Top reasons to study psychology

Perhaps you have heard that careers in finance or IT are the most pursued now, and it seems they are the jackpot everybody has been willing to find. No matter where you are, it seems the demand for such professionals is soaring — and so are their salary prospects. Why should you then consider a career in psychology before discarding all possibilities in humanities? We have gathered at least three strong reasons why this field of work and research is vibrant and promising.

First, the number of people seeking mental health care has never been so huge. People are currently more concerned about finding more about themselves. More than that, the downside of a tech-driven world and increasingly stressful routines has made many realize they need help, and such need will only escalate after a pandemic. Besides, there is a growing number of facilities and centers (governmental, private and NGOs) dedicated to taking care of people who have experienced abuse, war, alcoholism, and several other kinds of trauma. Social work also opens a kaleidoscope of possibilities for psychologists. Needless to say, the gains we get from giving ourselves to social work go way beyond the money you will make in the field (which is not little, certainly).

Second, careers in psychology have become more diverse each day. Nowadays a psychologist’s office is not only within the boundaries of hospitals or their own clinics. Many schools, companies and all kinds of institution now have fixed positions for professionals who can help them build strong emotional and interactional abilities both for clients and employees. Thus, psychology professionals make up a paramount sector of educational, human resources, sales, forensics, politics, advertising — all kinds of companies. They all benefit from strategies to work on people’s behavior, interaction, and personal skills. Moreover, the salaries are getting better and better as the demand for excelling professionals grows, and the work schedule tends to be much more flexible than for other occupations. That means you can keep a better balance between personal and professional parts of your life, and still manage to study further or do research.

Third, many students find out more about themselves than they had ever imagined. Surely psychology school is not meant to be therapy — but there is no way you graduate without experiencing deep reflections about yourself and the way you see other people. Such knowledge is certainly invaluable and can lead you to pave your career successfully and develop your own communication skills too, no matter whether you want to work directly in mental health institutions or in a big corporation. Getting into the human mind is a life-changing experience, and this is what basically every psychology student can easily tell.

Portraying psychologists as funny analysts like in Hollywood movies is at least inaccurate, considering so many possibilities of work. This is actually the main reason for you to consider seriously taking a psychology degree: several doors of opportunities will be open for you who dared to take a walk around the woods of human behavior and mental processes. You will also enjoy the prospects of the evolutions of your own career, no matter whether you choose the academia or the corporate sector. Positions for psychologists are many and tend to be even wider in the next few years. Consider the aforementioned factors and compare them to your expectations and career goals. The difference you can make wherever you choose to work are limitless and perhaps you will find out in the future that there was no better position for you to be, even after decades of hard work.