michellegosh: school

The Undergraduate Life

, by Michelle

5 thoughts on TSL's Psych Fresh Grad jobs article

I love The Smart Local, especially their travel articles. After reading their latest post "10 Surprisingly Well-Paying Jobs Fresh Grads Can Get With A Psychology Degree" on 3rd March 2016, I simply have to write about my thoughts on it (after all, I'm a Psychology undergraduate whom is due to graduate this year).

1. This is a sponsored post by MDIS.

It's always good to take note of the partners involved in the post as it can really affect the credibility of the post.

2. You can't be called a psychologist with just a degree.

Sports Psychologist? Industrial/Organisational Psychologist? One of the basic requirements for these occupations is to have a Master's in the respective fields. Thus, refer to point 3.

3. Many of the jobs' pay listed are for a master's fresh grad.

To be qualified as an I/O psychologist or sports psychologist, you'll probably need a Master's. Thus, the pay listed on the page is not accurate for a fresh grad with a psychology degree. Instead, this is the pay a Master's grad will get instead.

4. Psychology ≠ Social Work.

As pointed out by one of the comments, to be qualified as a social worker, one has to get a recognised degree in Social Work (see NUS FASS). Yes, I understand there's a lot of misconceptions about this so to clear the air, psychology ≠ social work.

5. Gov jobs are high paying but they tend to only hire local grads.

It's no secret the government tends to prefer local grads over private uni grads. Considering this is an article written by MDIS to promote their psychology course and to inform the public on the job opportunities they can explore with a MDIS psychology degree, I would like to think that placing MINDEF and MFA jobs in the list is a little misleading.

This article does not really assist students who are exploring options in Psychology as it provides inaccurate information. It's definitely not easy to get a job in Psychology with NTU Psychology having the lowest percentage of grads with a permanent full-time job after graduation.

Have I heard of psychology friends earning 4k/month in their first job after graduating?

Yes.

Have I heard of psychology friends not being able to find a job upon graduation?

Yes.

The point is that even though there are a few of us who manage to get a high-paying job, majority of us psychology fresh grads tend to find it hard to find a satisfying job with a good pay. The only good paying jobs tend to come from the government sector and that's where many of us land into when we graduate.

& I apologise for the lack of updates as I am currently on my last leg of my uni life, with final-year project pulling me down into darkness. I'll be back as soon as my thesis is finally done! :)

4Comments

, by Michelle

In lifestyle, psychology

6 Myths about Studying Psychology

I have blogged about my road to from Polytechnic to University and I have been answering many questions with regards to that post. When I was a secondary school student, I thought Psychology was really cool. Before I went for my interview for DPA, I read up books on Psychology and got to understand it more. I felt that made me have a more informed choice about my future and I hope all of you can make better choices too.

It’s nice to see so many people being interested in Psychology because it’s a really interesting field. However, there are many misconceptions that are tied to Psychology and I think it’s always important to know what Psychology is exactly about before jumping into the course just because it seems cool.

1. We can mind read.
No we can’t. Psychology is the study of human behaviour, we don’t mind read. We can infer what you’re thinking from your actions but we don’t have the power to read your mind. We study the intention behind the actions and the different parts of the brain and the functions which may make it easier for us to interpret and infer human behaviour.

2. We can analyse your personality.
Yes, we do study personality. However, we don’t really go around analysing your personality type. There are different theories on personality, and tests to define one’s personality type and trait. We don’t go around telling you you’re an INFP or you’re a high N because blah blah.

3. We study body language.
A common misconception is that we study body language, but the truth is no. We don’t particularly study body language but there may be a brief touch on it during one of the lectures, and that’s it.

4. We work with crazy people.
No, not all of us do. Psychology is a broad field of study and there are many areas of interest. Yes, one area of Psychology involves clinical psychology, which deals with mental disorders. But that’s about it. Not all of us do clinical psychology.

5. We solve crimes.
Again, Psychology is a broad field of study, which includes Forensic Psychology. However, forensic psychology is not criminology. Criminology is the scientific study of crime while forensic psychologists mostly deal with issues such handling criminals with mental disorders or assessing the risk and evaluation of witnesses. They do criminal profiling at times but the media tends to romanticise this part. Sure, understanding human behaviour will be important to solve crimes, but if you’re only studying psychology to be part of the law enforcement, it’s not a good enough motivation to keep you in psychology.

6. We can’t do math or science, thus we chose Psychology.
That may be true to some people who ended up in Psychology, but they’ll suffer. Psychology is a science, which means we do testing to prove our hypotheses. That means lots of statistics and numbers. Yes, statistics is a huge part of psychology. I’ll say it’s the most important part of being a psychology student. You also can’t escape from science. One of our core modules involves biological psychology which we study the brain (neurons and neurotransmitters), and how our body react to certain things biologically.

In conclusion, there’s a lot more to psychology than talking to “crazy” people or solving crimes. Some Psychology modules we take in NTU include Statistics, Research Methods, Biological Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Development Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Health Psychology, Personality, Social Psychology, Organisational Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology and Engineering Psychology. As you can see, it’s really wide.

Honestly, I can’t say too much about the course syllabus difference between the universities because I haven’t been exposed to them. However, there are differences in what I am doing in university and what I was in polytechnic. In polytechnic, I had more guidance from lecturers and it was more practical. In university, it’s really theory-centric and there are few real life applications taught in classes. A lot of focus was on writing papers and doing research, and statistics. The only applied psychology module I took was Forensic Psychology, which I really enjoyed.

Before you go into Psychology, think about what job it offers you in the future. To practice in a clinical setting, you’ll need a postgrad. Many of us go into mindef or other government organisations after graduation.

I personally really like how NUS FASS allows students to take a year of general studies before jumping into the major. I've known people who initially wanted Psychology but switched their major because they realised Psychology wasn’t what they imagined it to be.

So my advice is to take some time and read up on Psychology before jumping into it. Note: Others' experiences with psychology may differ from mine.

8Comments

, by Michelle

In England, Europe

Studying Abroad for a Semester

5Comments

, by Michelle

In camp, lifestyle

Freshmen Orientation Camps - why you should join them

3Comments

, by Michelle

In guide, lifestyle

NTU Hall Life

*UPDATE2: Hall 5 has since been renovated and is now equipped with air-con. (Thanks anonymous for the tip FEB 2016) *UPDATE: There are two more new halls, Pioneer and Crescent Hall. (JUL 2015)
If you're coming into NTU, I guess one of your top concern would be if you should apply to stay in the halls in NTU.

NTU has a total of 16 undergraduate halls as of now. They're planning to build a lot more in the upcoming years though as there's a huge demand for it.

Here's some basic things you need to know of the halls in NTU. There are some halls equipped with air-con, some with lifts, some have canteens, some have gyms. Hall 3 and Hall 16 are the hot favourites because they are equipped with air-con and they have lifts! Hall 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 are the halls without the air-con. Hall 11 is the furthest away from school. Hall 8 has the best location, situated right in the middle of the North and South spine of the campus. Hall 7 is located away from all the other halls, in a tiny little smurf village of theirs.

Besides that, each hall has their unique "characteristics". For example, we have our sports halls - Hall 3 and 6. And our arts halls - Hall 1 and 2. Take a look at how NTU stereotyped their very own halls on their facebook page.

Ok, now that you know a little about the different halls in NTU, we'll move on to talk about the different types of activities hall life provides you with. After all, one of the reasons why you would want to stay in a hall, away from home sweet home, is to experience and have fun with the other hall mates.

Every year, the different halls will compete in many competitions, hoping to clinch the overall winner. There are so many different types of competitions, sports and recreational games. We call this the inter-hall games. If you're good at water polo, you could represent your hall in the inter-hall games to compete with the other halls for the champion title. Or if you're really good at scrabble, why not consider playing it for your hall?

And of course we have our two main competitions, the inter-hall cheerleading competition and the inter-hall dance competition. Each year, the 16 halls put up performances to wow the crowd with their cheerleading stunts or their slick dance moves.

These are really big competitions in NTU and residents of all the 16 halls would flood the venue just to support their hall and their friends.

Besides these competitions, there are plenty of events happening in hall. We have our very own dinner and dance where a hall pageant will be held. Imagine all the pretty ladies and handsome hunks catwalking while you're digging in to hotel banquet food!

And then there's a lot of late night activities, such as the hall's very own Supper Hop. They would charter a bus and bring you to all the delicious supper spots around Singapore. You can eat all you want all night long, at your own expense of your wallet though. And there's night cycling where you can cycle till your butt aches the next day.

And of course, the hall celebrates every festival together because we are all part of a big family! Lantern Festival, Halloween, Chinese New Year, you name it! Expect lots of performances by your fellow hall mates and delicious food during the celebration! And expect to be scared during Halloween with all the gruesome and scary decorations hung around the hall. Dig in to your yusheng during Chinese New Year as the entire hall gather for a reunion dinner! There are plenty of things you can celebrate with your hall mates!

Or you could even gather your own friends anytime and hang around at the rooftop of your hall for a party! Do be prepared to get wasted if you're there. Of course, these things do not matter as much as the condition of the room you're staying in. As mentioned, there are 16 halls so different halls have different designs to their room. For example, Hall 1 and 2 has their own private toilet shared among two rooms. The rest of the halls have a common toilet. And the furniture in the room may differ across halls too. The most common design would be this:

My room mate and I rearranged the furniture to push the beds together. The beds were supposedly apart. Well, every room will have their very own bed, study desk and wardrobe. Of course, you are free to bring in any furniture you wish. You may even bring in a television or a refrigerator (you have to pay fees to bring a refrigerator though). Or you can beanbags in your room, or even a tiny tea table for you and your friends to gather around when they are in your room. Sure, after reading so much about hall life in NTU, I'm pretty confident that you'll be tempted to stay in a hall. However, there's always another side to things. Staying in hall can be pretty depressing at times. Being stuck in your own room, you will realize how wonderful your parents are. Home sick. That's the most frequent sickness hall residents get. Also, the hall canteen's food may not be the most delicious thing you have eaten. Well, but I guess it's still a really good experience to stay in the halls of NTU once in your life.

All photos taken from NTU Hall 10 Facebook Page
NTU Freshmen Orientation Camp - Why you should join them