I first fell in love with studying psychology when I took AP psychology my sophomore year of high school. I did really well in the class, and by the end of the course I had decided that I wanted to be either a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist. As I continued with my high school education, I began to move away from wanting to be a practicing psychologist or even wanting to be psychiatrist, and I instead wanted to pursue other areas in medicine, but once I was accepted to USF, I still declared a major in psychology. I felt like this would not only set me apart from other medical school applicants who would mostly be majoring in biomedical sciences or biology, but I also chose it because I knew it would be fun to study, and that I would enjoy it.
However, after my second semester at USF, I really began to doubt my choice and I frantically began to looking to switch my major. I felt as if I was getting a "useless" degree and that if I couldn't get into medical school or if I had to take time off from school, I wouldn't be able to get a professional job and that I would be stuck working in retail or waiting tables, even though I would have a degree. Some of this was caused by people around me saying that my degree wouldn't do much for me and that I had to get a STEM degree, or from looking online at job forums (which can pretty toxic to say the least). I began to look at other degrees that I thought also aligned with my interests, like a degree in chemistry, biology, or biomedical sciences. However, I soon realized that these degrees, even though they were magical STEM degrees, don't necessarily lead you to high paying jobs in their respective industries, unless you continue to go school. And on this note, I think that when a lot of people talk about not being able to get a job, they really just mean a job directly related to the field that they studied.
The reality is that there are many jobs available to recent college graduates, but they just may not necessarily be within the field that you studied. And honestly, I only say this loosely when it comes to psychology, although you can't get a job as a therapist or counselor with just a bachelor's degree, it can be applied to a number of different careers. The field is all about human behavior, so this leads to a greater understanding of people and greater communication skills, and in most jobs, people skills are a necessity. It also enhances critical thinking, because of the required courses on research methods and statistics, which I feel have improved my own analytical skills. These are all highly employable skills, which are far from "useless," and this is why many people who obtain psychology degrees can apply their degree to a wide range of fields including business, education, law and medicine.
Once I came to this conclusion again, I forgot all about trying to change my major and felt free to enjoy my psychology classes, and I definitely feel happy with my choice of major, despite the misconception that it's "useless."
