Psychology majors open up way more career pathways than people think, Harrison said. Many psychology bachelor’s degree holders pair psychology and statistics, computer science, economics, and any discipline that helps them understand the right way to ask questions and get accurate data.
As of 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that psychology bachelor’s degree holders earned a median salary of $55,000 per year, with the American Psychiatric Association reporting 38% making at least $60,000.
Harrison said some of the psychology majors’ most lucrative jobs are in “applied psychology,” which involves jobs where students run statistical analysis and create, develop, and research surveys.
Most people don’t go into psychology thinking they’ll write surveys or crunch numbers for big businesses. But Harrison said the more students experience, the more opportunities they see to marry their interests with psychology.
“I would say the biggest opportunity right now for psychology majors is to go into some sort of applied data analysis survey research, and that’s where you don’t necessarily need that graduate degree, and the return on investment is massive,” Harrison said.
Further Your Education Into Graduate or Doctoral Study
Harrison said that if a student wants to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology, it’s a research degree to train the next generation of scientists and scholars. So they are typically expected to conduct research or teach in a university setting for the next 5-7 years. Students need to make sure it’s what they want to do and are willing to dedicate time to the degree.
With a psychology bachelor’s or master’s degree, students can pursue jobs as nurses, physician’s assistants, occupational therapists, and audiologists, or they may decide to go to medical school.
If a student wants to become a therapist, a Ph.D. isn’t typically necessary. Harrison said some common graduate degrees for that path are a master of social work, a master of counseling, and even a master of arts in teaching.
“One of the things that I always tell my students is, ‘Before you totally jump on the Ph.D. train, think about what you hope to get from your training. Is it 5-7 years, and then you are doing research all the time, or you’re teaching all the time? If not, if you want to be with clients right now, then there are more efficient ways to do that,'” Harrison said.
He said psychology prepares teachers to manage large groups of people, cater to individuals’ needs, present information, and encourage students to think critically.
“I would say very few people go into a psych major thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to write surveys. I’m going to work for a big business, crunching their numbers,'” Harrison said. “That doesn’t sound quite as sexy as ‘making a difference in the world,’ and ‘I’m going to help people on a one-to-one basis.’
“And then you start seeing all these other light bulbs going off, and you’re like, ‘Huh. I mean, I still want to help people, but I wonder if there is something that can integrate my interdisciplinary interests better.'”