Every person when they come into college is passionate about one thing or another, even if that does not turn out to be their concrete major (after changing it four and five times) you will always have some goal that you desire to reach. For my fellow psychology majors, you more than likely desire to help others and that was the reason as to why you picked this major.

However before you can actually help anyone, you need to get your undergraduate degree and if you want to actually do anything with the title of psychologist or even just a counselor you need further schooling (such as a Master's Degree or Doctorate). But while you embark on this adventure, you might need a bit of advice or an idea of where to go to if you have questions that aren't here.

1. Get the basics covered

Now, I know some of you will have already taken AP Psychology while you were in high school, but those of you that have not already take the general psychology course at your university. Even if you have already taken and passed your AP exam, it doesn't hurt for you to brush up on the different areas and make sure that you fully understand them.

2. Take your General Education Courses Early

You don't have to take all of your general education courses at once, in fact it would probably benefit most people to take gen ed's and a couple of psychology courses at the same time. But what I'm getting at, is that you don't want to put these off, especially the challenging courses, it will make your life difficult to be taking upper level psych courses and a nasty gen ed that requires a heck of a lot of work-especially when you can be giving that attention to the topics that you enjoy and are passionate about.

3. Get to Know Your Psychology Professors

A big given, especially if you read my other articles, but these are the professors that you will be having over and over again throughout the next couple of years. Get to know them, go to their office hours, bring them a really cool article about neurons-start building these relationships so you can network, get into research labs, and also to get amazing letters of recommendation.

4. Statistics is Your Friend that You Will Love to Hate

People that say that psychology requires no math, clearly have never entered a statistics course in psychology. But to the psychology majors that have heard the horror stories, breathe. Take your introduction to statistics course as seriously as you possibly can, go to all of the office hours that you can muster, and go get help through tutoring or a math help center. The introduction class will be the stepping stone to later statistics course focused in behavioral science research, and if you do not understand it then, it will really bite you in the butt later. Also, put every effort that you can into this course, even if your professor uses different methods of teaching, it is still your responsibility to be knowledgeable about the material.

5. Research labs, Research labs, and Research labs

If you are planning on doing anything remotely involving graduate school, you need this experience and you need it sooner rather than later. If you have no clue where to start with getting involved in one, go to your university's psychology web page and look at the labs listed, along with the research questions and statement of the lab.

Once you have found a few that have caught your eye, email those professors and set up a meeting to discuss the possibility of working or volunteering in their lab.They like when students take the first step early on and it shows great promise and your dedication to this major.

6. Get Involved

Whether it's psychology club, Psi Chi, or a volunteer opportunity in your community that is an interest you have in psychology-get involved, see what you enjoy and what you don't, and don't forget to network!

7. Plan Ahead

I don't want to think about how fast time is even going by, I feel like just yesterday I was registering for my first semester of classes! I remember not truly understanding the markers that each class carried and what requirement that this class covered, but now that I'm into the swing of things I know that strategy comes into play when scheduling your classes.

Some classes are only offered in the spring, or maybe once every couple of years, and some classes have prerequisites that you have to take early in order to get into a class on time. If you haven't already take advantage of advising and plan ahead through graduation, see what core classes you need.

Then once you have a list of classes that you will need, place it beside the classes that are offered in your psychology department. This will help you figure out when you need to take what classes, what classes you need to take and also want to take, and also to make a game plan on how to get into that competitive abnormal class!

8. Don't Take Too Many Intense Courses At Once

Some courses are more intense and load heavy compared to others, its the same in every major. However, try not to take too many of them at the same time or you may become overwhelmed and it could possibly affect your GPA. If you have enough planning and time, you can always take one of those courses at a different time.

Even though these are just the basics of the advice that I can offer (at least in one article), know that you can always find out more at your psychology department's website and also through the head of your university's psychology department! (Remember don't be shy and schedule a meeting with an advisor of the head of the department if you have questions!)