The ideal pathway leading to a career in psychology
SEGi College Penang’s American Degree Program psychology lecturer, Yeoh Si Han, shared her knowledge and experiences in the field with an eager crowd of Penang Chinese Girls’ High School students during an enlightening talk titled, ‘Career Path as a Psychologist’.
Yeoh, who is also a practising clinical psychologist, pointed out that the most common question she encountered was — “Can you read my mind?”
“We don’t read people’s minds but we study how and what they think, feel and act,” she said.
She also stressed that psychology is not merely common sense, but it was also a scientific study of the human mind and behaviour through proper investigation and research methods.
“Psychology is not just about therapy but includes teaching, researching, consulting and other areas,” she said to the group of 80 Form 5 students in the talk held during the school’s education fair.
Yeoh noted that in therapy sessions, she was able to help people resolve emotional issues by providing guidance, and teaching them skills to cope with, and better handle their problems.
On the other hand, conducting research adds to the body of scientific knowledge and helps to further understand people’s behaviour better. For her, psychology is an excellent way to know more about yourself and others.
“It can be fun and rewarding,” she said of studying Psychology, with its skills coming in useful for various job settings, be it health care, education, marketing, social services, advertising or politics.
“Through the Psychology course, you may also develop competencies like critical and creative thinking in decision-making, ability to conduct research from planning and organising a study, collecting data and analysing results to presenting research findings, as well as effective written and communication skills”, she shared.
When some students raised their parents’ concern about a Psychology graduate’s career prospects, she stressed that options were plentiful.
With a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, one can go into human resource, corporate training and consulting, management occupations, administrative positions, marketing and social work.
She said Psychology degree holders may also pursue a Master’s or PhD degree. Only with these qualifications, can one be called a ‘psychologist’ in speciality areas of clinical psychology, health psychology, educational psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, counselling psychology, neuropsychology, sports psychology and forensic psychology.
With a minimum of five credits straight in the SPM, students are eligible to enter the first year of the American Degree Program ADP in SEGi. It is affiliated with the prestigious University of Upper Iowa, established in 1857, with 18 study centres in the United States and three international centres in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
The programme focuses on holistic development, and offers flexibility and consistency. Students may opt for a single or double major over five majors (Management, Psychology, Communications, Finance and Marketing).
They can also customise auxiliary courses that will strengthen their future career prospects. The programme is based on continuous assessment on class work, assignment projects, quizzes and examinations.
In the classroom, instead of the typical lecturer-speaks-studentslisten setting, SEGi’s ADP students are encourage to think out of the box, to express themselves, to put ideas into practice and to be creative in a dynamic classroom environment.
These, along with exposure to extra-curricular activities that develop leadership, communication and organisation skills, are what differentiates SEGi’s ADP students from others in the global employment market.
Students may choose to complete the four-year programme in Malaysia, effectively a 4+0 programme that minimises cost while obtaining a degree of global value, or fly over to Iowa, to further their studies, and be exposed to the American culture and academia.
Intakes for SEGi’s ADP are spread over January, April, May, August and October each year. To find out more, visit SEGi College Penang at Wisma Greenhall, 43, Greenhall, Penang, call 042633888 or visit www.segi.edu. my.