Psychology degree useless?

As there is now a £35,000 requirement, I'm concerned about majors... What jobs can you get with a BSc in Psychology? Is it more difficult?

The £35,000 requirement is only what you need to be earning by the time you reach 5 years on a work visa and want to apply for ILR... Although for people applying for ILR 5 years from now (in 2021) this income threshold will have increased to about £38,000 and will likely keep increasing.

I don't think you should be worrying about this, since for you, it would be, almost 10 years from now before it would even apply to you. First you have to get through, say, a year of college, then 3 years of university, then 5 years on a work visa.

At the moment, to qualify for a Tier 2 General work visa, you only need to be earning £20,800... Though this is also likely to increase over time.

I would imagine that you will be able to qualify for and switch to a spousal/partner several visa years before that - which only has an income requirement of £18,600 at the moment and if you are living in the UK with your partner on a visa that allows work, you can combine your incomes to make £18,600 anyway.


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Completely apart from the visa question, somebody should step in and tell you that yes, a psychology degree is useless.

It will be beneficial like any degree in that it will teach you to think critically.  Job wise, you'll be competing against all the other psych graduates, and the media studies people for that job at Starbucks.

Job wise, you'll be competing against all the other psych graduates, and the media studies people for that job at Starbucks.

You know you and I view things very much alike in many cases....but you have this thing about McJobs...

First of all, somebody has got to make the coffee.  And I'll tell you, retail will give you quite a peek at human behaviour. I think everybody needs to give counter service and cleaning port-a-lets at an Alabama county fair a try. I think we all ought to regularly rotate into old folks homes and do that for a while too.

My beef with McDonalds and Starbucks and such is that we need strong pro-union laws and tax laws that will force them to pay for their externalities. But in a way that is as much our fault as theirs.....we want a .99 hamburger.....and keep electing people who don't care for worker's rights.

I am fascinated by Psychology. It and Physics are everything. There's nothing else really. Science killed philosophy...even logic withers before empiricism. Biology, Chemistry and the other natural sciences are all physics.....in reality everything is just a wave in the foam of spacetime. 

The Arts are Psychology. Architecture is not about whether a building will stand, but whether anyone will want to use it. But to understand how people think.....

I have to agree with Jimbo that it would be very difficult to make a path to a £35k a year job with psychology with only an undergraduate degree.  I have many many friends who chose this field as a major, but only one is working as a psychologist.  That's not a bad thing, just reality.

I'm going to stay out of the service industry debate.

I would just really urge you to figure out what you want to be when you grow up in your own time.  I know you want nothing more than to be with your boyfriend - totally understandable.  But you are looking at spending INSANE amounts of money on an education that you are unsure about.  Because truly you just want to be with him.  The education is secondary.

I'm a really bid advocate for minimizing student loans.  I have seen so many friends struggle due to their huge payment amounts after they complete their degree (sometimes with no related career or a lack of a desire to pursue their field).

Have you considered a local program that would be substantially less money?  You could still travel to the UK for all your breaks and the summer.  You'd have substantially less debt when you've completed your program and likely just as good of a shot at securing a job in the UK (as it's near impossible even with a UK degree).  Your boyfriend can visit you during each quarter/semester in the US.  You could probably save at least $100,000 going that route which would go a LOOOOOONG way for you and your boyfriend's future together.  Heck, that's enough money for him to sponsor your visa as a spouse without a job!

Just my 2p.  I remember what it was like to be young and in love.  I also know what's it's like to be old and in debt. 

I have to agree with Jimbo that it would be very difficult to make a path to a £35k a year job with psychology with only an undergraduate degree.  I have many many friends who chose this field as a major, but only one is working as a psychologist.  That's not a bad thing, just reality.

I'm going to stay out of the service industry debate.

I would just really urge you to figure out what you want to be when you grow up in your own time.  I know you want nothing more than to be with your boyfriend - totally understandable.  But you are looking at spending INSANE amounts of money on an education that you are unsure about.  Because truly you just want to be with him.  The education is secondary.

I'm a really bid advocate for minimizing student loans.  I have seen so many friends struggle due to their huge payment amounts after they complete their degree (sometimes with no related career or a lack of a desire to pursue their field).

Have you considered a local program that would be substantially less money?  You could still travel to the UK for all your breaks and the summer.  You'd have substantially less debt when you've completed your program and likely just as good of a shot at securing a job in the UK (as it's near impossible even with a UK degree).  Your boyfriend can visit you during each quarter/semester in the US.  You could probably save at least $100,000 going that route which would go a LOOOOOONG way for you and your boyfriend's future together.  Heck, that's enough money for him to sponsor your visa as a spouse without a job!

Just my 2p.  I remember what it was like to be young and in love.  I also know what's it's like to be old and in debt. 

Seconding this, particularly as someone who has mortgage-level student debt.

I chose to take in that debt long before and completely separate from my decision to move here for my husband, but it's still a LOT to take on. Even though I always knew I wanted to go to law school and have a job in my field, I still wonder whether I made the right decision because of all the debt.

I'd stick with something local/cheaper if you don't know what you want to do and visit as much as you can before making a decision that is going to saddle you with 25 years of student loan payments. Having that kind of burden is not a fun way to start life together, especially when you want to be saving for a house/furniture/flat deposits/ holidays.

I still wonder whether I made the right decision because of all the debt.

Most lawyers who aren't worth pouring your tea over. The world needs you.

SOS, you are wrong that we disagree about McJobs.  I respect the people that do them and I have done plenty myself.  I will assume that most people don't want one if they can avoid it.  The OP is most likely hearing from profs that a psych degree is a good starting point for many things when that advice is tainted by their own self interest.

As everyone is posting, student debt sucks and the only thing worse than student debt is student debt and a degree that will not help you to get a job where you can pay it off. 

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By the way Komorbin, all of the advice on this page is 100 percent spot on. 

If you just want to spend time with someone, go work at a summer camp or go teach English in Thailand.  Going to college just for that would be a monumental mistake.

AlisonR, your post is interesting to me.  I made the opposite decision at the end of my political science degree and listened to the many lawyers who told me not to go to law school.  Instead, I explored the world and fell into software development which has served me well over the years.  I'm sad sometimes that I'm not a well respected criminal lawyer.

Is it a smart financial move? Will it lead to a job paying more than £35K a year? Should Komo just not come to the UK to study?

How far are going to go with this avuncular advice giving? Because it's not far from "marry a rich guy" or "sorry, education is not for you". Maybe that is prudent....but it won't be me saying it. 

My concern, if pressed, is that I would hope Komo would give thought to whether she feels passionate about Psychology. If it's just purely to get over here , then perhaps...

AlisonR, your post is interesting to me.  I made the opposite decision at the end of my political science degree and listened to the many lawyers who told me not to go to law school.  Instead, I explored the world and fell into software development which has served me well over the years.  I'm sad sometimes that I'm not a well respected criminal lawyer.

It's really only the debt that makes me doubt myself. I love what I do and I enjoyed law school as much as anyone could. I really loved my LLM as well. The biggest hurdle I have come up against is the fact that although I'm a licensed attorney in the US and would be paid that way there, I've got to put in a bit more time at the bottom of the ladder here before I start seeing a wage I'm happy with. After 8 straight years of university level education that can be a bit disheartening, especially when the loan payments kick in.

I would have had the debt regardless of my decision to move here for my relationship as I was already planning to do an LLM in this country prior to meeting my husband. I just would have had the debt while living in the US afterward.

Nobody is suggesting for a minute that the OP is not worthy of education,  the advice is about getting your money's worth. 

And certainly nobody said anything about marrying a rich guy.  That's not nice to accuse us of that. 

And certainly nobody said anything about

It follows.

Listen we have to be careful here not to fall back on the old canard of art history/psychology/archaeology/Lit/whatever-it-is-that-we-don't-value majors struggling to find work. A lot of people are struggling to find work. It can be hard finding work.

But do Communications majors really end up at Starbucks? I don't know.....it sounds like sitcom logic. Or Redditspeak. Crap some beer-gutted Archie Bunker says to dodge helping their children out with tuition...stuff that demeans the arts, or any science that doesn't fit their definition of useful. A rationale for letting only the rich understand how we think. It may be true.

And again it pains me to hear service industry jobs mentioned in a negative fashion. There is a reason that these jobs are undervalued....because historically they were women's jobs. Cleaning, cooking, caring. A circle of degradation...you are valueless because you do valueless work...your work is valueless because you have no value.

And it is perplexing that these things are the things that we would all surely die without. If we don't eat we fall over in just a manner of days. Without proper hygiene disease spreads. Children must have someone to care for them.

I have no direct advice for Komo regarding her prospects if she gets a degree in Psychology..again only that she may want to  examine whether it is something that she would be happy doing.  There are resources on the internet that examine things like salaries and such.
 

You've got me sussed.  I read Reddit and I've even got a beer gut.  No reason to consider anything I've got to say.

OP, it might be best to disregard my posts in light of this.  You also might want to check in with Son of Sailor to get a list of physical attributes that make up a valid person.  Sure hope you fit!