Bachelor of Arts Degree
Psychology, B.A.
There’s almost no limit to what you can do with a psychology degree from Oakland University.
Our bachelor of psychology prepares you for an exceptionally broad range of psychology careers, graduate school opportunities, and other professional pathways. You’ll acquire versatile, highly marketable skills as a psychology major that include proficiency in writing, research, analysis, teamwork, and creativity. In addition, our psychology degree helps you develop practical skills that have specific applications in fields such as social work, criminal justice, marketing, government, education, and more. If you seek a future in psychotherapy or clinical psychology, the psychology major is a good first step. But our psychology degree truly shines as a portal to exploration for students with broad interests and diverse career interests.
Our bachelor of psychology prepares you for an exceptionally broad range of psychology careers, graduate school opportunities, and other professional pathways. You’ll acquire versatile, highly marketable skills as a psychology major that include proficiency in writing, research, analysis, teamwork, and creativity. In addition, our psychology degree helps you develop practical skills that have specific applications in fields such as social work, criminal justice, marketing, government, education, and more. If you seek a future in psychotherapy or clinical psychology, the psychology major is a good first step. But our psychology degree truly shines as a portal to exploration for students with broad interests and diverse career interests.
Psychology Degree: The Oakland University Advantage
Students are often surprised to discover how many different things you can do with a psychology degree. Our psychology major prepares you for “traditional” psychology careers in areas such as mental health, addiction, and family relationships. But you can also customize our psychology degree for other professional niches such as political messaging, employee morale, consumer behavior, and countless other areas.
Choose our bachelor of psychology if you’re looking for:
- Well-rounded skills. Psychology majors acquire all-around talents that can be adapted to any industry and have universal value. You’ll excel in communication, problem-solving, collaboration, and other areas that consistently rank near the top of employers’ wish list for new hires.
- Research opportunities. One required course in the psychology degree includes a research component. This ensures that all psychology majors get hands-on experience in gathering evidence, analyzing data, and writing up results. You can get additional research experience as part of your capstone project, developing a documented body of work that stands out on job and grad school applications.
- Flexible course selection. We designed the bachelor of psychology to encourage open-ended exploration. You’ll have a lot of discretion in course selection, enabling you to personalize the psychology degree by focusing on subjects that align with your interests and career objectives. The program includes an optional concentration in linguistics, with a specialized sequence of courses.
- First-rate faculty. With small classes and attentive professors, our psychology degree ensures lots of direct interaction between students and faculty. Your instructors won’t just teach from the textbook. They’ll take a personal interest in your success, helping you find your academic sweet spot and sort through your options for graduate school or the workforce.
What can you do with a psychology degree?
Psychology Careers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects rapid growth in future demand for psychologists, social workers, family therapists, mental health counselors, and other common psychology careers. These jobs only represent a small part of the psychology career spectrum, however. Psychology majors go into all sorts of professions. A small sampling of the career pathways you might pursue includes fields such as:
- Psychiatry
- Mental health counseling
- Social work
- Behavioral science
- School psychology
- Substance abuse counseling
- Market research
- Human resources
- Business management
- Case management
- Corporate training
- Education
- Nonprofit leadership
- Government administration
- Advertising
- Decision science
- Technological design and development
- Artificial intelligence
Psychology Degree: What You’ll Study
The psychology major includes courses in research design, statistics, developmental psychology, behavioral health, and cognition. In addition, the psychology degree includes a suite of electives that are drawn from the following broad course categories:
- Cognition, perception, and biological psychology
- Evolutionary and comparative psychology
- Developmental psychology
- Behavioral health
- Social personality
There is also a required capstone project that may involve research, field experience, a professional internship, or other forms of intensive self-directed study.