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Career Development

A liberal arts education prepares you for your first job and your last. Wesleyan has a four-year plan to prepare students to make the connection between a liberal arts education and success in the workplace.

Majors

Wesleyan offers 29 majors and 32 minors, as well as eight pre-professional programs. Students also have the opportunity to self-design their own major, combining two or more interdisciplinary major programs.

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Start Your Research Early

At Wesleyan we place a high value on active learning through the experimental research process. All psychology majors complete at least one research project and many do additional research in professors’ labs as part of independent studies or in their senior seminar course. As a result, psychology majors not only learn about what others have done, but make their own contribution to the field. Students travel each year, accompanied by faculty members, to present their research at the annual meetings of the Southeastern Psychological Association and the Comparative Cognition Society. Psychology majors can make use of a human subjects lab complete with remote viewing equipment and DirectRT reaction time software. There is also an animal lab used for serial pattern learning research.

Outside The Classroom

In addition to classroom instruction, psychology majors often benefit from experiences that occur within the community. Many psychology majors complete an internship at sites such as the local women’s Crisis Line and Safe House, The Methodist Home for Children and Youth, and Navicent Health. Additional volunteer experiences are available through Aunt Maggie’s Kitchen Table, a Saturday school program sponsored by Wesleyan’s Lane Center for Service and Leadership. Considering our broader community, psychology majors may join study abroad trips relevant to the field. Past offerings have included Drugs and Behavior (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and the Neuroscience of Pleasure and Beauty (Rome, Italy).

Wesleyan Women In Psychology Careers

Alumnae Pilar Wilder smiles for the camera

PILAR WILDER ’01

As a freshman, Pilar founded the West African dance club called Harambee African Tribal Sounds Unlimited. Today Pilar serves as the executive director of the group now named Hayiya Dance Theatre, Macon’s oldest dance company specializing in West African dance. She has taught hundreds of students to dance and to appreciate dance.

ADITI DEY ’13

A Munroe Scholar, Aditi graduated magna cum laude with a triple major in psychology, biology, and neuroscience. At Wesleyan, Aditi served as a research assistant in Dr. James Rowan’s comparative cognition lab. She is now a Resident in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Childrens' Hospital after receiving her doctoral degree from the Medical College of Georgia.

Alumnae Valerie Knopik smiles for the camera

VALERIE KNOPIK ’94

Valerie is director of the Division of Behavioral Genetics at Rhode Island Hospital and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University.

RECENT WESLEYAN PSYCHOLOGY GRADUATES HAVE ENTERED PROGRAMS:

Stanford University, Yale University, Brandeis University, Emory University, Baylor University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tufts University, University of Georgia, University of Wyoming, University of Michigan, Mercer University, Arizona State University.

CAREER OPTIONS FOR PSYCHOLOGY MAJORS

GENETICS COUNSELOR

Often referred to as a “job of the future,” this is a newly emerging and lucrative career path, offering support, guidance, and assistance to individuals with a genetic disorder, or to families who are at risk of passing on a genetic disorder.

SPECIAL ED TEACHER

Special education teachers work with individuals who have learning disabilities or mental handicaps. As special education enrollment increases substantially year by year, job growth is expected to be substantial.

SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST

Specializes in the psychological components of sports and athletics such as motivation, performance, and injury management, working in a wide range of environments, from schools to hospitals to professional sports teams.

FAMILY THERAPIST

Works with individuals, couples, and families to help build better relationships and address underlying issues.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

This counselor helps individuals overcome physical, mental, and emotional reliance on drugs. They work extensively with addicted individuals to help them overcome their vices.

Career Counselor

Helps individuals make career decisions and utilize tools including personality assessments, interest inventories, and other evaluation measures.

FORENSICS

Forensic psychologists apply psychology to the fields of criminal investigation and law. This has rapidly become one of the hottest psychology careers.

Engineering

An engineering psychologist investigates how people interact with machines and other technology and use their understanding of the human mind and behavior to design/improve technology, consumer products, and living environments.

Clinical

This psychologist will assess, diagnose, and treat clients suffering from psychological disorders, typically working in hospital settings, mental health clinics, or private practices.

Social Worker

Psychology majors possess the interviewing skills critical for gathering information from clients and the sensitivity to emotions needed to establish a working rapport.