I want to thank all who gave me feedback about their programs---BA or BS. We
are in the process of discussing the possible addition of courses for the
major, under the assumption that more stringent requirements (science or psych
courses) are typical of a BS degree and could be developed there. Most people
seemed happy with their programs tho some expressed misgivings about the BA.
We appreciate all the views expressed as we "discuss" our options.
Personally, I think the distinctions are thin today, and I doubt that
employers or grad schools really look at whether it is a BA or BS degree, but
rather focus on the quality of the program. I came here in 1981 and was
pleasantly surprised to find that students with a bachelors were doing well in
a variety of employment settings. We have not conducted a survey in quite a
while, but our guesstimate is that approximately 19% of our graduates go on to
grad psych programs, and about two-thirds go on to some further
training/education. Many have gone on in other professional areas as social
work, criminal justice, law enforcement, education and find work in local
businesses, nursing homes, etc. Our students and graduates benefit most from
our Psych statistics and experimental psych classes as these provide skills
that can have immediate value in market research, grant writing, and other jobs
where scientific thinking or simple data crunching is needed. Indeed, in the
last survey conducted, I remember those two actually at the top in answer to
the question of which classes they (alumni) found most useful. I got in hot
water one year when I was leading students to do market surveys for local
businesses just to gain some field experience. Local alumni doing survey and
consulting work saw us as unfair competition---and they were right, but the
students learned the value of their coursework!
As colleges have become the higher high school, with more vocational
emphases, the value of the psych degree is challenged, but I feel it is still
strong when coupled with emphases in business, social work, biology, pre-med
sequences and other health or public policy sequences. Psych faculty always
like to hear when their students are going on to psych grad programs, but we
don't often hear from other students who are doing well or not so well in
immediate employment or other programs.
I agree with Jim C's desire to have journalism students given a stronger
background in the sciences, but I find it hard to find any real journalism, or
any jobs requiring serious journalism in this country. Newsrooms or
info-tainment outlets are not putting money out expecting much in the way of
full investigative reports. I do not see any real science reporting locally,
but I am sure there are some folks qualified to do that somewhere. I assume
journalism has become just a marketing branch of most business programs? I
think the psych degree provides better preparation for media work. Gary
Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology
Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, MI 48710
989-964-4491
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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