Career Guidance

Visit the UVA Career Center to access many resources to help you prepare for your career and graduate school. Explore the topics below:

• Hoos Career Guide
• pre-law advising
• pre-health advising

• Explore Career Paths - Learn more about career paths in psychology from the American Psychological Association.
• Psych Web:  Psych Web is dedicated to students and teachers of psychology, get career advice for psychology majors, a review of psychology as an academic discipline, and a full-length, free introductory psychology textbook.
• What can you do with a Psychology major? (print version)
• Recommended Books:Career Paths in Psychology: Where Your Degree Can Take You, Third Edition

Psychology Related Careers: Those who are not ready or interested in going to graduate school often enter the job market and find work in areas that are relevant to their undergraduate training. Many of these jobs are in human service areas, for example, youth counselor, recreation assistant, or rehabilitation advisor. Other jobs may involve analytical or research skills. There are entry-level roles in many government agencies or nonprofits where you can gain exposure to the field.  The federal government, for example, hires Psychology Technicians with a bachelor's degree in psychology.  

General Liberal Arts Careers: Many employers seek graduates with a general liberal arts degree, and psychology majors compete successfully for many of these jobs. These jobs may include, for example, management trainee or salesperson.  

• Recommended Books: Finding Jobs With a Psychology Bachelor's Degree: Expert Advice for Launching Your Career

• The American Psychological Association: lists current universities offering post-bac programs in psychology.

• Psych Research List: Visit the Psych Research List and learn more about paid internships, virtual graduate school information sessions, and resources for applying to and succeeding in graduate school, a resource created by Meltem Yucel, a PhD graduate in the developmental psychology area at the University of Virginia.

• Psychology Job & Internship Opportunities: For Undergraduate Students and Recent Graduates Seeking Full-Time or Summer Employment maintained by Dr. Camilla McMahon at Miami University.

• Psychology Job & Research Opportunities: This site is maintained by the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University. It contains job and research opportunities for undergraduates, post bacs, graduate students, and post docs.

• Developmental Psychology Jobs: The Society for Research in Child Development Career Center posts mostly developmental area jobs but also includes positions in hospitals that are more clinical, etc. Search by keywords like “research assistant”, “postbac”, "research coordinator".

• Post-Baccalaureate Positions​:  If you're looking for post-baccalaureate research experience visit this site provided by the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology.

• PsychologyJobs.com: This site can be used to find relevant jobs in the psychology field across the country. You can also find lots of career guidance across a variety of psychology sub-fields. 

• Indeed.com: Indeed.com is a general search engine that can be used to find academic job postings.

More resources for post-BA jobs in psychology

• Yale Psychology Diversity Committee Undergraduate Outreach:  If you would like to receive more comprehensive job postings for a specific field of study (e.g., clinical psychology, developmental psychology), here you will find a compiled list of field-specific listservs you can subscribe to, containing many useful research opportunities and jobs are posted here.

• Before You Apply to Graduate Programs in Psychology: Knowing When You’re Ready and Gaining Post-Baccalaureate Experiences, Casey D. Calhoun, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Finding Post-Bac Social Psych Jobs maintained by Daniel Choi

Regardless of whether you plan to get a job or go to graduate school following graduation, you probably will find that you need letters of recommendation. Because the majority of lower-level courses in the psychology program are large lecture courses, many students reach their fourth year and find they have not established close relationships with faculty members. No matter how good a student you are, a letter written by an instructor who can only discuss your in-class performance will not be as strong or convincing as a letter written by someone who knows you better. You must plan ahead! Some tips: Take your relationship with your major advisor seriously. Schedule an appointment outside class with an instructor whose class you really enjoy. Sign up for an independent research project. Sign up for smaller psychology classes  so you can begin building relationships with your professors.

• Visit the UVA Career Center for advice on Letters of Recommendation and Professional References.

Internship Information

Graduate Education Guidance