In a Cosmopolitan.com survey of nearly 800 twentysomethings, the five most popular majors among female respondents were psychology, English, biology, business administration, and sociology. But what exactly can you do with degrees in these fields? Five women who got degrees in psychology reveal their career paths.
Alex Daly
Age: 27
Degree: B.A. in psychology and Spanish, Vanderbilt University (2010)
Current job: Crowdfunder, Vann Alexandra
During college, I interned at New York magazine. I thought maybe journalism was the way to go for me. The internship extended once I graduated, and after a few months, I realized that it was time to seek out other opportunities.
My first paid job was being the sole fact checker at WSJ magazine. It was really more like a permanent freelance position. It forced me to become extremely detail-oriented and helped me realize that I did not want to be a journalist or a fact checker.
Toward the end of my time at WSJ, I was a bit stuck. I loved the company, the people, and had an incredible amount of responsibility, yet I wasn't interested in journalism as a career. I loved studying film in college, and a friend had a friend who worked at a documentary production company. I went in for an interview without knowing anything about production. And I was hired. I was extremely ambitious and ready to learn.
I worked as a production manager, overseeing multiple projects and writing tons of grant applications. The grant writing is what led me to where I am now. An editor and producer at the company saw me writing grant after grant and figured I was good at fundraising. He asked if I wanted to help fundraise for his film through this thing called Kickstarter. That was two and a half years ago. I didn't know what Kickstarter was but was always interested in trying new things, so we ran his campaign together and it was very successful.
The way it worked with him — and all of my clients since — is that he came to me with an idea, and I managed the whole campaign. This includes copywriting, outreach, marketing, press, video production, donor engagement, tons of emails, and lots of day-to-day strategizing. Following this first successful campaign, I ran another Kickstarter for another film, which was very successful too. People started recommending me to their friends to run their Kickstarter campaigns for their films, and then I was written up and dubbed "The Crowdsourceress" by the YACK Brooklyn blog.
I started my company, Vann Alexandra, this year. I have now run crowdfunding campaigns for Neil Young, critically acclaimed journalists, top designers, and Oscar-nominated filmmakers with a 100 percent success rate. My latest campaign for a documentary about Joan Didion met its goal in 25 hours.
I love being able to partner with people whose projects I really believe in. It's a very special thing to be able to help these people bring their art and ideas and dreams come to life.
Amie Harwick
Age: 33
Degrees: B.A. in psychology, California Polytechnic State University (2006); M.A. in clinical psychology, Pepperdine University (2011)
Current job: Marriage and family therapist
After getting my B.A. in psychology, I continued to work as a personal trainer at a large chain gym in Los Angeles. Getting my degree helped me advance in that company into a director position, which supported me financially, but was not related to my field of study. During that time, I made my own workout video aimed at punk rock girls and was on a show on the Discovery Health Channel called The National Body Challenge — and won. I left the fitness industry when I returned to college to get my master's degree.
At the same time that I was going to school and working as a trainer, I started to pick up odd gigs in LA. I modeled for clothing companies, and for lingerie and swimwear brands. I also started performing as a go-go dancer, circus performer, and fire-eater. I started to find excitement in the randomness of the work and the variety of people that I would meet.
While in graduate school, I worked as an intern at two community-based mental health organizations. I was a therapist for low-income and court-mandated clients who often had severe trauma related to abuse. I worked with juvenile sex offenders and teenage girls that were victims of the sex trade industry.
After graduation, I worked as an intern in private practice for two therapists. Once you graduate with an MFT [marriage and family therapist license], you must work under a certified therapist until you accrue the 3,000 hours (in California) to test for your own [certified] MFT license.
I see clients with a range of issues ranging from depression to sexuality concerns. I love being able to help others by applying my understanding of human behavior. This job also led to a book deal to write The New Sex Bible for Women.
Even with a full practice, I will still end up dancing and eating fire occasionally.
Fahmida Y. Rashid
Age: 37
Degrees: B.A. in psychology, Barnard College (1999); M.A. in journalism, Columbia University (2005)
Current job: Technology writer
I knew I was going to work in technology, but I had no desire to study computer science. Instead, I studied psychology, a field that I was fascinated with. I worked for the college IT department. Everything I knew about technology was hands-on, and because I was passionate about it, the department rewarded me with more responsibility.
After graduation, I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a software developer. To get that job, I connected with hiring managers, reached out to people who had graduated a year earlier, and emphasized my enthusiasm for the job and that my degree in psychology didn't mean I had to be in HR. I stayed at that job for three years and then another three after it was acquired by IBM. I could've jumped to another big company, but I decided to get into tech journalism.
My first journalism job was at Forbes.com as a networking reporter. In my interview, I pointed out to the editor that very few reporters know the technology industry as intimately as I did. I convinced her that I would have an advantage interviewing company executives because I spoke the language. I then moved to the technology news website, CRN, which helped me beef up my non-software technology knowledge since I was in charge of infrastructure reporting. I finally ended up at eWEEK. I started out as the general tech reporter, but pretty soon, my boss had me writing about information security and networking.
I decided to get my master's in journalism. It wasn't necessary since I had the skills and knowledge for my job, but I viewed it as more of a safety net for job competition down the road. The degree gave me confidence, but other than that, it didn't affect my career.
Currently, I freelance for about five different publications as a security reporter. I meet with hackers, write about the different security issues, and I'm always learning new things. I am never bored.
Drika Weller
Age: 36
Degrees: B.A. in psychology, Southern Methodist University (2005); Ph.D. in developmental psychology, University of California, Davis (2011)
Current job: CEO, The School Fund
I had spent my youth training to become a professional ballet dancer and had even left school in the seventh grade to pursue intensive ballet training. I finished school via correspondence. I was very disciplined, but looking back on it, it was crazy! I decided to retire as a professional ballet dancer in my early 20s because I wanted to have a more direct impact on society.
I began college at 23. In my first year, I took a developmental psychology course. I was captivated by how early experiences in childhood had a huge impact on later development. I asked the professor if she had any work opportunities for the summer. When the course was over, she hired me to work in her lab. I recruited, scheduled, and ran studies, interviewed parents and walked children through different interview-like tasks, trained other undergraduate researchers, coded videotaped interactions, and learned a lot about child development. I loved the responsibility and the topic. It set me on the path to graduate school.
I started looking for opportunities where I could apply my skills to community programs. I volunteered in the office of California State Senator Lois Wolk in Sacramento, and worked on issues related to education and health. I also volunteered in the UC Davis Center for Public Policy Research, where I translated research policy, which often involves making sense of the data to inform a legislative program or bill. Following a research project I conducted with institutionalized children in Russia, I cofounded a fundraising program to support orphanages there. It was active for two years.
After graduate school, I won an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship, a program that brings people with Ph.D.s into government and policy. I cried when I got the news. The primary responsibility was to contribute to the implementation of PEER, a grant program that brings together scientists from the U.S. and developing countries to advance science research.
During the fellowship, which was in Washington, D.C., I was offered a position to work in a startup office at the U.S. Agency for International Development. The focus was on utilizing science, technology, and innovation for social impact. I had come from academia and knew nothing about pitching to funders or building partnerships. It was a steep learning curve. I loved the relationship building, initiating new programs, and utilizing my knowledge of child development for real-world programs and practices. But I also knew I wanted to move back to San Francisco to rejoin my boyfriend.
There aren't a lot of jobs in the Bay Area that open up in my sector so I started doing a lot of networking. There was a posting on Idealist.org for a CEO position at The School Fund. Rather than applying, I wrote to the founder and gave a brief summary about my skills, why I was interested in TSF, and asked to meet. After a series of meetings and more formal interviews, I was extended a job offer.
I am now the chief executive officer of The School Fund, a crowdfunding nonprofit that raises educational scholarships for promising students in low-income countries. It's my job to know statistics. I know that in Nairobi, The School Fund's students live in Kibera, the second-largest slum in Africa. There, 1 in 4 teenage girls is raped each year. I know girls in India risk harassment on hour-long walks to school and live with parents who often believe early marriage to be a better — and safer — option. I know that for girls and boys in Ecuador, education is the alternative to child labor. All that makes the dollars we crowdfund more valuable and my job more rewarding.
Name: Zainab Zeb Khan
Age: 31
Degrees: B.A. in psychology, Loyola University Chicago (2006); M.S. in psychology, Roosevelt University (2008)
Current job: Visual artist and activist
I have been painting for 16 years. The value of expression was always championed in my life.
During undergrad and grad school, I took internships in marketing, creative writing, counseling, and did quite a boring stretch in a laboratory, collecting specimen from fish bodies.
My first job in my field out of grad school was doing neuropsychiatric testing at University of Illinois Hospital. I was responsible for conducting a battery of neuropsychiatric tests, scoring them, entering them, and then checking another colleague's tests from the day prior, as there was literally no room for error. There were days where I spent 14 hours in one spot. The job taught me to think in a different way; however, there was literally no room for creative thinking.
I started working with victims of domestic violence at social service clinics, with private psychiatric practices counseling women who suffered abuse, and then I went to work at a large community psychiatric hospital, where I wrote programs for group and individual therapy for patients struggling with depression. I saw that the majority of my patients were coming in with major depression and anxiety, often stemming from domestic violence. I was offering trauma-based therapy, but I felt helpless, as it could only go so far. This is when I began to focus my work on social justice causes that directly impacted the well-being and safety of women.
I was inspired by the experiences of my patients and their deep emotions, and I used that energy to create paintings.
My art began to tie in in a very cosmic way. I was inspired by the experiences of my patients and their deep emotions, and I used that energy to create paintings. I realized that this was a powerful method of communication.
My arthas been used for fundraising for International Museum of Women, YWCA, UNICEF, Afghan Women's Writing Project, Aurat Foundation, BASIRA UK, and many other organizations that work to end gender disparity.
My work now focuses on causes and campaigns that focus on social justice issues that address women's rights on a global and local scale. I sit on the board of the Afghan Women Writer's Project, a nonprofit mentoring group that helps women in Afghanistan find safe spaces to write and express themselves. I was involved in the film, Honor Diaries, which depicts the crimes of honor-based abuse and murder. I continue to work with international nonprofit organizations. I sell my art to be auctioned off for charity, and I apply my communication skills to create campaigns for causes, raise awareness of human rights issues, lead fundraising goals, write grants, and organize large community awareness events.
I also showcase my art around the world in exhibits that focus on female narratives or global humanitarian issues. Looking at my journey so far, I can really feel that I have made a difference.
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Original article and pictures take www.cosmopolitan.com site
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