bath, bristol or exeter

[coffeewith1sugar]

my dd doesn't know which one from above offers to firm and insure. She likes all the courses they offer and the uni. They all bring things to the table she likes and dislikes and can see herself in any. Shes so confused as what to do. Bath has the year placement. They are all located far from home. Should she choose by best reputation? would it make any difference to employers anyways where she graduated as long as she does well. Or placement year getting work experience is more important with getting graduate jobs. Thanks to anyone who could help her decide her course is in psychology by the way.

"jillypsychology is one of those strange subjects it's not regarded as proper science subject that's has the same rigour as phys/chem/bio but it isn't like sociology either as psyc does contain alot of science and some maths. It's caught in between science and humanities I feel. It's a popular degree wonder if it's because many people find psycholgy interesting and so would be a enjoyable degree to take but wouldn't want to take it any further than Bsc"

Yes, that is why as most people who do it do something different after perhaps within a commercial company through an ordinary graduate recruitment scheme getting a 2/1 from somewhere as decent as you can helps most of all.

Yes, (I am from a family of psychiatrists and psychologists)

When I started this thread I thought people would think I was being silly with the predicament dd is facing. But took the risk anyway. So glad i did. I'm very grateful for all the helpful response that has been given.
sugar thanks for the heads up on bristol on how she could get some relevant work experience from there, it will be very useful however small. DD will be taking your advice on being proactive when she gets to uni, building her skills is key and making the right connections will be important.
Since dd turned 18 she is able to take part in experiments run by universities around the UK, she has enrolled on so many!! The insight will be useful for her. DD currently works voluntarily at major charity but in their office and does the general IT work and plus does the minutes for meetings they have, I'm quite proud of her since she has been there since she was 16 , so really stuck it out and didn't get the sack. The skills she has acquired from there then will be useful.
Jilly it is very true what you say getting good decent class 2:1 is so important these days. Many companies are reluctant to take people on with less. These degrees cost so much too. In my day only the very academic lot would be advised to go. The rest of us were encouraged to go on a YTS scheme and us girls advance in home economics or secretarial studies, how times have changed. The youth of today are so fortunate when it comes to careers and choices.

I'm a current Psychology student at Bath and chose it because of the placement year. If she's interested in going into some form of psychology career wise then the placement year really is invaluable. I'm happy to answer any specific questions you or she may have about the uni or course.

I did psychology at Bristol, and live in Bristol. I work for Bath U in a roundabout way. I would go for Bath every time. It is a much harder slog though, the culture at Bath is work, work, work. The placement year is great for employability. Please tell her not to be too swayed by ranking on the national league tables - except the Student Satisfaction Survey (Bath is #1), the rankings are about research not teaching (in the main). I don't know much about Exeter's course but the reputation of the University is that it is very middle/upper class and if she is not comfortable with extreme wealth or is struggling on a loan then she might not like the culture at Exeter.

The other key aspect is to look at who are the professors and senior lecturers- their research interests will lead the tone of the course. When I did psych at Bristol we had one lecture on Psychoanalytical Psychology where we were told it was "unscientific, untestable, rubbish" and that this lecture was for the benefit of those who had mistakenly taken psychology thinking they would be learning psychoanalysis.

Bristol's psych course is not really a vocational course, Bath would give her a chance to work in a clinical setting if she wants to practice as a psychologist but it is also true to say that a one year masters would also do that. Bath courses are nearly all UG Masters rather than BSc which is perfect if research is what floats her boat.

That said- I loved Bristol University, I met some fab people and I prefer to live in a city with a bit more oomph. But Bristol is only 10mins on the train (an hour once you have negotiated the hill down from the campus).

What a nice position to be in for her. Oh yes, one more thing, Exeter is further away from most places than you think!

Sorry, I meant to add, the only employers who will really care which of the three she went to would be other Universities....

penguin dd would like to know for the Bath placement year:-

1. are the placements in psychology exclusively for the psych students or are they open to all the other depts.
2. would she have to compete for the placements with other university student around the country, would the placement jobs that are available also open to applicants nationwide.
3. Do any students that applied for placement don't get one? So they end up doing final year straight after? If they are unsuccessful with getting offer of a placement what are the typical reasons that you know of ?
4. Does the placement help your final year on the course In any shape or form. I'm so sorry penguin for asking you so many probing question didn't realise dd had so many???? But she feels your the perfect person to ask. Please you don't have to answer them if it's not convenient to do so. Thanks in advance

orangedd wants to ask, you dont have to answer, she has this burning question she would love to know??? she's assuming that when you did the psychology course at bristol, it was called "experimental psychology Bsc" whereas majority of all uni offer "psychology Bsc" version you see this year the course at bristol changed to the latter no longer the experimental version. So back to her burning question :-
When you applied if it was called "experimental psychology" at the time did this effect you choosing it as oppose to just psychology bsc and did it live up to your expectations?

You see DD would have been super excited if it was "experimental psychology" as this is what she is very interested in, methodology testing, hypothisy driven experiments. She doesn't know wether they changed the course or just the name. No one does this course she knows apart from Oxford.
well dd hasn't been swayed by league tables as she thinks there not too much to tell them apart for all 3 uni, and to be fair there's different stats out there available to favour each uni if dig deep enough. Bath not being RG or have high world ranking reputation unlike bristol hasn't put her off them as she thinks is more to do with bath being quite a young university compared to the others on the list.
thanks orange in advance no need to answer if you want to remain confidential I understand.

Coffee I'm on my fourth round of helping my DC apply for Uni, I have found that a lot of Unis are not too forthcoming about how many DC actually get placements unless you ask directly. I don't think its always easy even for excellent students. I thought most placements were open to all eligible candidates.

My old department offered a couple of placements. The way it worked was that they sent details out to all the psychology BSc courses that had a placement year and all interested students applied and were interviewed. The best ones were offered the placements. I don't know if this is typical. One of the placements was paid but at a very low rate. The other one was unpaid. As far as I could make out, most of the students were doing other paid work alongside their placements to make ends meet.

Don't know if these two were in any way typical, though.

In Bath's case, this page says it's an assessed part of the programme so they must surely be doing their level best to get everybody onto some sort of placement?

Ok, I will try and answer your questions. Firstly, I'd also like to answer the question you didn't ask me, but asked someone else about experimental psychology. I think that is largely just the name. Any institution that has a research driven department, which all those 3 do, will be teaching psychology in a largely experimental way.

1. are the placements in psychology exclusively for the psych students or are they open to all the other depts.

This depends on the placement. The vast majority are only for psychology students, but there are a few placements you can apply for that are open to other departments as well, but it really depends on what you are interested in. Similarly, there are lots of placements that are open to students from any discipline (corporations etc) but that she wouldn't be allowed to do by the department, as for the psychology placement at Bath you HAVE to be supervised by a psychologist, as they feel that is how you will get the most from it, and so you can't just do the generic type placements that lots of students will do. I am fairly certain that Bath is unique in this.

2. would she have to compete for the placements with other university student around the country, would the placement jobs that are available also open to applicants nationwide.

This also varies. Some placements are open to students from other universities too, so you're most likely to be up against students from Cardiff, Surrey, or Kent, but there are also a lot of placements that will take Bath students in preference over those from other universities, or will only take Bath students, and if they don't get one just won't have a student that year.

3. Do any students that applied for placement don't get one? So they end up doing final year straight after? If they are unsuccessful with getting offer of a placement what are the typical reasons that you know of?

There are different courses offered by the university. If she has been offered a place on the course with placement then she will definitely get a placement. There are far more placements available than students on the placement year, so you are guaranteed to get one, and there is a placement officer who works only for the psychology department, whose job it is to source placements and help students get a placement, and that is her full time job. If she's on the placement course she will get a placement. They take a maximum of 100 students on the course with placement, and this year there are about 180 - 190 placement opportunities listed. For 2014 entry they also started offering the course without placement, so people on that branch won't do a placement and will go straight to their final year, but if she has an offer for the course with placement that is what she would be doing.

4. Does the placement help your final year on the course In any shape or form.

Yes. Most (although not all) students gather the data for their dissertation whilst on placement, or use data from the project they are working on during their placement etc. A few placements don't allow this, but it is unusual, and if that is something important to you then you can just apply for ones that will allow you to. Some placement providers are very, very helpful with dissertations and students return with them virtually completed, others come back with the data so they can go straight into writing up, and a few have to start from scratch (but that is a small minority). Placement providers aren't obliged to help with dissertations, but the vast majority do. Students are all required to write a report about their placement, which students in lower years can then look at to help them decide where to apply etc.

Let me know if she has any other questions - I'm happy to answer them, so either post here or PM me (I'm not procrastinating writing a lab report or anything.....!)

gasp thanks for your insight from your experience dd was curious to know wether some sandwich courses offered were just merely bolt on placements with only a few placements available related to the course the rest were normal jobs, plus some of her older friends who have graduated and took sandwich courses didnt quite realise the reality of how competitve it was to actually get a placement , applicants would go search for a job on a huge data base system that were available to vast amount of uni student, do a online test, go up down the country to attend company test centres to do more maths/critical reasoning test, team/group work test then spend time working on giving a presentation to the company if can pass that stage then get to have an actual interview and maybe a placement, most of there 2nd year were spent on that. Its long winded, can cost a fortune in train fares, for a handful of placement with 100's applying and do the same thing up to 10 times must be very disheartening for many If they can't get the job. So this was hence dd probing on Bath placement. She was weighing up this predicament since this seems to be the the norm with many degree with placements that universities offer. She wondered if it would be worth it. Or concentrate on the degree and try and get research skills within psych department and go from there.

penguin you did an amazing job answering dd questions thank you . You have answered her questions and much much more, she's so happy that many of her fears (she has raised above) aren't true for all placement degree And Bath are different and really go out there to help the students more employable. Yes she applied for the 4 years with placement so is relieved to hear that there is at least a 99% chance job is there and its in relevant field, having psychologist supervise is such a bonus too. DD is definatley more enthusiastic with Bath. When we visted I noticed that the student morale in the psyc dept seem to be quite high there, which I think is quite important makes the course more enjoyable . This I thought could be attibuted to the lecturers being more engaging with the students so make the course more enjoyable learning experience. Must be horrible going on a course where the morale is low and there was a general apathy in the air
penguin looks like your post might have just done the trick. I think dd is turning a corner at last! Thanks for taking the time out of your lab report. I really didn't want to step in and influence dd uni choice as it's life changing few years of her life, so happy the contributions here have given dd a more informed choice, relief all round.

V interesting thread...I'll try to come back and contribute tomorrow.

Yes please orla feel free any advice, contributions, experience things that dd might need to think about will be much appreciated.

I am glad the reply was helpful. I would say there is a 100% chance of her getting a placement if that is the course she is in - I don't believe there has ever been an occasion when someone has been unable to secure a placement. And they are insistent about them being in a relevant field. The placement system for the psychology course at Bath is different to a lot of places that offer placement, in that the usual seems to be that there is a year in which you can do a placement, but you are largely responsible for finding it yourself, and if you don't find one you just don't do one. On my course if you are on the placement course you start being prepared for it in 1st year - there are sessions with the placement officer, there is a placement conference where all the students currently on placement come back to the uni for an afternoon and you go and look around at all their posters and talk to them to get a better idea of the types of placements available, what you might be interested in, what their experiences have been like etc, plus there are the placement reports as I previously mentioned. Then by the summer at the end of your first year your CV has to have been approved by the placement officer. Then you start applying in the first semester of your second year, and most people seem to have their placements arranged before the start of the second semester. Some interviews are in person, some (like the overseas ones) are done via Skype. If she wants to do a research placement she wouldn't have any problems as there are literally dozens and dozens, all over the country, plus overseas. Some of them are working in really prestigious teams - Simon Baron Cohen at Cambridge takes placement students, as do many other Oxbridge professors, then some people go to Harvard every year, so there are some incredible opportunities if research is the route she wants to go down, and some of these will only taken students from Bath. So essentially as far as the placement is concerned, I really don't think there is anything at all she needs to worry about. Also, if she was particularly keen on spending time in Bristol or Exeter, both universities offer quite a few placements - having had a quick glance through it looks like Bristol offer 5 - 10 placements and Bristol have 15+. Some students also stay at Bath for their placement - obviously there are loads of staff in the department, and some of them are doing really interesting research, and they are lovely.

There's also a fairly new scheme whereby you can do voluntary research assistant work with a member of staff during the academic year. You find a staff member who is willing to take you on and then do a morning or afternoon (or longer if you have more time) working for them each week. There is a certificate once you reach 50 hours, and obviously it is great both for giving you more experience, and looking good on your CV.

All 3 departments are good, and all 3 courses are good from what I know about them - I am not going to just say that Bath is better than the others, because I don't know about that. However, I do think if she is fairly sure that she wants to work in psychology then Bath is the best choice because of the placement year. That is the reason why I went for Bath - I want to do clinical psychology, which is ridiculously competitive, and I felt like doing a placement year would be so useful for that. I don't know the statistics (although I have been told), but a significantly higher percentage of Bath psychology grads go on to work in psychology than is average for psychology grads, and I think that can probably be attributed to the placement year to a great extent. If she has any other questions about the course generally, or the uni, or more placement related things then just reply on here, or PM me and I can give you my email address to give her. Good luck with the decision - I am sure she will be happy wherever she goes, as they are all great departments.

penguin another brilliant inciteful post. The way you describe the placement process has really helped reassure dd that bath is the right place for her your above post has made her decision so much easier as she can see clearly how the placement system works and she's relived its not as daunting as one she was envisaging . The bath way, seems to really concentrate on making the psych degree work futher so that its a very good career investment, makes much more sense, with the career she's hoping to go into. She's super excited that there are so many research opportunities available and there is a good variety of places she can aspire and work hard to go to. She was so suprised to hear thats theres been opportunities to work with Simon Baron Cohen she has read so much of his work. You won't believe what a happy bunny she is tonight, She has that real gut feeling that bath is where she is going to feel nurtured, grow intellectually and as a person. Think that's what's been missing all along and she has been wanting to feel. Its such a relief. You've manged to fill all the holes and gaps that were niggling away. Many thanks penguin dd is so lucky you actually took the time and replied when you did.

Oh I am really glad I have managed to allay her fears and she's feeling closer to a decision! I'm just paying it forward really, as this time last year I was trying to decide where to go and was really, really torn between Bath and Kent, as I loved the feel of Kent when I visited, and hadn't been able to get to the Bath open day, so although I had seen it, it wasn't with the same type of feeling, and I was really struggling to decide which to go for, so I found a few recent grads and pestered them with questions! If she does go for Bath I really hope she's happy. Nowhere is perfect, but I have found all the staff at Bath really lovely and supportive, and they really do have some incredible placements available - I want to do all of them! I wandered around the placement conference like a child in a sweet shop! I will be a peer mentor to some of the psychology freshers next year, so if she does come to Bath she might be unlucky enough to be one of my mentees! In the mean time just message me if she has any more questions about the course, or the uni generally. Absolutely not still up because I've just finished the lab report I was putting off that is due in at midday

penguin dd would like to ask another question. When applying for halls at Bath is there a option of "quiet " rooms so to speak for those who don't want too much late night noise, or do you have any recommendations for quiter blocks. Dd isn't a killjoy but shes not really a social drinker, will drink but not really that bothered can take it or leave it. On the bright side at least dd is mentally moving in to Bath. is a good thing after all this indecisiveness, just needs to decide on a insurance now.

That is something I have struggled with this year - as a mature student I have a very different attitude to many of the students. Osborne House is the officially designated quiet hall, but I've heard mixed things about how quiet it is/isn't. It is right on the edge of campus so the only real noise should be from people living there - not outside noise. With all the other halls to a large extent it's luck in who else is in your flat and how quiet or noisy they are. The loudest is Norwood as it's above the SU, so definitely avoid that. Having quieter blocks is something some of us have brought up a lot this year, and the uni are apparently considering it, but whether they will have put anything in place for this year entry I don't know. I have struggled with living on campus this year - the convenience is wonderful but the noise has got to me at times.

penguin Thanks for the tip. The noise and general rowdiness is what dd is not looking forward to when she goes to uni, but I suppose is a necessary evil she will have to encounter where ever she goes. Its a shame they don't make a block that is strictly for people who genuinely want a quiet atmosphere. There must be students with religious or medical reasons who wont be interested or can have alcohol so would like to avoid social situation with those that do. I think dd will also struggle like you with this aspect, better get her mentally prepared so shes not too shocked, I was when i went to uni many moons ago, i liked my 7hr straight sleep so hated the distruption, but i was fotunate to be able to go home in the weekends as it was a local uni. DD has some good headphones with noise cancellation umm I think they will come to good use.

She could consider living off campus. I think Osborne is likely to be the quietest on campus, but as I said, it's hard to say as so much of it is luck. Polden Court would be worth considering, as at least 1 resident tutor lives there, so I assume she tries to keep a lid on it, but it's a reasonably large building so would depend on which part she was in, and it's also the most expensive. I couldn't agree more about having a quiet block. I'm in an all female house, and we have the reputation of being the quiet house in our row, but I still find it too noisy. I'm a decade older than the other freshers though, so have different priorities. There will be plenty of other students who aren't drinkers or clubbers - it just isn't always that easy to find them.

Sorry its taken me so long to reply. I was travelling back from a work trip to China and had a few days of r&r to take.

Your daughter wants to know about Experimental Psychology at Bristol. I am afraid I took my degree there many years ago and it was not called Exp Pysch then. However the degree was a BSc which meant that there was a lot of experimentation built into the course and as far as I know- most BSc psychology degrees in research led universities have this element built in.

I think penguin has answered many of the questions about placements. One thing I would stress about placement is that students have to treat it as if they are going for full on work interviews- they are competitive (even if they are only for Bath she is likely to have to compete with her cohort group) and the placement providers will select the student rather than vice versa. There is likely to be an interview and a full recruitment process.

I just wanted to add that IMO, Russell Group membership is a red herring, it really is. Bath has chosen not to seek to become a member and its particular emphasis on employability and smaller range of courses than the RG members makes it not really an appropriate group for Bath to be part of. RG has just become yet another marketing brand to add to the list in the pursuit of the A*AA students. It contributes little to the quality of teaching and learning at UG level.

Thanks orange dd feels more confident about the Bath placement scheme having the extra support and guidance is definatley a bonus, then it's up to her to try and get the job. Will be a good experience for her to get to grips with the realities of competing to get a job.
Its a very interesting topic orange you highlight about the brand that is RG uni. It seems to represent a kind of gold standard mark to what constitutes a "good" uni for those students who have high grades or those wanting to go to uni should aspire to go to. Wherever this has been fuelled by schools, employers, league tables or even parents. Probably bit of all of the latter. But it sure does makes thinking about what uni to apply to, quite hard to weigh up which best to pick and for whom. DD picked her uni according to her subject area to which they are highly regarded for as she would like to work in the field of research, so her logic was try and get into them in hope it might open doors to research opportunities or at very least give her some insight. If she wasnt going for specific psyc career but looking for a normal graduate job after her bsc I wonder if her logic to choosing her uni to apply to would be based on uni's that employers would most favour. I'm guessing statistics will probably be pointing to at least a 2:1 from RG uni, im hoping in reality/practice they aren't that cut throat about it. Think probably other uni outside it find it hard to compete with the RG brand in terms of power and influence. I can understand why it would be hard not to pick them if one is very worried about degree and job prospects.

Coffee My ds is at Bath and he lives in John Wood Court in the city centre. It is really quiet. It's not so convenient as he has to get the bus up to the campus, but I think it has suited him well - he's not interested in clubs or nightlife. It's a lovely location right in the centre of Bath.

Thanks lotsofplans your ds sound like my ds but boy version. Think dd should look more into this living in the city as a better viable option for her, also think for her being near cinema and shops she would like better than facilities on campus, although I have been told is good. Was it a more expensive option in comparision to living on campus if you don't mind me asking Eg rent, bus fares? to be honest getting a bus into uni wouldn't seem a hassle if the trade off meant she wouldnt have to endure too much noise and general shananagans that goes on.

penguin another question???? If you had your time again in your 1st year would you have chosen to live off campus? Thanks

Coffee He was allocated that halls because Bath was his insurance choice and they only guarantee accommodation on campus if you put them as your first choice. I don't think many choose to live off campus..

It's not more expensive than other halls, it's one of the cheaper ones. Some are catered with en suite etc. and very expensive!

It's probably not so easy to get involved with student activities, and I think they felt a bit out of things during Fresher's Week, but when all that died down, it's a nice place to live.

lotsofplansdd had a look online regarding John wood court accommodation she is very impressed, she thinks its just as good as those on campus, so its not compromised on that front. She would rather live in city centre, it would probably mean she won't have as many friendship circles but as she says as long as she meets some people like herself she doesn't think she will feel she's missing out on the action. So basically get over the first few weeks of fresher's, things will be calmer and she should feel better settled. As a mum my only worry is its too far for us to go and see her if she's feeling down or unhappy. But I guess they all get a bit homesick to begin with. Going to have to be strong and let her tough it out. It will be good for her in the long run.