I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I finally decided to get some outside opinions…
I’m transferring to UC Irvine in the fall as a junior transfer with a major in psychology. I love the topic and it seems to come naturally to me; I could spend hours studying just for my own benefit. The trouble is that I’m not sure what I want to do with the degree and what would be the most helpful minor to go alongside it.
I know for sure I would rather not work clinically and would prefer a more hands-on career, possibly in marketing, research, forensics, or even something in the music industry. Is it possible to achieve this with a major in psychology, and which minor/focus would help lead me toward these goals? What career options are available?
For marketing/music, a management minor is about the best you can do at UCI. For criminology/forensic psychology, the criminology minor.
If there is a decent chance of grad school, let’s say to become a (PhD) forensic psychologist/consultant/researcher, I’d recommend doing a statistics minor. Stats is a very useful complement to any social sciences major because it sets you up well for grad level research (or market research), plus it gives you in-demand quantitative skills.
If possible (without extra cost), do two minors: one in stats, and depending on your interests, the other in man’t or crim.
If you can only do (afford) one minor, the choice would depend on the odds of you going to grad school, your aptitude for math/stats, and how certain you are that you want to pursue either music/marketing or criminology. For example, if there was a 50% chance of grad school and you weren’t really sure about what career to pursue, stats would be a good choice to build foundational skills, providing you can handle the math. If math isn’t your thing, and you are really wishy-washy about what career to pursue, then another foundational minor like English or a foreign language is not a bad idea.
In the double minor wishy-washy scenario, some combination of statistics, English, foreign language, and economics would give you a solid base to plunge into a career at a later time.
If a double major is possible in your case (as a transfer), that’s a different discussion.