Undergraduates and Psychology

There's this underlying problem in the field of psychology. There aren't enough psychologists to serve the areas that need mental health services the most, such as rural and small town areas. Everyone's in the cities where the money and neurotic folk live. Possible solution? Undergraduate psychology students.

Going through the undergraduate program at the University of Cincinnati (UC), I saw a huge amount of students enrolled in the psychology program. It was in the top 5 of the most populous programs at our school. Was it because students were interested in mental health and behavior? I don't think so. The program faced this stigma that made it one of the 'easy' degrees to get. It was a way out for a lot of students that didn't know what to do. Kids signed up to just get a degree, hopefully get a job, and then figure out the rest of their life later. Of course, when you actually enroll in the program and go through the courses…it is anything but 'easy'. These 'lassez faire' students faced professors and faculty highly dedicated to their field. But the merging of the two in classrooms doesn't really light the fire in the students…instead they deem their professors hard or zealous even (Dr. Warm :-p).

The interested in the field really isn't pushed or engrained. Yet there is so much application of psychology in multiple fields, that, if undergraduate programs showed their students this…maybe some would find an interest. I got lucky and took a course on the Psychology of Urban Life, which discussed how city and community layouts affected the social interactions of the people that lived in them. It was a fascinating subject and really got me interested in that topic area. So I stuck with psychology. My next stroke of luck was getting an internship at the American Psychological Association (APA), where the vast applications of psychology and current issues come to the forefront.

Of course, not everyone undergrad psychology student has this opportunity. Many leave the field after graduation, because they don't have an interest in it. They are floating in the wind with a degree they don't know how to use. And I've heard this isn't a problem only at UC. The profession does a great disservice to itself and its potential future when it leaves them on their own. In contrast, graduate students get all the love and attention in the world, from schools and APA (at least a great deal more than undergrads). Representation on professional boards and committees, awards programs and honors for top grad students, publications devoted providing resources and publishing works of grad students, etc.

Undergrads get squat. No professional assistance from APA. Their school programs don't require courses to instill some sort of attachment to the field or provide views on current issues and applications of psychology. Limited opportunites exist after undergraduate education to apply what you've learned in psychology.

If the field wants to get more psychologists out there, it would do well to serve their undergraduates in a more professional manor. Build that interest in them. Show them what psychology is capable of and how it can be applied. Provide them with opportunities after undergrad to actually use that degree. This can include such things as shadowing programs, research internships or assistance positions, or even advocacy work. APA needs to address the issue and work with universities to draft programs that can provide such activities and appropriate coursework. Students may not get into psychology for the right reasons, but they can certainly leave the program with them…and hopefully go on to serve where the service is truly needed.