Psychology Road Map at the Big Three

[sanantone]

You can do a business degree at COSC without precal.  My sons are both doing it after having taken only Business Stats through Straighterline.  You could also do the DSST exam, which I think is a LOT easier than the Business Stats course- but ymmv.

IMO, if you think you want a job in business, get a business degree. Psychology doesn't lead to employment and it doesn't have a good bridge to anything.  In order to work "in" some capacity to use the degree, you really need a grad degree. While I'm not going to say psychology doesn't help with business, your lack of accounting / economics / and managerial classes doesn't help your case.

If you want to work in business, then you should get a business degree. However, saying that psychology doesn't lead to employment is not true. Business administration and psychology do have relatively high underemployment rates. Business administration has a high underemployment rate because too many people have the degree. Psychology has a high underemployment rate because its graduates have unrealistic expectations. 

These are some of the jobs one can do with a bachelor's in psychology:

Social/human services at non-profit and government organizations and for-profit organizations that contract with the government (Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services, case management, etc.)
Parole/probation/community supervision officer
Pre-trial officer
Counseling (I've been a substance abuse and career/academic counselor with a BA in Social Science. Most states do not require that substance abuse counselors have a graduate degree for licensure.)
Market Research
Psychiatric Technician
UX/UI Design
Research Assistant (these jobs aren't numerous, though)
Human Resources (maybe)
Psychometrician (these are the people who score psychiatric and personality tests)
Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (they mostly work with people on the autism spectrum)

I currently work in tax enforcement. Even though I have a bachelor's degree in business administration, I didn't need it. My coworkers have all kinds of degrees; the tax laws are taught through our job training. Many, if not most, management jobs don't require high-level math or accounting and budgeting skills. Most people are promoted to manage the position they were previously working in. Take Child Protective Services, for example. The supervisors are former CPS investigators. The managers are former CPS supervisors.

Besides, business administration only gives you a taste of accounting and finance. Unless you choose a concentration in accounting, you will not be skilled enough to do complex accounting.

I have a BA in Social Science, by the way. I have had no problem with finding jobs related to my degree.

I think you missed my point.  The OP wants to get a job in business.  Between psychology and business, business is the easy winner.

In this thread, I see that the OP wants a job in management and said that either degree would work. I didn't see the industry specified; the industry and what kind of management job you will have determines what kind of degree you will need. But, much of your post wasn't specific to business. It was a general statement that psychology doesn't lead to jobs, and you can't do anything related to it unless you have a graduate degree.

[retro]

Wow, this thread really grew much more than I expected. Someone said I should have specified my industry. I'm in IT. Though this isn't true everywhere and in every situation in general the IT world is a meritocracy: you advance through demonstrated competence. Most of the  time, the absence of a degree isn't much of a barrier provided you have the skills and experience a prospective employer needs.

So, as for why I'm considering Psyche or Business it's simple: I have a math related learning disability. I was intimidated by Excelsior's pre-calculus requirement for a business degree. That got me thinking, "what other degree would be useful in a managerial context that has a lesser math requirement?" Psychology seemed the most relevant. A lot of management is managing other people's personalities. I've been a manager/business owner enough times in my life to know this. 

I do want to work my way into management and not just more technical positions going forward. I am confident I can do that if I really want to, even absent a degree. I know very well how to win that fight. I'm just tired of not having a degree largely due to severe failures of disability accommodation early in my academic career by my previous college. I'm not crying a river here, it hasn't been a barrier. I'm just giving a bit of context.

Looking at Thomas Edison's Business degree requirements, it looks like their math requirements are well within the scope of my abilities. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out. I'm not sure I'll need psych as a "plan B" anymore. I'll still chart out a road map in case it becomes relevant or something changes.

I do have one more question I forget who mentioned it, but...

Someone did mention the underemployment rates of business degree holders. I observed that acutely during the housing crisis downturn. I knew several people who were Liberal Arts + MBA degree holders who found themselves in deep trouble in that economy. So, other than my strong IT background which I'm sure helps, how might I differentiate myself from the rest of the pack with a BS BA in a future downturn? I'm wide open to suggestions.

[cookderosa]

You can do a business degree at COSC without precal.  My sons are both doing it after having taken only Business Stats through Straighterline.  You could also do the DSST exam, which I think is a LOT easier than the Business Stats course- but ymmv.

IMO, if you think you want a job in business, get a business degree. Psychology doesn't lead to employment and it doesn't have a good bridge to anything.  In order to work "in" some capacity to use the degree, you really need a grad degree. While I'm not going to say psychology doesn't help with business, your lack of accounting / economics / and managerial classes doesn't help your case.

If you want to work in business, then you should get a business degree. However, saying that psychology doesn't lead to employment is not true. Business administration and psychology do have relatively high underemployment rates. Business administration has a high underemployment rate because too many people have the degree. Psychology has a high underemployment rate because its graduates have unrealistic expectations. 

These are some of the jobs one can do with a bachelor's in psychology:

Social/human services at non-profit and government organizations and for-profit organizations that contract with the government (Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services, case management, etc.)
Parole/probation/community supervision officer
Pre-trial officer
Counseling (I've been a substance abuse and career/academic counselor with a BA in Social Science. Most states do not require that substance abuse counselors have a graduate degree for licensure.)
Market Research
Psychiatric Technician
UX/UI Design
Research Assistant (these jobs aren't numerous, though)
Human Resources (maybe)
Psychometrician (these are the people who score psychiatric and personality tests)
Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (they mostly work with people on the autism spectrum)

I currently work in tax enforcement. Even though I have a bachelor's degree in business administration, I didn't need it. My coworkers have all kinds of degrees; the tax laws are taught through our job training. Many, if not most, management jobs don't require high-level math or accounting and budgeting skills. Most people are promoted to manage the position they were previously working in. Take Child Protective Services, for example. The supervisors are former CPS investigators. The managers are former CPS supervisors.

Besides, business administration only gives you a taste of accounting and finance. Unless you choose a concentration in accounting, you will not be skilled enough to do complex accounting.

I have a BA in Social Science, by the way. I have had no problem with finding jobs related to my degree.

I think you missed my point.  The OP wants to get a job in business.  Between psychology and business, business is the easy winner.

In this thread, I see that the OP wants a job in management and said that either degree would work. I didn't see the industry specified; the industry and what kind of management job you will have determines what kind of degree you will need. But, much of your post wasn't specific to business. It was a general statement that psychology doesn't lead to jobs, and you can't do anything related to it unless you have a graduate degree.

I'm sure you're right. All of the jobs you mentioned are perfect for someone with a degree in psychology.

[bluebooger]

...
Building a road map for Psychology at Excelsior seems a lot harder. For one, the degree requirements PDF vague, 

I. Core Requirements 
A: General Psychology : CLEP - Introductory Psychology
B: Statistics : UExcel - Statistics
C: Research Methods : UExcel - Research Methods in Psychology
D: History : BYU - History of Psychology
E: Research And Writing : BYU - Writing in Psychology
F: Capstone :

II. Intermediate and Upper level 
A: Biological and Physiological : BYU - Behavioral Neurobiology
B: Developmental : UExcel - Life Span Developmental Psychology 
C: Social : UExcel - Social Psychology
D: Abnormal : UExcel - Abnormal Psychology
E: Cognitive : 

III. Electives
CLEP - Introduction to Educational Psychology
DSST - Fundamentals of Counseling
UExcel - Foundations of Gerontology
UExcel - Psychology of Adulthood & Aging
TECEP - Psychology of Women 
BYU - Sport Psychology
BYU - Personality (might fulfill Cognitive requirement)
BYU - Principles of Learning
BYU - Motivation



https://www2.tesu.edu/listalltecep.php
https://getcollegecredit.com/exam_fact_sheets
https://www.excelsior.edu/exams/choose-your-exam
https://clep.collegeboard.org/exams
https://is.byu.edu/catalog?school=18

[dfrecore]

Just an FYI, the math requirement for Psych is normally Stats, while the Business requirement is College Algebra/Quant Lit AND Stats. Since stats is the harder of the 2 courses, it's not enough to make a difference in my estimation. I would not let this stop me from getting a business degree (it sounded like this was your main reason, but I could be wrong). I seriously doubt College Algebra is the stumbling block in the process for anyone.

A general business degree is very useful if you want a job in business. MANY more companies will require a business degree than just about anything else. Now, if you wanted to work in certain areas of business, say HR or Marketing, then a Psych degree would probably be fine. Even still, you are far better off with a business degree than Psych in the business world.

Yes, you can get other degrees and find jobs. But since you're specifically asking about business, a BSBA is the way to go.