If chosen degree course is accredited by the professional body...

[SausageCrush]

Then does Dd still need to shop around or are they basically going to be the same and she should just concentrate on finding a place she'd really like live?

She is currently in L6 and wants to do psychology. She's already shortlisted those that are accredited and we're debating how many we'll actually be able to visit with the current restrictions.

Thank you in advance for your input.

I did a different course but 60% of it was dictated by the accreditation so there were differences. Being happy where she will live for a few years is really important so needs to be thought about as well as the course content.

Being accredited by the BPS means the course will meet the ‘level 1’ criteria for chartership. There will still be variations in universities and courses. She should consider reputation (or what employers think is a university with a good reputation) as well as where she would like to study.

Good luck.

Thank you both.
Peter - how do we find out what employers think?
She's been studying the 'complete guide' but it can make your eyes bleed after a while!

BPS accreditation of psychology courses is not the prescriptive. Each degree course has to teach a certain set of 'core' subjects, but otherwise each course is different.

Oh goodness that’s a difficult question! Most employers will probably have the same assumptions about university reputations as most people do (oxbridge, red brick, old universities vs old polytechnics). That’s not to say that any of those views are correct or correspond to good teaching for a particular subject like psychology.

Employers that specifically employ psychologists may have other ideas about universities that have good psychology courses. But I am not sure which they might say are good. Sorry.

Where is she looking, and what's her long term career goal?

@SausageCrush dd is year 11 so things may change, but she's thinking along the same lines. It's probably worth having a look at the league tables for Psychology. If she wants to qualify as a clinical/educational psychologist, she'd need to get on the very competitive DPsych course. I would assume that at least a 2:1 from one of the more highly regarded Psychology courses would be required.

They are all different though. For example, Cardiff do a course under the Social Sciences department which is still BPS accredited but the modules are quite different - off the top of my head, I can't recall the name. So it's worth looking at league tables, modules and also of course thinking about location.

Thanks again.

Dd is pretty set on a 4 year course, including a year in industry. This has the advantage of closing the otherwise limitless options!

She's already poured over the league tables and has a list of possibilities which roughly correspond to her expected grades. They include (in order of perceived preference) Sussex, Cardiff, Loughborough, Kent, Reading & Keele.

As yet she's not sure about longer term goals, but is really interested in the research side of psychology.

She had arranged work experience within the psychology dept of our local uni this July, which would have been excellent, but is not sure if that will go ahead now due to the current restrictions

Looks like she's done her research! I would say to really think long and hard about what she wants to do post graduation. To work in psychology she is almost certainly going to have to do post graduate study, and competition is brutal. I have come across lots of young psychologists who have had to retrain/re focus on a different goal after their undergrad degree. That's not to say she shouldn't go for it, but she should have a really clear plan about her goals and how she might achieve them, from day one.

As a very biased aside, I did my undergraduate degree at Keele, and it's a dream of a place to study, if she like a campus based uni!

My daughter is doing a psychology degree (has just finished her 2nd year) and found that the basic content of all the ones she looked at was much the same. Where they mainly differed was in the options for a 4th year. Some now offer an integrated masters in 4 years. Some offer a BSc in 4 years, with a year abroad or industry/NHS.

My daughter was originally thinking of a 4 year course but has now decided to stick with three. Her career plans have changed since starting the course and whilst it's good to have a plan, I think many students will change their mind during their studies.

Cardiff is the only one on your list that my daughter had on her radar but she didn't apply there in the end as she decided she wanted a campus university.

The basic content is much the same so as long as the course confers the Graduate Basis for Registration it wont matter. What will matter most in terms of post grad competition is getting a first.

Look up the clearing house website for clinical psychology to get an idea of who gets onto clinical training.

Thank you again for all your useful input.

I am delighted Dd decided early on what 'her' subject was and she has spent the last few years volunteering and getting work experience that will enhance her chances of acceptance at the university of her choice.

Several of her friends still have no idea what they want to study, so she has been lucky so far.

She knows how popular and competitive psychology is, and hasn't been put off.