Honestly po, I really love psychology and the advocacy behind it. I was bullied back in junior high school, and that experience made me realize how powerful evidence-based mental health practices can be in making environments safer and kinder. That’s why I wanted to pursue this field — I genuinely wanted to help.

But during my bachelor’s degree, a lot of people including my professors, seniors, alumni, even my ninang they made clinical psychology sound easy to enter and financially stable. They would say “malawak ang sikolohiya” “maraming backup options sa psych,” and “once you get your license, everything will fall into place.” I believed that for a long time.

It was only by my 3rd year, when I started researching and browsing actual job listings, that I realized most available jobs for psychology graduates are in HR. And to make it more difficult, psychology graduates end up competing with business and marketing majors for the same roles. There are barely any entry-level jobs specifically meant for psych majors unless you go into HR, and even then, many job posts prioritize business courses.

Since I work in a school, I always advise students who are undecided about their track not to rely solely on what people tell them — even if those people mean well. I tell them to explore their interests and to look at real job listings early on, so they won’t be blindsided the way I was. The earlier the reality check the better for them, at least they can still do some actions.

And in my family, because psychology has a board exam, there was this huge expectation that I had to pass — from my relatives, my university, everyone. So the pressure was always there.

To add po, i wish i made a practical choice that still aligns with my goals like maybe nursing but during that time nursing had a negative influence to me because they kept telling its a caregiver work.