To think that doing an A level in Psychology isn't enough to get into Uni

[Poppyanddaisy55]

My dd leaves school this summer. She is clever and has the potential to get good GCSE results if she puts the effort in.
She has all of a sudden decided she would like to study psychology. Then have the potential in the future to become a psychologist. Our local college has an a level course but it says it might not be enough to get into Uni? Anyone any experience in this? She has already been accepted on another course and I would hate for her to turn it down and work so hard to find it's not good enough.

Former clinical psychologist here, with a doctorate in a psychology-subject. I teach psychology students, and most do not have an A' level in psychology. Many schools and colleges don't offer it on the curriculum. A' level psychology is not always good grounding for a degree programme. You have to be good at science, and maths to do well in psychology as it is very evidence-based these days. If you don't get a high 2(i) or 1st degree then it is very difficult to go on to a career as a psychologist, or follow onto a masters or doctorate programme. Competition in the industry is huge, and an entry level assistant psychologist in the NHS or similar can expect to have a very low salary for a few years. Many students I have worked with fail to secure psychology placements, and go on to train in other areas like social work, school teaching, prison therapists, youth work, counselling or as carers in specialist settings.

A' levels for a Russell Group University application that would be helpful would be Maths, Biology, Chemistry and English. If she really wants to do A' level Psychology then she would be wise to take other strong subjects like Maths.

Agree with previous poster who talked about mental health nursing as a way into therapies, clinical psychology is 1st degree then followed by a doctoral course in clinical psychology, which has notoriously difficult to get onto, so 6 years all together, without any gaps in between the courses.
A lot of mental health nurses go on to become CBT therapists or similar.

What are her GCSE predicted grades? She could look at a Health and Social Care BTEC which will open doors to a lot of mental health/psychology related jobs. The clinical psychology training is insanely competitive and many A grade students work unpaid or poorly paid for years as assistant psychogists to bolster their chances to get onto the course. Which is what I will tell my child who wants to do it.

In addition, choosing the "wrong" A-levels wouldn't always be a problem...
many universities now offer a foundation year which covers the basics that you need to go direct to the main degree programme. (So the equivalent of those A-level you would normally need for the degree).
Often slightly lower UCAS points needed for this too.

Your daughter needs some good advice- can she speak to a careers advisor at her current school? You don't seem to know how many A levels are required to get into university, and whilst it's fine you don't know, you and her need to find people who do know and know what type of subjects would work for her. You don't need Maths, some psychology courses do require a science (so Biology, Psychology, Physics, Chemistry) but some don't, and there are some solid subjects like Eng Lit and History and Languages which are well-regarded whatever she wants to do in the future (although there are lots of other choices and some universities don't mind so much what you do, more what grades you get, some will be fussier).

My dd's a similar age and had a one to one session with a careers adviser, I think your dd would benefit from this as she's confused about how many/what paths are open to her, and as a clever potential A level student, she needs to understand how to make these decisions. I'm sure Travel and Tourism is useful, but if she has the chance to do A levels, she should be encouraged to take it.

Maybe the psychology a level and 2 other ones? But then I worry that is too much work.

That’s the standard a-level pathway though, it can be a lot of work! I found A2 year much harder than my first year of university.

But then I worry that is too much work
To be blunt, if you really don't think she can cope with 3 A'Levels then she is going to mamage University.

What are her predicted GCSE grades?
What subjects is she good at?
If she's interested in travel, would she consider Geography?
What do the school advise?

*isn't going to manage

Also- the thinking around number of A levels has changed, my dd's superselective grammar has moved to only 3 A levels unless adding Further Maths plus an Extended Project and that's it. Fewer students taken 4 now as most unis don't require them but they do require high grades in the 3 so it makes sense to focus on them and not spread too thinly (I wish my dd was doing the IB but that's a whole different discussion.)

To do a psychology degree, maths is really important! My DS did psychology at uni and said many students who had studied humanities and not maths at A level really struggled with some of the statistics work.

Yep, how is she academically?

I’m in my early 20s and graduated last year - so I started to study my A Levels 5 years ago. I’m generalising based on my experience here, but typically students who went on to do BTECs had a lower grade than C in Maths and English GCSE. Everyone else was encouraged to go for A Levels instead of BTECs, as a C was often the minimum grade needed to be accepted on a A Level subject.

I think she needs to go and speak to a careers adviser. Her school will have one.

She will need to do at least 3 A levels ( or equivalent). A careers adviser can help her decide what is the best route for her and outline the various options

Hi Poppy,
My daughter did A level Psychology as one of her 3 A levels to get into the Uni of her choice (entrance requirement grades B, B & C) but she did a degree in Business, with Marketing. Her other subjects were Biology and Business Studies. Because she enjoyed the Psychology A level course so much, it turned out to be her best grade, as she got an A. I helped with her revision, and I have to say it was so interesting.
My son wanted to do Economics at a specific Uni (entrance requirement grades A*, A, A), and was advised not to do either Economics or Business Studies at A level, as they were considered as 'soft' subjects, and may affect him getting a place. So he chose Maths, Biology and Chemistry, and managed to get in.
Both achieved 2:1's in their chosen degrees and went on to get good jobs, but, in my daughters case not directly related to her degree.
Point I'm making is that there is massive variation between Unis in entrance grade requirements, and what are considered to be appropriate subjects at A level for each course.
I do think it helped that my 2 knew what they wanted to do careerwise by the time they had done their GCSEs.
Maybe she needs to do some research and look around a bit more at what she would like to do as a career.
Wishing her good luck whatever she decides.

It's not the only A-level she is doing, is it?

Most Psychology degrees don't require an A-level in Psychology from their applicants but it doesn't mean she is harming her chances by doing it. I suppose whether or not she has decent chances with top tier universities does depend on what else she is doing.

To do a psychology degree, maths is really important! My DS did psychology at uni and said many students who had studied humanities and not maths at A level really struggled with some of the statistics work

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Her predicted grades are 5 at lowest but going up to 7/8. She has achieved the most in English, already got 6 in statistics and predicted level 2 merit in health and social care. She defo doesnt want to do any more maths! There is an open evening at college tonight so we will go and discuss options. It's so hard to make these decisions at such a young age!!
I really appreciate all the answers thank you again

I have a psychology degree and did a psychology A'Level (you need 3 A'Levels or equivalent to get into university). It was nearly 20 years ago and I just saw psychology as a dossy subject if I'm honest, I literally just regurgitated all my A'Level essays for my first year. Psychology is a useful broad degree, but I personally thought I wasted my time with it. I got a job on the back of it though (job just required you to have a degree, preferably a BSc). It's only now that I'm studying a STEM degree that I realized that it was actually quite useful as I have no problems with writing up experiments or essays where other people are struggling (they've never done a higher level qualification to be fair).

I think your daughter needs to really have an idea of what she wants to do, as just having a psychology degree isn't going to get her very far in psychology, especially now that it seems to be a pretty popular subject.

If she doesn't want to do Maths then forget psychology. It's so stats based at university.

Academically she sounds like an A level candidate rather than btec.

I know it’s a few years away, but if she ends up at Uni studying psychology make sure she picks a course with a years work experience.

Many people have misconceptions about what psychologists actually do. It can be a long old slog to get there so she’d have to be quite committed and hard working.

Agreed, it’s so difficult to know what you want to do / options out there when you’re so young.

It’s good she has a supportive parent. I don’t think my mum really knew what I did at school

She defo doesnt want to do any more maths!

If she doesn't like maths, then she may struggle with psychology anyway.

Dd is doing A level maths, psychology and biology and plans to become a psychologist

She's been told that it will probably take 8 years from when she starts uni to qualify as she needs a PhD

Not all universities require biology and maths but many recommend it. Chemistry and Statistics are obviously other possible related subjects and I know some of her friends in psychology also do Sociology, English or History

If your DD doesn't like Maths she will probably struggle with A Level Psychology as it's quite Maths heavy.

My own DD manages because she got very good grades at GCSE Maths/FM although she's not doing A Level Maths. She already has all 5 UCAS offers to study Psychology but is thinking of having a gap year first.

The maths demand in A level psychology is quite low, and it doesn't involve the maths non maths lovers tend to find hard. I wouldn't let not loving maths put her off doing it. She will need two other A level subjects too though...

I think there is also a level 3 BTEC in Applied Psychology.

I went to a Russell Group university for my psychology degree, maths and statistics are involved. It’s compulsory; for a course to be BPS accredited you have to complete certain modules such as research methods, which are heavily based on statistics and data. Therefore if she struggles with Maths now, the course may be something to reconsider.

However, this is purely anecdotal, I got an A* in maths GCSE, but a D at maths AS Level. I didn’t struggle with the maths during my degree although I had such a poor AS grade.