Psychology post-baccalaureate (“post-bacc”) programs have gotten increasingly common over the past decade; these programs are designed for students who have a bachelor’s degree (either in psychology or in another discipline) and who need more coursework, research, and/or internship experience to strengthen their applications for graduate school in psychology. I have previously written two newsletter articles describing what psychology post-bacc programs are and who might want to apply to them but now that these programs have been around for a while, I thought it would be useful to answer some additional questions, including: a) Who actually attends these programs?; and b) Where do they end up after they finish the program? The answers to these questions are likely to be a bit different depending on the program, and I don’t have the data on all of the programs that are out there – but as the Director of the Post-Bacc Program in Psychological Science at the University of California - Irvine, I do have the data on that program, and I am happy to share it with you.
Who attends?
The 209 students who have joined our post-bacc program over the last eight years have quite a mix of backgrounds! In terms of undergraduate major, 45% majored in psychology (or cognitive science), 24% majored in a social science other than psychology/cognitive science (most commonly business/management, government/political science, or economics), 19% majored in the arts and humanities (most commonly English/literature, art, or music), and 12% majored in a STEM field (most commonly engineering, biology, or neuroscience), and their average undergraduate GPA was 3.46 (ranging from a low of 2.58 to a high of 4.00); in addition, 9% had a graduate degree prior to joining our program (most commonly in Business, Psychology/Counseling, or Education). The average age of our incoming post-bacc students is 26 years old (although we have had students as young as 20 and as old as 58), with 71% of our students being female, 28% being male, and 1% being gender non-binary. Finally, our students tend to be quite diverse with respect to race/ethnicity (40% Caucasian/European-American, 27% Hispanic/Latino, 18% Asian/Asian-American, 5% Black/African-American, 4% Middle Eastern, 2% East Indian, 2% Multi-Ethnic, and 1% Native American).
Where are they now?
Of the 209 students who have started our program since 2014, most have gone on to graduate school; specifically, 65% have been accepted to graduate school, 25% directly entered the workforce, 4% are volunteering in a research lab or in the community, 4% are still enrolled (on track to complete the program in the coming months), and 2% are currently looking for work. What kind of graduate programs are they getting into, you ask? All kinds! Of the 136 alumni who have gotten accepted to graduate school, 50% got into master’s degree programs (most commonly in clinical/counseling, social work, or psychological research), 41% got into PhD programs (most commonly in clinical/counseling, developmental psychology, or social psychology), 7% got into PsyD programs, 1% got into medical school, and 1% got into law school; in addition, of the 27 alumni who have since completed their master’s degree, four have continued on to PhD programs, one continued on to an EdD program, and one continued on to a PsyD program. Finally, what about those who entered the workforce – what kind of jobs are they getting? Again, there is a lot of variety: Of the 52 alumni who entered the workforce without a graduate degree, 28% are working in research positions (e.g., Clinical Research Assistant), 21% are working in business/management (e.g., Operations Manager), 16% are working in counseling/human services (e.g., Crisis Counselor), 14% are working in education (e.g., Tutor), 7% are working in tech (e.g., Head of Search Engine Optimization), 5% are working in healthcare (e.g., Electronic Medical Record Trainer), and 9% are working in other fields (e.g., engineering, law, journalism).
As you can see, there is no “one path” to or from a psychology post-bacc program; students completing psychology post-bacc programs come from a wide range of educational or social backgrounds and they pursue a large variety of graduate programs and career paths upon completion of the program. The one thing that they do all have in common, though, is that they are happy to have taken this post-bacc journey; indeed, several alumni have even told me that completing the post-bacc program changed their life. Who knows – maybe it could change yours, too.
About the Author
Joanne Zinger, PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), where she teaches courses in Social Psychology, Research Methods, Social Relationships, Human Sexuality, Field Study, Psychology Fundamentals, Personality, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. She completed her PhD in Social/Personality Psychology at the University of California, Riverside in 2005 and her postdoctoral studies at the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California in 2007. Since arriving at UCI in 2007, she has won several awards for her teaching, including Professor of the Month (2009), Professor of the Quarter in the School of Social Ecology (2010), Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research in the School of Social Ecology (2012), UCI Lecturer of the Year (2012), Outstanding Professor in the School of Social Ecology (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), Professor of the Year in the School of Social Ecology (2012, 2017 and 2018), the UCI Black Leadership Advancement Coalition Bridge Builder Award (2017), and the Social Ecology Dean’s Honoree for the Celebration of Teaching (2019). In addition to her teaching activities, Dr. Zinger is the Director of the Post-Baccalaureate program in Psychological Science at UCI.
