Look Out, the Seniors Have MAJOR News: Psychology Majors

Psychology is the fourth most popular major. Psychology is the study of human behavior and mental processes, including the mind, brain, and social interactions. With this major, there are many job opportunities and colleges to attend. Seniors Catie Donadio, Madeline Dunham, and Rayaan Bajwa shared their reasoning and goals for choosing psychology as a major.

Catie has always been eager to help others. When she became more educated on mental health, she knew psychology could be the first step in helping those facing these conditions. In school, Catie learned how the brain works and how everyone responds to things differently which caused her to be even more fascinated with psychology. Her mother also works as a middle school special education teacher. Catie gets to witness her mother helping her students who struggle and that inspired her to follow in her mother’s steps. During her senior year of high school, Catie decided to take Psychology as an elective to see if this is the field for her. Catie’s goal with her psychology major is to someday work with college or professional sport teams. She also is interested in helping students in schools. Catie committed to Connecticut College for a variety of reasons. Conn College has great academics and psychology is one of their most “popular” majors. Catie claims that Conn provides a great internship opportunity junior year, and the environment of the school is one she could thrive in.

Maddey is also interested in majoring in psychology for similar reasons as Catie. Maddey has always loved helping people in any way possible.

After majoring in psychology, Maddey wants to become a marriage and family counselor. She chose this career path based on childhood experiences and wants to use what she learned to help others grow.  Maddey will be getting her major at Elizabethtown College. She believes that it has great programs and is overall excited for all the opportunities that this college will provide her. She also is attending this college due to their opportunities involving internships and job shadowing.

Rayaan Bajwa has not decided to major in psychology, but he is leaning towards it. Rayaan is considering psychology because he believes it is a major that will help him make a positive

impact on others. He also feels that with this major he can easily find careers right out of college. The only reason he hasn’t chosen this major is that a sociology major also interests him. With sociology, Rayaan claims that he will be able to see cultures around the world and still make a positive impact. Lastly, with sociology, he would not have to take a science course, which is his weakest subject. Rayaan has applied to multiple schools for psychology such as UConn, Providence, Quinnipiac, and others. We wish him the best of luck in whatever major he decides to pursue.

History and psychology teacher Rachel Shook has some advice for fellow students: “My advice for students who are interested in a psychology major is to specialize in something more specific – like educational psychology, criminal psychology, art therapy or social work to name a few – either immediately as an undergraduate degree or after through a masters degree program.”  In the psychology field, there are many directions to take with such a general major. “Students may not find work in the field. I have several friends who majored in psychology in college, some are now massage therapists, others work in restaurants as  managers or waitresses, but most of them unfortunately never found work in their field and went back to school for something entirely different.” Ms. Shook’s advice for the students is to explore this major and the many possibilities. 

If psychology does not interest you, there are other majors to explore. For the next issue of “Look out, the Seniors Have MAJOR News” learn about the seniors who are majoring in business.