What Jobs Can I Get With an Online Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology?
Key Takeaways
- An online bachelor’s in psychology can open up entry level job opportunities in psychology-related fields like counseling, therapy, social work, and more.
- Many graduates of online psychology’s bachelor’s programs go on to complete graduate degrees, which open up more career options and potentially higher pay.
- According to the BLS, the job growth rate for drug addiction and mental health counselors is expected to be a healthy 22 percent over the next decade.
Whether earned online or on-campus, a bachelor’s in psychology fosters a profound understanding of behavior. This degree program equips students with a greater understanding of the complexity of human minds.
Such knowledge can assist you in psychology jobs when working with clients, coworkers, vendors, and other similar groups. This knowledge is crucial to psychology and helpful in other fields of work.
An online psychology bachelor’s degree can lead to various entry-level careers in the mental health field, including jobs in mental health counseling, therapy, organizational development, and social work. It can lead to a career as a mental health professional, human resources specialist, substance abuse counselor, and more.
There are many other careers where an online psychology degree is valuable including marketing, education, law enforcement, health sciences, data analysis, business administration, and more. You can also get into a grad school with an online bachelor’s degree in psychology.
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What is an online bachelor’s in psychology?
One of the most relevant field majors in the nation is psychology. An online bachelor’s in psychology allows students to earn a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degree through online coursework and virtual learning platforms.
Coursework for an online bachelor’s in psychology is identical to its on-campus counterpart, and includes courses such as:
- Introduction to Psychology
- Research Methods in Psychology
- Biological Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Abnormal Psychology
- Personality Psychology
- Psychological Assessment
- Learning and Behavior
- Sensation and Perception
- Industrial Psychology
- Ethics in Psychology
- Counseling and Psychotherapy
- Psychological Statistics
- Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Health Psychology
- Psychology Capstone Project
While pursuing a bachelor’s in psychology, you will undergo rigorous training to develop hard and soft skills that appeal to potential employers and can lead to excellent bachelors psychology jobs. Here are a few of the most important transferable skills a bachelor’s in psychology degree can help you develop:
Academic Skills (Hard Skills)
- Clinical reasoning
- Psychology and cognitive science fundamentals
- Quantitative and qualitative research
- Experiment design
- Experiential learning
Soft skills
- Communication
- Critical thinking
- Listening
- Empathy
- Creative problem solving
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Online Psychology Bachelor’s Jobs and Career Outlook
The employment of people in psychology careers is expected to rise by 12 percent for social and community services managers and by an even more astounding 22 percent for drug addiction and mental health counselors through 2031. This need is being driven by elements like a rise in the market for mental health treatments, an aging population, and a focus on therapy rather than jail.
Psychology is a versatile major. With a degree in the field and aligned experience, you can explore occupations that fit your interests, skill sets, and professional objectives.
You will have a competitive advantage in the job market for entry-level work. You may also be qualified to apply for various remote job opportunities, such as positions in Charlie Health, with an online bachelor’s in psychology degree.
An online psychology bachelor’s can also assist you in fulfilling prerequisites for admission to a graduate program. Many graduates decide to continue their education and pursue a master’s degree in psychology or related field.
The best online bachelor’s degrees in psychology can open a lot of doors. Possible psychology jobs, both remote and traditional opportunities for graduates include:
Marriage and Family Therapist
These counseling professionals work with individuals, couples, and families to help them cope or find ways to deal with marital and familial problems. They help address relationship and emotional issues and improve the client/s mental health through offering counseling and therapy.
- Median Annual Salary: $49,880
- Job Growth: 14 percent
Psychiatric Technician or Aide
Basic medical treatment is given to people with mental health issues or developmental impairments by psychiatric technicians and aids. They support people with everyday tasks, keep an eye on patient’s health, and work under the direction of psychiatric nurses or other medical specialists.
- Median Annual Salary: $36,230
- Job Growth: 9 percent
Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder
Counselors for substance abuse assist those with addiction in overcoming their reliance on drugs or alcohol. They offer their clients individual or group counseling, assistance, and direction.
- Median Annual Salary: $48,520
- Job Growth: 22 percent
Mental Health Counselor
Anxiety, despair, and stress are just a few of the many emotional and psychological problems that mental health counselors help their clients with. They offer support, coping mechanisms, and counseling.
- Median Annual Salary: $48,520
- Job Growth: 22 percent
What else can I do with an online bachelor’s in psychology?
An online bachelor’s in psychology is valuable even if you do not want a career in mental health and a related field. You’ll learn human behavior, mental health, and organizational psychology, all skills that are transferable to many fields.
However, certain positions might need further education, professional certification, or specific training related to health sciences or the particular field you’re interested in. Other fields you may want to explore with an online bachelor’s in psychology include:
Forensics
A multitude of roles are involved in the complicated discipline of forensics. You can work as a victim advocate, crime scene technician, juvenile caseworker, research assistant in forensic research, or correctional counselor, among other professions that allow you to work closely with leaders of the field.
Law enforcement
If you earn a degree in psychology, you might find employment as a member of the police force, a court employee, or a correctional officer. The majority of positions in criminal psychology are found in the public sector. However, there are positions in private offices and hospitals with private ownership.
Special education
Special education-focused psychology bachelor’s programs provide you with the necessary background to understand the behavior of students with special needs. It will help you prepare for a career teaching children with special needs.
Marketing
Marketing occupations are a good fit for psychology degree graduates. Many positions within the marketing umbrella closely relate to the undergraduate courses you take in social psychology, behavior, study design, and statistics. Psychological principles can aid the development of all facets of consumer purchase processes and sales techniques.
Health Sciences
You can potentially obtain a career in certain areas of health sciences, including behavioral health technician, patient advocate, healthcare coordinator, community health worker, and many more.
Data Analysis
Many skills you develop during your psychology studies, such as research design, statistical analysis, and critical thinking, are highly relevant to data analysis.
Business Administration
While a bachelor’s in psychology might not be the most direct path to business roles, the skills you gain from studying psychology can be valuable in various aspects of business administration.
Bottom Line: While an online bachelor’s in psychology is a great degree for finding entry-level psychology-specific jobs, this degree can also lead to a number of positions that are not specific to the field. In fact, an online bachelor’s in psychology can lead to a fulfilling career in a field that is outside psychology all together.
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Continuing Education
You can get many other well-paying jobs if you use your online bachelor’s in psychology to get into a graduate school. But earning a graduate degree in psychology, like a master’s degree or higher, will open up even more job opportunities and the potential for higher pay.
However, if you want to truly excel and position yourself in a leadership role, you should obtain a doctorate. Upon earning a graduate degree, particularly a doctorate, you can pursue more advanced positions. Each of these jobs has a different salary range, but with continuing education, these jobs are within reach for psychology graduates:
- Clinical Counselor
- Median annual salary: $87,450
- Job Growth: 6%
- Industrial-Organizational Psychologist
- Median annual salary: $144,610
- Job Growth: 6%
- Postsecondary Psychology Teacher
- Median annual salary: $88,470
- Job Growth: 8%
- Psychologist
- Median annual salary: $85,830
- Job Growth: 6%
- Psychiatrist
- Median annual salary: $247,350
- Job Growth: 3%
Bottom Line: The online bachelor’s in psychology is an excellent first step toward any of these jobs, but to begin a career in one of these fields, students must continue their education and earn and master’s degree and doctorate.
Will employers respect my online bachelor’s in psychology?
Most college diplomas won’t reflect the delivery format of how the degree was obtained. Nevertheless, an online psychology degree will be respected by employers as long as it comes from a good college or university, which means that it should be fully accredited.
Accreditation means your degree comes from a school that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. There are two kinds of accreditation—national accreditation and regional accreditation. Regional accreditation is preferred over national accreditation to ensure quality of the degree program.
The six regional accrediting agencies in the United States are:
- Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
- New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
- Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
- Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
- Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
If you verify that the college or university you are interested in attending is accrediting by one of the agencies listed here, you can be assured that the degree program will be reliable and the degree you earn will be respected by employers.
Employers respect online psychology degrees from regionally accredited colleges or universities. Check out the best online bachelor’s degrees in psychology to make sure you are getting an online psychology degree that employers will respect.
You can also be assured that in almost all cases, your potential employer will not know whether your psychology degree was earned online or on a traditional college campus.
Even better, some employers may actually prefer an online degree, or at least not be concerned about the format of your degree. Many employers understand the time management skills and commitment it takes to be successful in an online degree program.
A degree in psychology can lead to a rewarding career, but is an online degree in psychology worth it? (spoiler alert: the answer is yes!)
Learn more about the best psychology schools, the leading psychology experts, and interesting psychology topics.
