Should I study criminal justice, psychology or computer science in college? Give me your opinions?

I am a psychologist and I can tell you it is 5 years graduate work, 1 year internship and 1 year of post doc before you get into the field. With the increasing problems and restrictions in managed health care (insurance companies) they are paying psychologist less and less as time goes on. Most insurance companies only pay out about $40-$50 an hour even though your fee is about $150 an hour so it isn't very lucrative considering the 7 years spent in graduate school which is torture.

The training is incredibly difficult and competitive. Only go into psychology if it is a true calling. Do it only if you are drawn to helping others work through their problems and improve their life.

Don't do it if you think it is a great way to make money because the money isn't really there. I myself am trying not to work with any insurance companies due to their poor payment reimbursements. I have chosen to be a self pay provider only meaning that my clients have to pay me themselves and not through insurance.

I make more money an hour that way but I get fewer clients coming in because most people want to use their insurance. You have to know how to build a business, build up a clientele, market yourself and run and maintain your own business. Psychology can be fun but also stressful due to the nature of the clients we see.

They are often distraught, desperate for help, clingy, needy, and negative minded. It is hard most of the time to make progress with clients. I do it because I am drawn to it and have always been so.

I know there is nothing else I want to do and this is what I am good at. Ask yourself if you are empathic, understanding, compassionate, patient, caring, and genuine. These are traits that you would naturally have not ones that can be taught.

Criminal justice would be appealing if you are interested in law, profiling, criminal behavior, forensics, etc. I took a criminal justice class in school and loved it. We learned about finger printing, profiling criminals like in the FBI, victimology, crime scene investigations, etc.It ties in very nicely to psychology. Computer Science is probably your best bet for making money.

It is the wave of the future and is one profession that should be secure no matter what happens with the economy.It all comes down to what drives you. What types of things are you passionate about in life. What excites you?

Ask yourself what you will love to do day in and day out for the next 30 years. Being a therapist I know that you must do something that you absolutely love and relate to in order to feel fulfilled and satisfied with life. So many people chose careers for the wrong reasons or because they were expected to and those same people are now sitting in my office telling me how much they hate their life and are often depressed and suicidal.

I have to help them rediscover what their life dream is and find a way to get them to follow the dream they had so many years ago but that was pushed aside or put on hold for various reasons. So please take plenty of time to reflect on how you feel about each of these careers. You want a job that you wake up each morning excited to go to.

Hope this helps.

Really your answer should come down to what you will end up enjoy doing. Considering this is impossible the best way I found is to think of all of the homework you had to do in high school. Then figure out from that which subject had the homework and studying that you enjoyed the most or at least didn't notice you were doing homework.

Now down to the numbers Computer Science will give you the highest starting salary after an undergrad degree. However if you were to pursue psychology to the doctorate level then that would probably pay the most over the three years ( plus people would have to call you "Doctor" which would be awesome). Criminal Justice may be the least paying but you will also probably have the most variety in your studies as well as in your day to day work which could be appealing to you.

Also - if you like Math at all Computer Science is a good fit - if you like Bio, Social Studies and story then Psychology is a good fit Just to let you know I am a CS student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario Canada. Great CS program, highly recommended.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.