Is it still worth doing psychology college?

Is “everything worth it if the soul is not small” true when choosing a college?

Hello friends!

Practically every day I receive this question: “Is it still worth doing psychology college?” It is the question of anyone thinking of going to college, maybe even dreaming about the possibility for a long time, whether they are in school, have already graduated or even have another degree.

So, after 9 years of graduating (I graduated in 2006), and having worked in some of the main areas of activity in our profession, I will tell you how it is possible to assess whether it is worth it or not.

Everything is worth it

Fernando Pessoa’s famous phrase, “everything is worth it / if the soul is not small”, helps us get started. Obviously, college is worth it. Maybe everything has its value, as long as it serves as a learning experience. As we know, even a mistake can lead us in the right direction. Therefore, why would studying an area that deals with human beings not be worth it?

Well, in everyday life, less poetic, not everything will be worth it, because the evaluation will depend on what is intended. And what can we expect and achieve with the faculty of psychology?

Simple:

1) Knowledge

2) Professional Training

3) Compensation

1) Knowledge

If a person doesn’t want to have more knowledge, it doesn’t make sense to do a degree. Because, even if the objective may be to earn money, spending 4, 5 years studying different subjects to pass the subjects – to forget later – seems to be a contradiction.

In other words, we must keep in mind that college choice is a choice. It is true that we are obliged to stay in school and study all subjects in elementary and high school. However, we don’t need to go to college.

2) Professional Training

Together with the knowledge of the disciplines of an undergraduate course, we gain the possibility of acting professionally. We can imagine a college as a more advanced technical course, because we learn more than in a technical course, but also, like this one, we gain the possibility of having a profession.

This, then, is the second point to be considered. In the same way that, if I don’t want to study chemistry, I won’t do chemistry college, if I don’t want to work as a nursing technician, I shouldn’t do the nursing technician, right?

This is true with all areas. With psychology it is no different. If I don’t want to, I have no interest in working with any of the areas of psychology (and there are several), there’s no reason to go to college.

Important: unless you don’t need to work and just want to study. Now, if you need to work and are looking for a profession, think calmly about the daily life of the profession (and its possibilities), because the daily life of each profession is very different from other professions. In other words, it helps to imagine what your professional day-to-day life will be like before starting the course – if you need to work – because afterwards, if you think you don’t want to work in any of the available areas, you’ll be shelving your degree, at least in this regard, of the profession.

3) Compensation

And finally, there is the issue of pay. Before we get into this issue, I think it’s important to make it clear that there is a separation between these three issues.

You see: I might very well want to go to college just to study, right? I can spend 4, 5 years dedicating myself just to learn more about an area of human knowledge. This is independent of profession and remuneration.

On the other hand, knowledge is money. I mean, we can turn what we learn into a source of income. If someone can speak Norwegian, he can earn money by teaching Norwegian or being a translator, similarly, someone who knows how to bake a cake or a bead can also monetize his knowledge.

But, in addition to the possibility of earning money with what you know, there is the technical part present in a college. In the faculty of psychology, we learned several techniques for working as psychologists. This is the side, as we said above, of professional training.

Vocational training, in turn, must be separated from remuneration. Many people will disagree, perhaps, but it is necessary to separate. Not everyone has an ambition to earn an astronomical salary.

It’s totally reasonable, not crazy, to choose to work in a field for reasons other than financial reasons. We can choose to work for the pleasure of helping, being useful, wanting to contribute to our society, for example.

But, getting into the question of remuneration, it is also simple to think about. Psychology, like any profession, offers low, medium and high salaries. There are thousands of people who earn poorly, there are thousands of people who earn more or less and there are thousands of people who earn very well.

Read Also: Aristotle: The influence of the Second Analytics in Physics

Is it still worth doing psychology college?

With all that I said, is it still worth studying psychology at university?

It depends. If you don’t want to study psychology, it’s almost certainly not worth it. If you don’t want to work in the area, you should think about whether you want to study and dedicate yourself to learning the many theories. If you want to have an area of activity to earn lots of money, psychology, like any area, is a viable area. However, if your personal goal is to earn hundreds of thousands of reais per month, it is likely that you will find it easier in other possibilities. Which doesn’t mean you can’t get rich by studying psychology. It’s just a much more tortuous and risky path than opening a profitable business, for example.

So the final answer is that it will depend on your personal goals. Going to college, in my opinion, is always worth it, as we will be learning more and I don’t see how it wouldn’t be worth knowing more and expanding our mental potential.

Now, going to college not wanting to work in the area, to work in the area, certainly won’t be worth it, just as it won’t be worth it if the only and exclusive reason is to make a lot of money. Just look at the richest people in the world. (It’s not that they didn’t go to college, many didn’t even do it), but the source of income that allowed them to be billionaires isn’t a profession, it’s a business – or several businesses – or it’s investing in stocks.

Questions, suggestions, comments, please write below!