107 Applications: PSYC100 and Career Planning
By Meghan E. Norris and Riley J.T. Bonar
We have covered a lot of content, and this course moves very quickly! From the basics of research methods, neurobiology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, and in this unit we explored the formal study of individual differences. You’ve also been introduced to some of the ways that psychological science has global impact, and to some of our alumni from PSYC100.
At this time, many students in this course are beginning to think about selecting their degree plans (e.g., Majors, Minors). “What is best?” The answer is that it depends. We know this is a really unsatisfying answer—and although it is the true answer, we want to make it an empowering one rather than a frustrating one. If you are thinking about how to select a major, stick with us. This is a longer Applications, but we hope it will be helpful.
Some career pathways (though not all!) will require you to complete a degree in a certain area, and some career pathways (but not all!) will require you to pursue additional training after your undergraduate degree (e.g., medical school, graduate school, an MBA, etc).
Before selecting your degree plan, we encourage you to explore careers and see what they specify as a required qualification. Required qualifications are “must haves” to pursue certain jobs.
We invite you to work through this optional activity. It sounds like a cheesy activity, but we really recommend it:
Step 1: This is a “dream big” step—and it is deceptively easy. Simply do a web search for current job openings that you might be interested in, and for exemplars of folks who have held jobs you are interested in. If the goal is to be a counsellor in the GTA, do a search for “counselling jobs in the GTA.” Or, if the goal is to be CEO of your favourite multinational corporation, do a search for folks who have held this role. You should then track information tied to the job posting, or the credentials of the exemplar you hope to emulate. You now know that memory is fallible, and subject to biased remembering. Thinking about the future can be stressful. Do not rely on your memory here—track what you find. Here we share an open spreadsheet where you can “make a copy” to fill in. Please add columns if additional information is relevant for you. Getting a sample of 5-10 “dream jobs” and tracking their job requirements can help to build a clear roadmap for what you may need for your jobs of interest. You will need this for Step 2!
Step 2: With an idea of the requirements needed for certain career paths that are of interest to you, you may have discovered that additional training after an undergraduate degree is required. For example, being a Clinical Psychologist in Ontario requires a PhD from an approved graduate program in Clinical Psychology (in addition to some other steps). It’s helpful to have an idea of what these post-grad programs require for admission so that you can build your undergraduate program to keep your post-grad doors open. Unlike applying to your undergraduate degree where you may have submitted many applications through one centralized portal, each graduate program tends to have different requirements (even for the same program but at a different school). This means that students must do some deep research to determine what they need. We encourage you to go to the “admissions” pages of the programs that are of interest to you and track their admission requirements. Again, do not rely on your memory for these details. To help, we also share here an open spreadsheet that you can also “make a copy of” to track that information for possible programs of interest.
THEN, with this information in hand, you (perhaps in collaboration with an advisor!) can begin to plan what you need to attain during your undergraduate training. For example, if your desired graduate program requires a course focused on the biological bases of behaviour to be admitted, you may want to ensure that you take PSYC271: Brain and Behaviour, during your undergraduate training.
It’s important to know that none of the shared spreadsheets are commitments. We know that interests change, and this is a great thing! You are simply gathering information to help you make informed decisions about what you may need for different paths of interest.
By taking the time now to dream about pathways, you can intentionally plan for attaining the experiences and credentials that best align with your goals. No one expects a student in first year to know exactly what they want to do—do not feel pressured to know. Instead, take time to reflect so that you are able curate your education to align with many pathways that are of interest to you. In this way, when the time comes to make big decisions later, you will have a professional toolbox built to support your broad goals and interests.
If it would be helpful to walk through this exercise in video format, please watch the below video with Dr. Norris.
If you are looking for guidance, we encourage you to connect with the Queen’s University Career Services office. They have a series of resources, including 1-on-1 meetings, and are experts in helping students navigate decisions related to career development.
If you are looking to build information on careers related to psychology, we invite you to join our optional onQ page where we share webinars and information related to careers. Although geared towards students studying psychology, anyone in the Queen’s community is welcome to join. To join: Log into onQ, and look for the widget that says “Browse Self-Registration Courses”–>Browse Now–>search for “Career Development for Students in Psychology.” Click it, and “enroll in course.”
A friendly note from Dr. Norris: I have been teaching students in post-secondary since 2005, and share this based on my experiences of working with thousands of students. Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in the feeling that everyone knows what they are doing, and feelings of impostor syndrome can kick in. As hard as it is, try to keep focused on your path. Your friends may not want to live where you want to live, they may have different family commitments, and different ways of life entirely. Your path is just that: yours. You will encounter twists and turns—we all do. Please don’t let these twists and turns scare you—you have a big team here at Queen’s to support you when they arise. Don’t hesitate to book in for an advising meeting with your Faculty Office, or to book in with Career Services for some one-on-one career support with a career coach!
References
Norris, M. (2022). Careers and Psychology. In The Psychology Commons. Kingston, ON: eCampus Ontario. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/psychologycommons/chapter/careers-and-psychology-norris-m-2-28-2022/
How to cite this using APA Style:
Norris, M.E. & Bonar, R.J.T. (2026). Applications: PSYC100 and Career Planning. In PSYC 100: Principles of psychology. eCampusOntario. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/testbookje/chapter/applications-psyc100-and-career-planning/
