Graduate & Professional Program Preparation

Graduate school decisions + preparation

Graduate programs can prepare you for careers such as psychologist, licensed mental health care provider, lawyer, doctor, entrepreneur, social worker, or teacher. If you have a true interest and commitment to a specific career, graduate school may be a good option for you.

FAQs

  1. To know if a career that sounds interesting will really be a good fit for your work-related values, interests, personality, and skills you should meet with professionals, and try out the career via internship experiences. 
  2. Graduate schools want to know that you've thoroughly investigated the career for which their program will prepare you. You'll address this in the personal statement that you submit with your application.
  3. The answers to most important questions about how to prepare for graduate school differ depending on the career path and graduate degree that a student want to pursue. Which courses should you take? How much do GPA and entrance exam scores matter? How much research experience should you get? What kind of internship experiences will be valuable? The sooner you can clarify your career and degree goals, the sooner you'll find very helpful answers to your questions about how to impress selective graduate programs. 

No. Nationwide, a majority of Psychology majors (about 6 out of 10) will complete their education with a Bachelor's degree. Students who major in Psychology go on to work in law, business, human services, education, criminal justice, information technology, marketing, and medicine & health care. Our majors have gone on to work in pharmaceutical firms, children's museums, major corporations, universities, and hospitals.

Neuroscience majors enter a similarly broad array of careers with their Bachelor's degree and are especially well-trained to obtain research-related positions in biotechnology, the life sciences, or the pharmaceutical industry. 

Yes. You have to complete a graduate degree in Psychology if your goal is to become a psychological scientist, a clinical or counseling psychologist, a forensic psychologist, a sport psychologist, or any other kind of psychologist.

An undergraduate degree in Psychology provides you with broad knowledge of the field.

A graduate degree will provide you with training for a career in a specialized area of psychology.

No. Psychology and Neuroscience majors enter a wide variety of graduate programs.

Psychology majors who go on to earn a Master's degree (2-year program) are most likely to enter programs in counseling psychology, school psychology, education, business or health - but some enter other fields.

Of those Psychology majors who later earn a doctorate degree (4-year program), about 75% will earn a degree in Psychology, but others will earn degrees in medicine, law, business or other fields.