Biology or psychology which degree would be more lucrative ?

[SunshinDay]

Any ideas ?

but to be honest it’s quite funny as my first degree was in psychology 🤣🤣 I then went into teaching and decided that wasn’t for me and so I went back and did a degree apprenticeship in chemistry/microbiolgy- specialised in microbiology and now I work as a Quality compliance Specialist.

@Loveduppenguin did you do A science at a level

Yes I did biology. I’m from Ireland though so did my leaving cert.
my subjects were
irish
english
maths
biology
home economics
business
geography
french

I did psychology and I now work as a clinical psychologist in the NHS. It is reallly hard to get onto a clinical training course, takes years of gaining experience and most have masters or Phds before they get on. Although it is reasonably well paid at the end it’s not when you compensate for the low paid years. Plus for clinical it doesn’t matter which uni you went to.

My DD is studying psychology.
Her aim is to work for the police.

She'll be completing a PhD and he salary will be the same as an other doctor, £72k if she goes into NHS clinical psychology.

Make sure your daughter likes the maths element. It's sats heavy and that the course is BACP accredited or it's not valid for medical foundation.

Lots of people on my DDs course are moving to marketing and HR.

With those A levels and predictions, what about the Human Science degree course at Oxford?

Or, in addition to joint degrees one of the many natural science degree courses where she could choose biology and psychology modules - Birmingham, Nottingham and Lancaster spring to mind, but I’m sure there are others.

Or if she wants a more “vocational” degree, what about Speech and Language therapy? You don’t need specific A level subjects, but those 3 she is doing are nonetheless ideal!
I don’t think you can do it as an undergraduate at UCL any more, but if you want to pursue it as a career, the “status” of the uni probably matters less than for some subjects, and there are some solid, well-respected unis that do offer it, if university name is important to her.

We live in NI so have the best of
both worlds - yes, prospects are slightly better over the border but not massively so. Wages are higher but cost of living is astronomical to make up for this.

I personally don’t find the costs here in Ireland astronomical to be honest, after living in England for 8 years I find it’s much of a muchness…especially these days. No water rates, no council tax, child benefit is better and not means tested. My standard of living didn’t change at all, I’d say it’s better now, I have better earning opportunities here too.

Doctorate clinical psychologists are on band 7 so start at £44,000. Not .£75,000. That’s midway band 8 for senior managerial roles. I guess the police might pay this for newly qualified psychologists but I doubt it. They might pay it for psychologists with experience transferring out of the NHS. It’s a well enough paid career but not wonderful. Educational Psychologists start on around £50,000.

Biology degree without A level chemistry would be difficult I think.
Also, unless she wants to go and work in industry Pharma/ Biotechnology it doesn't lead to well paid positions.

Good idea
DD did Psych A Level and it actually sparked her interest in doing a Bio degree.
She says there is quite a lot of crossover

DS regrets opting for Psychology and finds it of limited use in the job market as there are so many psychology graduates out there.

You don't necessarily have to work in the area of your degree subject, unless you want to of course.
DS's friend did Psychology, then a year long law conversion course and is now a City lawyer at 25. He's earning good money but every so often he works until 3am and sleeps at his office.
If you want to work in the science industry I believe there are options to do a science apprenticeship so you go to work and your boss pays for your degree. When I was a student most of my friends were on these sandwich courses, paid for by the big nationalised industries.

Ds2 is in his masters year of a biological sciences degree - no A level chem and not needed he says. He does have maths tho as a second science, but IIRC a good number of unis (Warwick for example) were ok with one science, tho offer was higher.

What does she way to do op? Forty years long time in a work role you don’t enjoy.

DD doesn't have a Chem A Level either. OR Maths
She did get a 9 at GCSE though and says she is fine with the Chem and Maths she needs and did really well in her 1st year

Most clinical psychologists in Scotland start on band 8A which is £64900 but then it’s hard to move up. It’s also after doings 4year degree in Scotland, a masters, work experience usually at least 2 years anxieties phd’s so although it seems high most trainers are around 30 when they finish training.

@Birdsongsingingagainandagain
I just looked at pay grades in nhs. There might be some local discretion of course. Not sure how that compared with a doctor who is 30.

Good point @TizerorFizz . I suspect Drs are on a lot less at a similar stage but then when they get to Consultant they gain again.

I did a psychology degree. There’s a reason why I spent £25k converting to law 10 years later.

@pontivex Why did it cost you £25,000? GDL is still only £11,000.

@TizerorFizz plus the LPC which was 14k

Depends on what she wants to do as a career, you'd need a PhD/clinical psych type qualification to work in research or clinical fields, but same really with biology, in pharma they have a huge choice so you have to stand out, in uni jobs you need to progress academically too. Lower paid jobs require less qualifications of course. Outcofcthextwo, I picked biology, and have worked in commercial, pharma and uni and don't feel I made the wrong choice, albeit i'd quite fancy being a clinical psychologist if I had my time again

Can she opt for more focus? My favourite subject was biology, but I did Pharmacology as undergraduate, then Clinical Biochemistry as masters. I now work in regulatory affairs in big pharma, earning just over 6 figures (and I'm only part-time). Biology is fine, but she needs to think beyond the degree and how it will apply to a career.

My husband did Biochemistry undergraduate and then a PhD. He loved the laboratory side (whereas I didn't). He's now Head of R&D at a small biotech, again on six figures. We were both on six figures by mid-30s.

I think with a Biology degree, she'll end up doing a postgraduate too, which is no bad thing, but just prepare for that!

I don't know anything about Psychology degrees, but they seem very common??

Edited to say - the key thing for me and my husband was doing a work placement year before our undergraduate finals. It was a year in industry working (and earning!) where you write up a research project. Only a handful from each course does it and it really made our CVs stand out. In science, it's all about hands-on experience. So look for courses that offer a year out in industry. It's also where I met my husband, in fact most of those on the placement year ended up marrying!! We were at Glasgow and Durham university.

Trouble is pharmacology and biochem will both need chem A level I think (apols if I am wrong) which the OP's DD is not taking.

Biology for sure - the world and their dog seems to have a degree in psychology and it’s tricky to get jobs at the moment.

My DD is doing a Biomedical degree which includes an element of psychology - is that an option? As we were told on uni visits biology alone can be a bit “vanilla”.