Most of my friends are engineering students, so as a psychology major, I’m the odd one out. I’m the one who gets slightly patronizing comments (“Sure, it’s a science, it’s just a soft science”) and the occasional side-eye glance when I talk about what careers I'm looking at. But this experience is hardly unique to me; pretty much all psych majors I know feel like they should at least get some kind of extra credit for defending their major as much as they do. Don't get me wrong, the people who say these things probably mean well, they just don't realize we've heard it all before, and their comments are basically wasted on us at this point. Here are just a few of the many comments we've all heard over and over (and over...).
1. Being told psychology isn’t a real science
And promptly hopping on your soap box to inform people just how wrong they are, because psychology is totally a science. Just because we aren’t all looking at brain structures or chemical reactions doesn’t mean the discoveries psychologists have made aren’t significant to the scientific community and the general population alike. (Plus, we use the scientific method, what more do you want from us?)
2. Or that it isn’t a useful degree
While some degrees definitely offer more job security than others, most of us are going to have a hard time catching a break no matter what (yay adulthood!). And when there’s no hope guarantee for any of us, I’d much rather spend my time -- and money -- working on something I care about than just focusing on what’ll get me a job. Which brings me to number three…
3. “Do you even want a job?”
Yes. I’m not setting myself up for potentially tens of thousands of dollars of debt just to brag about how quickly I can recite Erikson’s 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development from memory like some weird, lame party trick, I promise.
4. And then there’s “at least you chose an easy way to get through college”
I’m also not paying money to breeze through my education. Sometimes psychology can seem easy because it’s so intuitive (what with being the study of the human mind and all). But many classes are incredibly challenging, and the course load can be heavy and dense. I may not be pursuing a degree in quantum mechanics, but that doesn’t mean I’m not working hard.
But despite the criticisms, I can't see myself doing anything else. Studying human behavior has been one of the most rewarding and fascinating experiences I've had. The take-aways I get from my classes don't just matter in psychology, they matter in every day life. Whenever I'm doing an assignment or reading a chapter, I don't just feel like I'm doing my homework or trying to pass a class; I feel like I'm learning how to be the best version of myself I can be, and how to help others do the same. So other people can worry about my education or my future all they want, because at the end of the day I know I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be.
