To do a degree in Psychology at 50 ?

How did the career go? any updates or advice?

Also... Your age. You will be competing with younger, hungry, fresher graduates when applying for jobs

how does younger = fresher?

And they're not necessarily more hungry (keen and ambitious) than someone who's 50+ who's chosen to study something she's fascinated by and follow a career she's committed to.

I'd much rather see a psychiatrist or counsellor with some real life experience under their belt to back up their training

We always had stats on a Monday so my family wouldn't come near me on Sunday as I would be in a foul mood trying to do the homework. SPSS turned me into a gibbering wreck

If you're interested in SEN counselling in private practice, then training in child psychotherapy would be a much better starting point - you could qualify in 4 years and start your practice. Of course, counselling/psychotherapy is very competitive and you probably wouldn't be earning much at all for years... (You need to pay for supervision, professional fees, insurance, room hire etc.)

Counselling training of any kind requires personal therapy (unlike a psychology degree) so you need to factor in the time and cost of this too.

Remember you'll need a range of skills to set up your own practice - marketing, book keeping etc.

SPSS I had a two hour spss exam for my MSc. If there is a hell, this is it.

Spoken like a true psychology student Tamara. I know that feeling

Oh lord, the stats! I still break into a sweat just thinking about SPSS

You don't have to do a psychology degree to be a counsellor. There a lots of courses and diplomas which will enable you to qualify and allow you to work professionally link here

A psychology degree is pretty worthless unless you are planning on any post-grad study. It's also very stats heavy so if you're not keen on statistics I'd advise you do a bit of background reading to see if you're happy with what's involved.

I retrained from accounting and although I really enjoy it I wish I did a bit more research on it before I started. Competition for jobs (and experience in the form of unpaid internships) is fierce and as a mature student I was slightly envious of the younger ones having time on their side..

I know someone who did a psychotherapy course, also from a business background, and now sees clients. Not sure if it was a degree or not, she did it part time around work over 3 years, already having an unrelated degree. But perhaps that sort of thing might interest you.

what is it about Psychology that you think you would like - it can be interesting but it can also be dire (industrial psychology anyone???)

I'd start with what JOB you actually want out of it?

Then work back to consider the degree - you work with children with SEND - is this something you would like to continue?

Dragon if you are looking to do SEN counselling or use it in that capacity, there could be scope there.

If you are interested in SEN, would you consider learning disabilities nursing? I knew someone who trained in that at age 50.

I have an open degree through OU and done a mixture of clinical psychology/child psychology and challenging behaviour/ASD, I work in behavior support with families who have children with learning disabilities/challenging behaviour through NHS. Not for the faint hearted but I really enjoy it. The biggest drawback is never knowing when the funding might get pulled, especially the last 5 years.

I mm doing my psychology degree with the open uni, it's hard but worth it.

Yes there's a fair bit of statistics, but you apply them to projects that you've carried out. I'm at the beginning of a Research project foe my current module and there's plenty of practical application. For a psychology degree to be BPS accredited you have to do at least one study of your own, albeit on a small scale.

To go into a psychology career it does need further study. I'm planning to do my masters when I finish and hope to go onto forensic psychology eventually. There are plenty of careers that you can go into with a psych degree if you're willing to do further study.

It's not pointless if you enjoy it for what it is!

If this is an area interests you, counselling might be worth looking into. I did a psychology degree as a mature student (30s), but realised that the routes into clinical psychology (which had been my preferred area) weren't really compatible with starting a family. Instead, following discussion with a clin psych friend, I looked into counselling and began training. The OU now do counselling courses, and I know someone now working as a counsellor having studied via the OU.

During my counselling training I was told that being older works in your favour as life experience is a great thing to bring to the role.

(My life took an unexpected turn and I didn't complete the counselling training, but I haven't ruled out a return in the future).

Good luck, whatever you decide to do

Unless you do down the Masters route it is pointless. I know many psychology grads who are employed in anything but psychology at the moment.

Also... Your age. You will be competing with younger, hungry, fresher graduates when applying for jobs. Employers claim not to be ageist but they so are.

Or how about a counselling degree, for example this kind of thing: www.salford.ac.uk/ug-courses/counselling-and-psychotherapy-professional-practice

Covering psychological theory with emphasis on application of theory to counselling practice.

Hi op I went back to university at 45 to do a psychology course. It was hard work but I really enjoyed it. People are right in the fact that if you want a career in psychology you need an MA and other supporting courses. However I combined my psychology degree with a counselling course with the open university. I am now in a job where both skill sets are extremely useful.

I would say that I found the stats a bit mind boggling but I worked my way through. The course I did was about one third stats but it gave me a much better understanding of how to use excel.

By the way I had a similar background to you.

Could you find someone who is doing the job you would eventually want to do? You could speak to them about how they got their job, what career routes there are and what it all involves. Maybe arrange for some work experience? There may be other jobs in similar fields that you don't know about. Maybe you don't need to do a degree at all.

How ridiculous to dismiss a whole subject as 'boring'! it either interests you or it doesn't. I bloody love it!

The clearest career route I can see is to become a therapist but that would require degree then post-grad studies. For example a three year degree then a one year full time PGDip or Masters in CBT (and full time is HARD when you've got to get in client contact hours as well). You wouldn't be qualified until 54/55 but you could still get in 10(?) years as a CBT therapist before retirement.

Clinical psychology is an incredibly competitive field and I guess you'd have to be exceptional to make it onto the postgrad coursen with a lack of relevant experience.

TBH, I think this will come down to whether you have a real passion for the subject - would it be of personal value to you to be learning psychological theory, critical thinking and research skills?