How to identify your area of research interests in psychology
If you’ve ever taken a large, lecture-style introductory psychology course, you probably already know that psychology is one of the most popular majors on college campuses. But contrary to popular belief, it’s not because it’s just an “easy” subject (I’ve overheard more than one discussion between students about getting an easy A in psychology – only to be really shocked when they received their first exam).
Psychology is an incredibly diverse area of study. As the scientific study of human behavior, there is a lot of ground to cover. There are also 
numerous other disciplines that informs how we think about psychology (and vice versa), such as biology, philosophy, education, or law, just to name a few. Compared to undergrad, there is more opportunity to concentrate your coursework exclusively on your specific interests in graduate school. The cool part is that if you’re not interested in dopamine reuptake or schizophrenia, you may never have to take a course in it ever again!
It is also a good idea to keep these subfields in mind as you take your psychology classes. If you want to be a clinical psychologist, it is important to take Intro to Clinical Psychology/Abnormal Psychology. Ditto for Biopsychology – your Sensation and Perception class will be one of your best friends. Information covered in these classes will give you the background to identify a specific interest that you will concentrate in grad school. (An example is: “I want to study how to treat anorexia nervosa” as a specific interest in Clinical Psychology). It is very important that you have more than a surface-y interest in the topic. After all, we’re talking about investing the next 2-5 years of your life to shape yourself into an expert on this topic.
Can’t even begin to figure out which area of psychology to apply for grad school?
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