Want a way to create a dynamic career that opens various doors? If you are thinking about earning a master’s degree in psychology, you should also consider the option of earning additional training in another area. Getting graduate training in psychology offers a multitude of career options. Nonetheless, coupling your psychology education with another subject can make all the difference. How?
According to the American Psychological Association, dual training affords students with the chance to be more competitive in the job market. You can design a career focused on either discipline, or one that cleverly combines the two. Furthermore, with two degree areas you can become an innovator, developing novel practices that incorporate principles relevant to both fields. Finally, dual training enables your career to have a wider impact – rather than getting involved in one sector, you can contribute and promote two.
These advantages remain constant no matter if you obtain the additional training through an joint/integrated that qualifies you to matriculate toward both degrees simultaneously; with a dual degree, in which you enroll in two separate programs at the same time, but credit for one course may not be applied to both degrees; or, if you complete a master’s degree in psychology and then return at a later time for a master’s degree in a different field.
Below are ten potential Psychology degree paths that, when combined with psychology, can deliver promising careers.
1. Law
If you have an interest in both psychology and law, there are infinite pathways to use the two in a career. Several institutions feature PhD/JD joint degree options. Typically, prospective students will have to be enrolled and complete one year of training in one school before gaining admission into the other. However, if you’re not looking to get a Ph.D. you could always enroll in law school during or after your master’s program.
Application areas for dual training in psychology and law encompass many areas of policy regulation, such as prejudice and stereotyping, competency, and conflict resolution and negotiation. Graduates of these degree paths claim jobs as educators in psychology departments and law schools, behavioral analysts, lawyers and in public policy.
2. Business
Joint and dual degree programs are also offered that bridge the fields of business and psychology. Such programs prepare students to apply psychological research and practice to improve the organization and finances of businesses. This path would involve earning a MBA and MA in Industrial and Organizational Psychology concurrently. Coursework might draw from the following areas: business statistics, psychology statistics, personnel psychology, strategic management, financial management, marketing, and research design.
Those with degrees in these two areas might go on to enjoy careers as human resource managers, industrial-organizational psychologists, marketing analysts, advertisers, and even entrepreneurs.
3. Nursing
It makes sense for two helping professions to come together. Individuals with psychological training might have an aspiration to apply their skills in the field of nursing. On the contrary, nurses might earn additional training in psychology to specialize. One might obtain this level of training and specialization by either enrolling in dual degree programs in the school of psychology and the nursing school, or by completing one degree and then going back for the other. You can even go on to earn a master’s degree in nurse practitioner
Such training would prepare you for a promising career as psychiatric nurse or psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner, in which you might assess patients, diagnose, provide counseling and intervention, and provide long-term continuing care.
4. Information Technology
If you have a passion for technology and enjoy studying human behavior, you can earn training in psychology and information technology. Your studies will help you to learn how technology impacts people’s everyday lives, changing the ways they work, interact, and live. What’s more, you can use research design methods in psychology to develop new technological systems for a vast array of other specialties like law enforcement, medicine, security, and business.
A person with training in both areas can become highly marketable for jobs as an industrial-organizational psychologist, an engineering psychologist, a health IT specialist, and a computer forensic investigator.
5. Education
Do you have a passion for educating and a love of psychology? A dual degree program in education and psychology would be a great way to create a versatile and fulfilling career. Students in these areas learn how humans learn, retain knowledge, and what motivates them to learn. Areas of application include educational research, teaching practicing, testing methods, and the assessment and treatment of learning disorder as well as social and emotional issues that might interfere with the learning process.
Career options might include jobs as educators, researchers, state/federal educational policy agencies, or as educational psychologists.
6. Criminal Justice
If you yearn to work for a federal law enforcement agency, degrees in psychology and criminal justice can get you there. Training integrates psychological theory, research methods, and psychological applications with criminology and the justice system. You can expect to take courses like psychological statistics, crime theory, courts and judicial process, and contemporary issues in public policy.
Individuals with dual training in psychology and criminal justice may qualify for jobs such as an investigative consultant, victim advocate, fraud investigator, counterterrorism analyst. Employers may include the FBI, DEA, CIA, Secret Service, Border Patrol, and U.S. Marshal’s Service.
7. Public Health
A dual degree in psychology and public health emphasizes the use of psychological research and practice with population and social health issues. Coursework might cover epidemiology, health education, psychological statistics, and environmental health. The goal of joint programs in these areas is to prepare students to conduct research regarding social science concepts and examine current interventions to better health outcomes of certain populations.
Job prospects range from public health psychologists, community liaison specialists, behavior specialists, and behavioral health policy analysts.
8. Communications
Interested in learning more about how humans communicate and use media? You can claim a cutting edge career when you bridge the gap of communications and psychology. With advancing technology, earning degrees in these areas can assure you always have job opportunities no matter if you are using communications to boost your psychological training or vice versa. Both degrees allow you to enhance your critical-thinking skills, develop an aptitude for interpersonal communication, and use research to transform the way we interact with one another.
A dual degree in communications and psychology might also help you to become an industrial-organizational psychologists. In addition, graduates might go on to become media psychologists, community relations directors, public relations specialists, and marketing analysts.
9. Medicine
If you have an interest in medicine, you might want to research dual degree programs that incorporate this discipline with psychology. In such a case, you might have to first apply to medical school and complete up to two years before qualifying to apply for a master’s degree in psychology. You might also complete your medical degree before going on to earn a PhD in psychology.
Careers for students in these two fields might include a psychiatrist, medical psychologist, clinical psychologist, or health psychologist.
10. Exercise Science
Are you passionate about sports, human performance, and psychology? Find the connection between the three by enrolling in dual programs for exercise science/kinesiology and psychology. Understand and study the attitudes and social issues of athletes and other individuals who engage in sports and exercise and help improve their performance and psychological well-being.
Jobs for graduates of these programs include sports psychologist, educators, mental training consultants, academic coaches, wellness coaches, and exercise interventionists.
Psychology is such a flexible degree path. With a master’s degree in psychology, you can enjoy a satisfying career in numerous application areas. Still, combined with other specialties, you can truly see how pervasive and relevant the study of human behavior is to all disciplines. If you are passionate about another subject besides psychology and would like to unite the two in your career, dual training is the way to go.
