What you can do with a major in psychology

Earning a degree in Psychology from LC means that you will acquire and develop great characteristics and skills that are valuable in graduate school, business, social service, and many other settings. Our graduates can:

  • Understand and analyze issues from a variety of perspectives
  • Think critically about complex issues
  • Analyze data using quantitative methods, and understand statistical information
  • Communicate well with others through writing and speaking
  • Work effectively with a wide range of people
  • Conduct and interpret research

A BA in Psychology does not prepare you to work as a professional psychologist (as a clinician, researcher, consultant, teacher, etc.), but it does prepare you well for:

  • Graduate study in psychology
  • Graduate study or advanced training in other fields (e.g., law, education, business, etc.)
  • A variety of other occupations

Let’s look at each of these possibilities in a bit more detail, beginning with graduate study in psychology.

Graduate Study in Psychology

Quite a few of our students go on to earn advanced degrees in a variety of areas in psychology, including clinical psychology, neuroscience, social psychology, developmental psychology, and other subfields. A number of these have gone on to work in university settings as faculty members and researchers, or to work in hospital or other clinical settings. We think that the structure of our major, our courses, research and internship opportunities, and outstanding faculty prepare students well for success in graduate programs. And others seem to share our view, based on the number and quality of the graduate schools that recruit and accept Lewis and Clark psychology majors. Just take a look at a partial list of the graduate programs to which our students have gone:

Cornell University Purdue University University of Kansas
Ohio State University University of Illinois University of Missouri
Temple University University of Central Florida University of Northern Colorado
Kansas State University Indiana University University of Tennessee
University of Nebraska Emporia State University Oklahoma State University
University of Kentucky Arizona State University Notre Dame University


We think that this is good evidence that the hard work of our students pays off. Our students are very successful in gaining admission to graduate programs in the field.

Graduate Study/Advanced Training in Other Fields

A number of our Psychology majors choose to continue their education and training in fields outside of psychology. They find that their training in Psychology generalizes well in other fields. We have had quite a few students who go on to law school after graduation. Others have gone on to medical school, graduate school in counseling, education, bioinformatics, physical/occupational therapy, social work, business, and a wide variety of other programs. See Alumni achievements.

Other Occupations

Although a BA in Psychology doesn’t prepare you for work as a professional psychologist, it does prepare you quite well for a variety of entry-level positions in many fields. There are many mental health positions that do not require graduate degrees open to LC Psychology graduates.  Some of these include substance abuse counseling, employment counseling, program management, case worker positions, behavior analyst positions, correction officers, family service workers, and many more. In addition, our graduates are well qualified to go into many entry level positions in business, including advertising, insurance, public relations, marketing, personnel, customer relations, and other jobs. So you don’t need to have plans to go on to graduate school in order to use your degree in Psychology from LC.