Explorations Report

Your Top Three Occupation Interest Areas:

1. Service

Occupations in this area may involve a lot of customer interaction and often involve sales. Potential jobs include a diverse range of topics such as customer relations to psychologists.

2. Mathematics/Science

Occupations in this area may involve research and scientific knowledge. Potential jobs include topics such as biology, the environment or engineering.

3. Computers/Technology

Occupations in this area may require an understanding of how computers and other machines work. Potential jobs include topics such as software design, robotics and computer-based problem solving.

Your Favourite Occupations:

1. Psychologists

Psychologists assess and diagnose behavioural, emotional and cognitive disorders, counsel clients, provide therapy and research and apply theory relating to behaviour and mental processes. Psychologists help clients work toward the maintenance and enhancement of physical, intellectual, emotional, social and interpersonal functioning. Psychologists work in private practice or in institutions such as clinics, correctional facilities, hospitals, mental health facilities, rehabilitation centres, community service organizations, businesses, schools and universities, and government and private research agencies.

2. Lawyers and Quebec Notaries

Lawyers and Quebec notaries advise clients on legal matters, represent clients before administration boards and draw up legal documents such as contracts and wills. Lawyers also plead cases, represent clients before tribunals and conduct prosecutions in courts of law. Lawyers are employed in law firms and prosecutor's offices. Quebec notaries are employed in notary offices. Both lawyers and Quebec notaries are employed by federal, provincial and municipal governments and various business establishments or they may be self-employed. Articling students are included in this group.

3. Other Professional Occupations in Therapy and Assessment

This unit group includes specialized therapists not elsewhere classified who use techniques such as art, athletic, dance, music or recreational therapy or remedial gymnastics to aid in the treatment of mental and physical disabilities. They are employed by establishments such as hospitals, rehabilitation centres, clinics, recreational centres, nursing homes, educational institutions, prisons and day-care facilities or may work in private practice.

Your Favourite Programs:

1. Psychology (Arts) Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

Psychology occupies a remarkable position among the sciences, spanning a number of related disciplines. The natural-science branch studies basic processes of cognition and behavoural neuroscience including sensation, perception, learning, memory, attention, emotion, thinking, language, motor control and behaviour. Psychologists in these areas study a wide variety of problems in humans and other animals, such as the effects of brain damage or drug induced changes on behaviour, how various neurochemicals affect normal and abnormal behaviour, mechanisms of memory or motor control, how our short-term memory works, or how we solve problems. Students in these areas usually complete a 4-year B.Sc. (Honours) degree with Psychology as a major concentration or as a medial in combination with Biology, and a foundation in math and other science subjects (e.g. biology, chemistry).

2. Law York University, Toronto, Ontario

The law degree has two different roles. It is an academic discipline worthy of study in its own right as well as a necessary preliminary for entry to the legal profession. It is a fascinating subject, with a great tradition and dynamic future. Whether you are advocating the rights of an environmentally sensitive ecosystem or weighing up freedom of expression with the right to privacy, there will be something to challenge your interests.

A Juris Doctor (JD) degree provides a firm foundation for students wishing to train for careers in law. However, it is important for you to note that that there are a whole range of careers outside of private legal practice as a solicitor or barrister. Such careers include acting as Crown Prosecutor, working in the courts service, national and local government law departments and specialist niche areas of law (land registry, competition law or taxation).

More importantly, a law degree is one of the most well-respected undergraduate qualifications. It opens up career opportunities quite apart from the practice of law. This is because the study of law improves powers of reasoning, clarity of thought and the ability to analyze and express complicated ideas. Such skills are in demand in a wide variety of areas including commerce and industry, social services, politics, the media and the public services.

3. Psychology (BSc) Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario

Psychology is a discipline that has had many definitions. At the start of the last century, William James, one of psychology's founders, called it the “science of mental life.” Donald Hebb, perhaps Canada's most famous psychologist, who was my instructor for introductory psychology, defined psychology in 1966 as “the study of the more complex forms of integration or organization in behavior.” Weiten and McCann, in the textbook we use in PS100, Psychology: Themes and Variations , define psychology as “the science that studies behavior and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems.” Clearly the definitions are getting longer and many might argue less clear. However these definitions suggest psychology is at the junction of terms like science, behaviour, brain, and mind. The complexity and breadth of psychology can also be seen in the research interests of our faculty which range from the neuroscience end of the discipline, through developmental and social issues, to applied work focusing on using psychological knowledge in a community context.