As psychology teacher Dr. Paul Lazor enthusiastically demonstrates the six universal emotions, senior Harrison Gaeng laughs along with his fellow AP Psychology classmates.

Gaeng, who plans on majoring in psychology, will most likely go into the field of child psychology at the University of Mississippi next year. Gaeng felt motivated by a “life interest in the mind and the impressions the environment has on it” to pursue this major.

If you are considering a major that is “practical” and “something you can apply to everyday life,” Lazor explained, a psychology major may be the perfect choice.

Guidance Counselor Larry Hensley explained that the academic requirements for a psychology major include two years of standard classes, but junior and senior years are when the “fun classes” and human interactions courses begin. According to Hensley, these classes are focused, smaller, and “get into it.”

After attaining a bachelor’s degree, usually in about four years, a psychology major opens the doors to entry level positions and community work. Unfortunately, with only a bachelor’s degree, there is no room for “growth that is imperative,” said Hensley. In most cases, a master’s degree is needed to advance into higher positions such as direct provider, human service work, social services, psychology fields, and any form of license and certification.

Gaeng would like to get his master’s degree, depending “on several factors and my experience in college.”

To obtain a master’s degree is no easy task, explained Lazor, who majored in psychology at Union College in 1976 and went on to attain his Ph.D. five years later at SUNY-Albany in 1981.  To advance to the graduate field, you “have to be academically oriented,” said Lazor.

“You have to be thinking about selling yourself, that’s really what it is,” said Lazor. Students wishing to move on to graduate school are required to pass the GRE, which is basically “a graduate school version of the SATs” including math, verbal, and content sections. There is also a subject test for psychology students to take.

“I’m expecting several hard and mind-splitting papers, but I’m not too worried,” said Gaeng.

“Selling yourself,” Lazor explained, does not only include academic achievements. To go on to graduate school, a student needs to do things to help distinguish himself or herself from other students applying. These distinguishing tasks include undergraduate research, such as volunteering in the field you want to go into—which happens to also be a large part of graduate training.

Lazor distinguished himself by volunteering in programs such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters, completing undergraduate research, and becoming president of psychology club. Notable accomplishments help to show the graduate schools that “you’re interested, distinguish you” and help the students to “be more aware of what psychology’s about,” according to Lazor.

It sounds like a lot of work, but according Lazor, who efficiently obtained his Ph.D. in 9 years, you “just have to work at it” and spend extra time. “The more seriously you take it, the more classes you take, the better you’ll do,” said Lazor.

After passing the license exam, Hensley explained, a psychology major can go on to work in many fields, including therapy and case work, such as working with the mentally ill, in jails, in schools, with children, or in nursing homes.

According to Hensley, there are numerous high school classes that can give someone aiming to major in psychology a good start. Students can opt to take psychology, health, and human geography to prepare them for this major.

Gaeng feels that taking AP Psychology this year has better prepared him for what lies ahead. “I definitely think it helped. It broadened my view and explained several false beliefs I had of the topic,” said Gaeng.

Lazor warns that although a major in psychology can be very interesting and holds many possibilities, you can “make it very boring if you want, just like anything else.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, clinical, counseling, and school psychologists collectively earned an average yearly income of $70,190 in 2008.

Students interested in psychology should look at nearby schools like the University of Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania, whose psychology department is the oldest in North America, and Columbia University in New York.

Alex Bahr can be reached for comment at [email protected]