Co-authored by: Karina Puent
As two psychology majors, we hear every possible diss against psychology from peers, friends, family, and even professors. While it seems like everyone is against us, we are strongest when we are together. Psychology has taught us how to effectively manage high-stress environments, understand and interpret data, and use cognitive science to predict and analyze human behavior. Yes, we know we might have to go to graduate school to find a career closely related to psychology.
Yes, we have to work twice as hard as almost any other liberal arts major. However, that is just a testament to psych majors' work ethic, dedication to their studies, and aptitude of intelligence. Psychology is nowhere in the realm of "easy," it doesn't receive the credit it deserves, and it is both an art and a science. The life of a psychology major isn't always flowers and blue skies with the workload, research-based classes, and several hundred-page articles, but we know we wouldn't trade it for anything and we are here to do it some justice.
1. When people think that psych is easy, but the brain is the most complex organ in the body.
2. The struggle of constantly hearing “you cannot do anything with a psych major.”
3. When you have to take a whole class on Research Methods.
4. But then you actually get to take a class that is in your area of interest, and you can’t control your happiness.
5. When people tell you that a psych degree won’t make you money, but don’t even ask what area of psych you are interested in.
6. The struggle of reading into every single detail because psychology taught you to analyze the human mind in-depth.
7. When you have to read through a million research articles to find the PERFECT study that fits what you are looking for.
8. When people try to talk to you about psychology, but really know nothing about it.
9. The fact that psychology, even biological psychology, isn't seen as a science by most people.
10. When you tell people you are a psychology major and they automatically think you want to be a therapist, without even asking you.
It's like that's the only job they think you can get with a psychology degree.
11. Thinking that you can solve any problem that someone has.
12. When people who took Introduction to Psychology just to fill a liberal education requirement suddenly believe they are Freud, Skinner, or Piaget.
But 9/10 will not know who those three essential psychologists are.
13. The twenty-page, single-spaced, 12-pt. font research thesis papers...
14. You begin to build a community of psych majors, learning student names, personalities, and finding potential long lost twins.
15. People are very indifferent about your extensive knowledge on hallucinogens.
But really, you learned all about them in your Abnormal Psychology and Cognitive Neuropsychology courses.16. You reach a point in your night when you look at the clock and it's past 2 a.m., yet you're oddly still very energetic because that's your nightly ritual.
17. Playing match maker on your friends because you have the ability to understand whose personalities complement each other.
18. Your friends suspect you are psychoanalyzing them at all times.
19. Always volunteering to be a test subject in psychology-related studies for that extra cash.
20. And although you constantly have smug Bio majors putting down your choice of major, academic advisers "informing" you of the low income and job stability you'll have, and countless case studies that you needed to read by last night, you wouldn't trade psychology for anything else because you are confident in yourself, what you do, and where you're going.
