Best universities for Psychology

[Sugarandtime]

My child is considering university to study psychology.
At the moment they are thinking Reading or Surrey but as there are no in person visits it’s hard to decide.

What universities do you all recommend to study Psychology for a sensitive child?

Any that are BPS accredited.

Nottingham
Birmingham

Children of friends who are studying psychology always talk about the courses at Exeter, Cardiff and Sussex as being especially good.

Apparently depends on the emphasis and sometimes the facilities. My friends daughter wants to do research psychology in sleep studies and picked Warwick

I did psychology at Surrey because it had the placement year, it worked out really well for me doing that!

Surrey is a lovely campus uni as well, loved my time there.

Any that are BPS accredited. Possibly something with good transport links (you say they are sensitive- they may like to visit home frequently). Get them to think about what they want to use Psychology for- forensic, clinical, educational reasons? Health? Which course has the best psychology groups in the area they want?

Where is the most fun/ cheapest to live?

I’d ask carefully about size of cohorts. Nottingham is about to have a second intake of double their normal size and aren’t staffed to deal with it. Exeter has been taking in cohorts of a similar size (4-500) for some time so probably will offer a better student experience.
Would also say that BPS accreditation is the entry point and needs a lot more consideration beyond that. Very few Psychology grads become psychologists so what careers support is available? Do they teach coding in a useful language to help with transferable skills?

Thank you all so much, I really appreciate it.. I will pass all the info on to my child.

A friend's child was deciding between Bath and UCL in the end. She really loved both those courses.

Definitely look at the research groups. Each psych dept will have its own strengths and may better than the university as a whole. There's a social psych group at Kent for example which is outstanding.

Plymouth has a good 4 year placement psychology degree. I know a few Ed Psychs who trained there who speak very highly of it.

I know someone who went to Birmingham, had a great time, loved the course. But wasn't offered a place for post-grad there as competition was too fierce.
It's tough to make it as a psychologist unless you are seriously top performing on the course. Hugely competitive - don't let that put her off, but it's worth being aware of it.
This person is now in their first job as an assistant psychologist. But it has taken best part of 5 years after finishing the degree to get to that point.
Good luck!

Sensitive in what way though? With regards to environment or topic? What is their long term plan work wise?

She needs to think about what she wants it to lead to... actual work in psychology? Or a degree to get into a management type job in any field? Or if she is very sensitive is it for personal "healing"?

For actual work in psychology (many types... medical, sleep, occupational, educational, child, etc etc etc etc) then a degree with placement year is useful.

A relative was a senior psychologist and psychology lecturer - he said that he preferred students that were older and had ‘done something else’ beforehand.

It may also worth looking at universities that offer the Msci in psychology with the option of undergraduate masters funded by student finance

Agree on the placement year and also look for departments that offer students the chance to work on research along the lecturers - often quite menial work but good experience!

Cohorts for psychology are huge everywhere.

Dundee. Apparently they offer BA and BSc, the Bsc is particularly well respected, or was when my sister went there years ago.

Small city, easy to get around, very social as it’s quite small and most get uni accommodation.

Always, always go for the BSc in psychology. It covers statistics and neuro. Both of which are needed to get graduate membership for the BPS. I've just applied for jobs in this area and they have all wanted proof of BPS graduate membership.

You’ve all been very helpful. Thank you

@Rachie20

I’d ask carefully about size of cohorts. Nottingham is about to have a second intake of double their normal size and aren’t staffed to deal with it. Exeter has been taking in cohorts of a similar size (4-500) for some time so probably will offer a better student experience. Would also say that BPS accreditation is the entry point and needs a lot more consideration beyond that. Very few Psychology grads become psychologists so what careers support is available? Do they teach coding in a useful language to help with transferable skills?

I know this is rather an old post now but I just wondered if you knew anything more about this as DD is considering the Nottingham psychology course for this September! Double the size sounds a bit scary?!

Definitely do a BSC