Careers with a bachelor’s degree in psychology

Alma mater: Wake Forest University

Morgan Penberthy is one of 13 psychology majors interviewed about how they prepared for their careers, are using their psychology degrees in their day-to-day work, and what advice they have to offer psychology majors.

Tell me about why you decided to pursue a degree in psychology?

I’ve always been interested in how the human mind works—what makes us as people tick, what pushes us to take action, how and why we feel or lack certain emotions, what contributes to the stories that we tell ourselves, and the like. I consider myself a “people person” and understanding how people work through studying the brain was something that seemed like a perfect way to spend my four years in college. I was fascinated by just how complex the brain is and how much more there still is to study about it, so I made it my mission to learn as much as I possibly could about it during college.

What was your experience like at Wake Forest? What did you enjoy most about getting your degree? Any classes that stood out? Did you have a minor?

The psychology faculty at Wake Forest were incredibly passionate about their work, which is something that, to me, is completely necessary for any field, and it showed through their teaching. Each of my professors had dedicated their careers to studying various components of human behavior, ranging from positive emotion to memory to grief. Their passions and interests were palpable, and it inspired me to delve as deeply as I could into the research that fascinated me. One of the most enjoyable components of getting my degree in psychology was conducting research—specifically, in interdisciplinary research that merged psychology with other fascinating fields. For example, I realized that conducting research during my undergrad career would not only be a productive and meaningful way to spend some of my “off-time” on campus, but it would also allow me to delve deeper into areas and topics of study that spoke to me.

Before approaching professors to determine who had availability for volunteers in their labs, I made sure to sit down and think about what I wanted to study. Nearly every psychology professor (and, of course, plenty of other professors in different departments!) conducted research in addition to teaching, and most of these professors specialized in certain areas and established their labs on campus, which was extremely convenient for me. There were so many options, right in the place where I already took classes! After deciding that I was interested in three main areas—trauma, resilience, and mindfulness—I sought out my most trusted mentors to see if any of their colleagues had openings in their labs. I scheduled sit-down meetings and conversed via email with these professors, making sure to tell them what I sought out first.

After speaking with various professors in these different departments and participating in a series of interviews, I conducted research in two interdisciplinary labs during my summers at Wake Forest. One of these experiences was with a law professor who had both a PhD in psychology and a JD and studied the link between racial bias and discrimination by juries toward defendants of color at Wake Forest Law School. The other was with a psychologist who studied the relationship between mindful meditation practice and resiliency in the psychiatry department at the University of Virginia. I was also heavily involved with a lab that studied posttraumatic growth, specifically in previously incarcerated persons, in the Wake Forest psychology department during the school years.

One of my favorite classes was human sexuality, which I took my sophomore year of college. This class was extremely interesting to me, primarily because it focused not only on sexual relationships and how we perceive and behave in them, but also about familial relationships and romantic relationships, and how our brains perceive and experience those. One of our projects consisted of creating a genogram of our family’s relationships and experiences (for example, our mom’s relationship with her dad, the amount of miscarriages our grandmother had that may have influenced her relationship with our father, etc.). I loved working on this project because it was both a study of psychology and a study of myself.

My minor was interdisciplinary humanities, which fit my interests perfectly and coupled well with my major in psychology. While I read Plato and discussed feminism in my humanities classes, I also possessed a psychological perspective that I was able to impart in class discussions and during readings that brought another level of breadth and depth into my studies, which made the entire experience fascinating. I could never get enough of it!

Tell me about what you did during your time in school to start preparing for your career? Did you utilize any services such as career services?

I feel that my experiences during the summers between semesters greatly contributed to both my preparedness and my “competitive edge” regarding postundergraduate opportunities. I always tell people that the best job I’ve ever had was being a camp counselor at Camp Wayfarer in Flat Rock, North Carolina. I had spent over 10 years of my life as a camper and counselor-in-training here, and I felt that the skills I honed to take care of children, ensure the safety of both “my” campers and others, create lesson plans, manage a store and a kitchen, and take on various other tasks prepared me for any job imaginable. I worked as a camp counselor the summer before attending college and the summer between freshman and sophomore year. It was an absolute blast, and I learned an incredible amount about myself and my work ethic, including the type of environment I thrive in (which, hopefully, would involve lots of outdoor time and/or midnight cookies, but also enthusiastic people and challenging work).

That same summer, before camp began, I attended a service trip to Kigali, Rwanda, where I traveled with other selected Wake Forest and Winston-Salem State students to educate Rwandan children and teenagers on sexual health and breaking the stigma around safe sex, and the transition from the Rwandan school system to Western universities. I presented with groups on sexual health while I was in Rwanda and “tutored” three students who were preparing for their first years at American universities, each of whom I remained connected with even today!

The summer between my sophomore and junior year, I attended a pre-law six-week academic program held at Wake Forest for undergraduate students who were interested in law school. I also presented research and collaborated with other researchers on trauma, mindfulness, and resiliency at the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute. I specifically presented research on how the experiences of sexual trauma survivors helped them to build resiliency through mindfulness practice. After these eight weeks, I spent five months living, studying, and working in Sydney, Australia, where I attended the University of New South Wales, which was one of the best decisions I made in college.

During my last summer of college, I took summer classes and worked in my undergraduate lab so that I’d get a head-start on the lab work and have a lighter load with classes for the beginning of the year. It was a wonderful way to cherish some extra time in my college town and to get further in my work in the primary psychology lab I worked in.

I utilized our on-campus career services, which at Wake Forest is the Office of Personal and Career Development. While I attended various information sessions during my sophomore and junior years of college (mainly those that pertained to summer internships/research positions), I started becoming more involved with the Office of Personal and Career Development beginning in the summer of my senior year, right before the start of the first semester. I not only visited the office to review and edit my resume with career counselors, but also to conduct mock interviews, craft cover letters, and get general advice about what would fit my interests and strengths best postundergrad. I also attended a Career Trek through the office, which was a networking and learning event that took place in Washington, D.C. over our fall break. We visited various organizations in different industries, spoke to fellow Wake Forest graduates who worked in the area, and attended panels and information sessions where we connected with fellow Deacons, learned about the job process, and explored D.C. By that point, I was hooked on D.C. and wanted to live and work there as soon as possible.

Did you see a lot of your fellow psychology peers doing this as well?

There were a large amount of Wake Forest alumni living and working in D.C., which made it an attractive place because it seemed a bit more familiar, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, most of these individuals had studied international affairs or business and worked either in some form of consulting or in a political/government job. Very few people who studied psychology seemed to live here, and even fewer seemed to be interested in the area. While I was on the Career Trek, for example, every single other person who attended studied international affairs/politics, and one of these students asked me in the middle of a busy Metro ride, “Why are you even here if you study psychology?” Before I could answer, a local passenger replied, “We desperately need more psychology people in Washington, D.C.” That seemed to answer that person’s question rather effectively.

What are you doing now? Talk a little bit about the process of getting your job.

My senior year of college, I applied to and interviewed for multiple jobs, but had not yet obtained an offer by late spring. A friend forwarded me a posting for a position at APA, saying that she thought I might be interested in it. Although I didn’t have any connections at the organization, it was in an industry and in a location that I was interested in, so I applied for the job immediately. I quickly received an email from their HR coordinator, who extended me a first-round interview offer. I prepared with the career services office at Wake Forest for the interview, and a few days after that interview was extended an offer for a second-round interview, which was conducted via Skype with my current supervisor. Between the phone and Skype interviews, I spent a fair amount of time researching the office and the organization, preparing interview answers with my career coach, and learning about the position. The Skype interview with my now-supervisor went well—we talked as if we had already known each other! I told myself that because it was late April, that interview would be my last, and whether or not I got a job offer, I’d spend the remaining time at Wake Forest focusing on the present. Five days before graduation, I got a call from APA offering me the job. I took the job with APA because I felt that the role, office, and organization best aligned with my interests, passions, and strengths. Plus, it was in my dream location, which certainly didn’t hurt! I took it and started working only five days after graduating!

I now work as the administrative associate in the Office of CE Sponsor Approval at APA in Washington, D.C. The Office of CE Sponsor Approval (CESA) is responsible for facilitating the process for organizations to become approved continuing education sponsors for psychologists, many of whom require continuing education credit to maintain their license, and, in turn, to continue practicing as licensed or academic psychologists. If an organization wishes to become approved (which may be for a variety of reasons), they apply for review by the Continuing Education Committee (CEC), which is a committee of appointed psychologists. Outside of committee meetings, CESA acts as the office which guides organizations through the application process to potentially become an APA-approved sponsor.

In this role, I act as the primary point of contact for the CESA office, interacting with external committee or group members, sponsors, and the public regarding the CESA office and providing consultation related to the standards and policies. I also track and process budget and financial-related items and manage and maintain a confidential file system and database.

How are you using your psychology degree in your job? How do you feel your degree in psychology has helped you with your job?

I feel that I use my psychology degree all the time in my job. I work heavily and frequently with psychologists, and much of the work I do centers around continuing education for psychologists, which must be built upon a foundation of a completed doctoral degree in psychology. The standards and policies that I have studied and use daily to conduct tasks like consultations, reviews of reports, and interorganizational communications are built around the study and practice of psychology. My knowledge, at a bachelors’ degree level, has helped me tremendously not only to better understand these policies, but also to translate them to others who work in the field of psychology.

What skills did you learn from your psych major that were most valuable in your job?

My degree has also helped me to understand how to effectively work in a team setting and how to handle difficult communications and/or many tasks at once. In college, I learned through psychology how to manage stress and interact with others, which to me is one of the most important and meaningful components of a degree in psychology. On another level, I learned from my degree in psychology how to take complex data and translate it to make sense in “plain English,” and especially how people work, especially in group settings. My social psychology classes taught me all about “groupthink,” different biases and implicit responses, and various other components of thought and feeling that often arise in the workplace. Having a deeper understanding of these behaviors better equipped me for dealing with varying experiences like fatigue, team building and working in groups, mindfulness mechanisms to prevent stress, and ways to best communicate to my colleagues when I need help, have questions, or simply want to work best as a team with the different personalities and work ethics that different people bring to the table.

For psychology students who are still in school and thinking about their career path, what advice would you give them?

I would encourage current psychology students to understand that the knowledge they’ve acquired through a degree in psychology is extremely valuable and can be applied to endless amounts of industries. Psychology teaches us how to interact with people—something that can be applied to various industries, including human resources, education systems, business, and marketing. Psychology teaches us how to apply statistical knowledge and translate it into “plain English”—another skill that can be applied to industries like research, engineering, and science, for example. I would encourage current students to realize that a degree in psychology does not limit them—it opens up more opportunities than they may realize. Current students should understand that they can choose a career path that fits their passions while applying psychological knowledge. I would also remind them that college is a special time that provides endless opportunities for learning, friendship, and deeply meaningful life experiences. While it can be easy (especially during your last year) to get caught up in figuring out what you want to do after graduation, it’s deeply important to be present in your experience and spend time with people and in places that are meaningful to you. It will be something you might miss once you’ve left it.