Career Options
Ninety-one percent of those who participated in the alumni survey indicated receiving job offers or an acceptance to graduate school within six months of graduation. The Psychology program at Roanoke College provides a broad liberal arts background from which you may seek employment in a variety of fields. Depending upon your selection of courses, you may also pursue post-graduate study in psychology, education, law, social work, criminal justice, business administration, or medicine. In addition to the resources on this website, there are careers and graduate school books located in the Student Study Center (510 Life Science).
Psychology Careers
Graduates have gained employment in a number of private and public sector organizations including banks, insurance companies, medical research companies, public and private schools, colleges, the Peace Corp, Americor, large and small businesses, and social service agencies. Employers include Amazon, Foreset Laboratories, Update Graphics, UVA Medical Center, Fairfax County, Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Bedford County, and Salem Public Schools, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, The Haig Law Firm, Mary Baldwin College, Roanoke College, Roanoke County Police Department, Fairfax County Police Department, The Family Service of Roanoke Valley, Infinity Broadcasting, Capital One, Allstate Insurance, IBM, United Way Agencies, Virginia Baptist Children's Home, and Carilion Hospital among others.
Specializations in Psychology
Psychologists work in a variety of settings and in diverse areas of specialty. The following list gives many of the general areas of specialization. For a description of these specialty fields, you may consult either or both of these publications, which are available from the Department Chair: Psychology: Careers for the 21st Century and Is Psychology the Major for You?
- Clinical Psychology
- Health Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Human Factors Psychology
- Counseling Psychology
- Industrial-Organizational Psychology
- Community Psychology
- Neuropsychology/Psychobiology
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychometrics/Quantitative Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Rehabilitation Psychology
- Environmental Psychology
- School Psychology
- Experimental Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Military Psychology
- Psychology in Advertising
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Sports Psychology
Careers in Psychology-Related Fields
Psychology graduates have pursued a variety of careers with the Bachelor's degree. In addition to the knowledge of Psychology one learns, the skills that one develops in Psychology courses (such as the ability to locate information, analyze data, think critically, and write clearly) are valued by employers.
The following is a list of careers in which Psychology plays a role. This is not an exhaustive list, but is meant to give you an idea of the kinds of careers that you might pursue with a B. A. or B. S. in Psychology. Every two years, Psychology is featured in Roanoke College's Career Services program, "What Can I Do With a Major in…???" In these programs, alumnae and alumni talk about their current work and how they obtained their jobs. Many of the careers on the following list are taken from those programs and from the book Majoring in Psych? Career Options for Undergraduates, which is available in the Department Chair's office.
- Residential counselor in group home
- Advertising copywriter
- Juvenile probation officer
- Patient representative (hospital)
- Social welfare caseworker
- Sales associate
- School teacher
- Child care worker
- Human resource manager
- Parole officer
- Recreational therapist
- Nursing home recreation supervisor
- Psychiatric technician
- Workers' compensation investigator
- Public relations specialist
- Consumer loan officer (bank)
- Opinion survey researcher
- College alumni relations coordinator
- College admissions counselor
- Peace corps volunteer
- Forensic Psychologist