Academic Major Highlight: Psychology

Interested in choosing psychology for your career? Below, learn what it’s like to major in psychology at Westminster.

Here are 3 ways Westminster provides advantages that pay off in grad school and career for psychology majors:

1. Partnership with Fulton State Hospital

Psychology majors at Westminster benefit from the College’s close partnership with Fulton State Hospital, the only residential forensic psychiatric hospital in the state. Fulton State Hospital psychologists teach classes at Westminster, including a course in Forensic Psychology. Westminster is one of select few colleges and universities to offer this course at the undergraduate level. Learn from people who work directly in that fascinating field, and benefit from their firsthand expertise.

2. Extensive Research Opportunities

Westminster students benefit from ample opportunities to conduct independent research as an undergraduate (with no graduate students to steal all the resources and professors’ time!). Plus, Westminster students enjoy an all-expenses paid trip to at least one conference each year to present their research projects, and they have an excellent track record of winning awards at these conferences.

This research experience as an undergraduate puts our students in a great position for competing in the job market and acceptance into grad school.

3. Alumni Connections

Westminster alumni are known for their support of our current students. For example, alum Dr. Gary Forrest pays for 2 students a year to attend his prestigious Addictive Disorders Winter Symposium each year in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Graduate schools where you’ll find recent Westminster psychology grads

Texas Tech University, University of Central Florida, University of Missouri, Belmont University, St. Louis University and more.

Plus, 50% of Westminster psychology majors attend prestigious graduate programs at schools such as Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, and Washington University.

Looking back after graduation …

An email from a Westminster psychology grad to his professors

Professors,

Thank you so much for providing me with an opportunity to study psychology at Westminster, and for making it an excellent experience. Although I had never taken a psychology class until my freshman year of college, I knew coming in that it was something I was looking to explore. Soon after that class, it was what I wanted to study. This department has many great qualities, everyone is extremely knowledgable about the field and there is a passion for the discipline that I feel like I didn’t seen in many other courses at this school.

Both passion and intellect are things that I expected from professors at this school while I was coming in. But what I didn’t expect was for the department and the students to be so close. Whether it was going to Dr. Jaeger’s office to take a break from studying Consumer Behavior, the few weeks where I would go to Dr. Coats’ office every day to talk about thesis, Dr. (Dean) Jones taking time to talk to me about I/O (and hockey, and how awesome Denmark was), or Dr. Hartin calming me down before my thesis presentation and asking why the Blues lost the game the night before, I knew I wasn’t just talking to my professors, I was talking to my friends, and that was a unique experience that perhaps only this department can offer.

To conclude, words in an email can’t describe how thankful I am for all of your insight and support, but I gave it my best shot. I feel extremely confident about the future and hope that one day we might grab some food … or maybe co-author a paper together.

Click here to learn more about majoring in psychology at Westminster.