Career Advisement

Roughly half of our majors choose to obtain a job directly after their undergraduate degree, while the others choose to apply to graduate school. Whatever your choice, the Psychological Science program is designed to help you in either option. Keep in mind a choice in a particular career is personal. Faculty can only offer advice or direct the student where to find information. The Psychological Science program gives you the tools, through course offerings, to become marketable; however, it is up to the student to take advantage of all opportunities available to students

Bachelor’s Level Jobs 

Students who decide to obtain a job directly after their Bachelor’s, most often work in business-related jobs. The next most common is mental health-related positions, typically case managers or psychological technicians.

• These do not counsel but instead, manage clients’ care and make sure they receive all the help they can to become healthier.
• Students also work is in other areas such as in Research, either at another university or hospital, sales, management, Human Resources, education, and law enforcement, including the FBI.
• Completing an internship would be critical to gaining experience in the career you decide and make a student more competitive in the job (you could start this any time after your second year of college if you have at least a 3.0 GPA)
• Students can also take advantage of APSU Career Success, which has many valuable resources that may aid in finding a job. It is best to begin looking for a job at the beginning of your last semester. It can easily take months before you may even start the interview Keep in mind you must find your own job. APSU will not find one for you.

Psychology Career Opportunities

• What can you do with a BS or BA in Psychological Science?
• APA Pre-College and Undergraduate Education
• JobNet of SIOP (check out the Job Listings)
• PsycCareers of APA

Thanks to funds from President Timothy Hall’s Student Academic Success Initiative (SASI) the department was able to purchase books to help students with career choices, job opportunities as well as the graduate school process.  These books are available to be checked out from the Department.

Students majoring in psychology at the undergraduate level are encouraged to choose a minor in a related area, such as business, biology, sociology or education. Students combining psychology with other academic disciplines are perceived as possessing skills that contribute to the understanding of people.

Employment opportunities are available in a variety of settings, including community mental health agencies, social service agencies, residential care and treatment facilities, counseling centers and many business and industry sites.

Internship Opportunities

One effective method to identify a career choice is to gain some hands-on experience in that field.  Students may either volunteer or take course credit (PSY 4850: Internship) while performing an onsite internship.  Students wishing to receive course credit must identify a faculty advisor to supervise and have a minimum GPA of 3.0. Students are encouraged to obtain an internship experience independently, however, you can contact Dr. Pica for a list of places. 

Graduate School

Students also apply and have been accepted into either Master’s or Doctoral programs (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) in various areas of psychology. Most of our students go into the counseling field (community, school, or marriage and family). However, students have also been accepted into programs such as Clinical, Industrial-Organizational, School Psychology, and the diverse areas of Experimental Psychology. Students have been accepted into our own Master’s programs, and others, as well as Ph.D. and Psy.D. programs. Our students have been accepted to such schools as Indiana University, University of Tennessee, Kent State University, Vanderbilt University, University of Colorado, East Tennessee State University, New Mexico State University, University of Central Arkansas, and Trevecca Nazarene University, to name a few.

Acceptance to graduate school is much more competitive than undergraduate. The three main criteria for acceptance are:

1. You need a minimum of a 3.0, but the higher the GPA the greater your chance for acceptance
2. Letters of recommendation from For faculty letters of recommendation, you will want someone who will write a strong letter, and s/he will need at least two-weeks’ notice to do so. Faculty you have worked with outside of class and written papers for in class are better able to write students a strong recommendation. Also, outside classroom experience, either a field experience or research experience, are critical for acceptance into graduate school. Students may want to begin these after their second year of school.

Students will want to begin the application process at the end of their third year of school, as most graduate applications are due December/January of your last year for the following Fall enrollment.

Austin Peay State University also offers masters programs in Psychology.  The master of science is offered for those wishing to enter the fields of Mental Health Counseling, School Counseling, or Industrial/Organizational Psychology. 

For more information, please contact the coordinators of each program:

    Dr. Eva Gibson, Ph.D., Coordinator, M.S. in Counseling program

    Dr. Adriane M.F. Sanders, Ph.D., Coordinator, M.S. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology