Which uni for psychology with A * A A year 12 results

[Rainydaysgetmedown]

DD has just got A * A A for her year 12 exams and wants to apply for psychology. Wasn’t expecting this so I think she will probably have a realistic chance of applying most places. Any suggestions: she doesn’t want any London uni’s, Leeds or Nottingham. I can’t see her in somewhere like Exeter. Don’t think GCSE’s are good enough for oxbridge, all 7’s, and not currently doing maths or biology A level. She’s keen on Bristol or Liverpool and that’s about as far as we have got.

@Martinisarebetterdirty Oxford want 2 science A levels. They make it clear that their courses are scientific. So DD here would be wasting her time.

Psychology is offered at loads of places. It’s hugely popular. However few degree holders become psychologists. So what does she realistically want? Then choose where she would like to study bearing in mind her qualifications, interests and whether city, semi rural or campus.

@TizerorFizz did you mean to tag me or @Rainydaysgetmedown ?
The talk of SPSS brings back memories! I was there 20 years ago but we had to pass a statistics module and work things out and remember formula which is why I mentioned the maths element.

@TizerorFizz that's not correct about Oxford. My dd is in year 1 of a Psychology degree, so we looked fairly recently and I've just double checked. They offer Experimental Psychology and a course called Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics. On their website they indicate under entry requirements things that are either essential, recommended or helpful. For both courses, marked recommended (but not essential, unlike other unis!) it says 1 or more science (including Psychology) or Maths.

It may be true that their course is scientific, but they're not even making 1 science essential, let alone 2, so unless their website is misleading it doesn't need to be ruled out.

SPSS terrified me 😁

We did have exams on stats, it was knowing which statistical tests to use in a given scenario. T-tests, ANOVA etc...

That exam caused me nightmares. God knows how but I got a 2:1 result in it.

I LOVED SPSS when at masters they used R stats. R is a nightmare, it's basically coding and if you are not of that persuasion then it's like trying to write research papers in Japanese when you don't speak a word of it.

Even the Dr's delivering the modules said they hated it, never used it and consider it pointless to psychology stats as there are much more user friendly packages available. It was out of their hands though.

Because yes, psychology in practice does not use stats and again, not a lot of people with psychology degrees ever work in the field.

I really wanted to use qualitative and thematic in my dissertation as I knew I'd find it much easier (and I think you actually get more meaningful data with psychology but it's got the obvious limitation of a small sample size).

In the end my RQ really needed to be done quantitatively. But at UG they're not after anything groundbreaking so I got away with fairly basic statistical testing like T-tests. The bottom line is that the only statistic that is ever truly meaningful is the p value of any test you run. Are your findings statistically significant or not?

I did do qualitative at masters. More time consuming but you're getting real experiences from real people who take time to speak to you and where you identify themes and extrapolate on what they could mean. Quantitative is often nothing more than a likert scale where people just randomly tick a box without thinking about it. Ok, so it's still data but you never truly know if it's genuinely representative of a population or if some first year who wants a few brownie points (what's it called when students in lower years do them? There's a name for it and it helps with their grades if they take part? It's escaped me) has just clicked randomly without even reading any of it!

@crazycrofter My apologies. However at Oxford, I can see it says highly recommended. Did you DD have no science? One, or two? I tend to think “highly recommended” is taken by most students to do at least one science, and preferably two, to be competitive on a course that says it’s scientific. T

These are the most common subjects studied for PPL at Oxford. With additional data showing success rates.

Also 8/9 grades at gcse for successful applicants are a mean of 8.79. Obviously the choice is up to DD but I’m not sure it’s worth it.

My understanding of Oxbridge entry is that Oxford tends to use GCSE grades to help work out who to interview; Cambridge interviews a higher proportion of applicants. But that might not follow for all courses just the ones I've heard about.

My niece is studying psychology at Glasgow and enjoying it. Minor panic when she realised the computing she had to learn - but it was fine. I think she did Psychology, Geography and DT A levels so neither maths or biology. Not sure what her GCSEs were but a mixed bag potentially similar to the OPs daughter. She did however get an A* in a highly relevant EPQ. Her A level predictions were lower than being discussed here; but in the end she did better by I think at least 2 grades! I can't recall where her other offers were from.

Could she take Level 3 Core Maths alongside her 3 A levels in Y13? Some unis give lower offers in Psychology if you achieve a min grade in Core Maths too. Particularly Bath, Sheffield, York but there are others too.

Where are Dc finding in depth info about course content? Everywhere I’ve nosied at seems very general …

My Dd had similar predictions and got an offer from Durham but not York. At the open day at York they went very heavily on the sciences and although she met their requirements I wonder if they favoured students with eg biology.

She also liked Surrey and DH who is an academic but different subject was very impressed with them. That's her reserve but she was genuinely thinking of putting it as first option.

She needs maths or a science for Oxford, or really both to have a realistic chance.

Our old babysitter read psychology at Bristol, graduating last year, and really raves about it- both the course and the city.

So so true

I studied psychology at Sheffield University and loved it, the department, the city … though it was a looooooong time ago 😆

@DorotheaDiamond Some universities give year by year details of core and possible options. Bristol usually does from what I’ve seen. There is a button that says: “Go to programme catalogue”. Sheffield has a lot of detail too.

So look to see if other university course pages include similar. They are usually in addition to the overview. Bristol is also good at saying if they look at GCSEs. They usually do. Also how they use the PS: they might. Do not accept MN wisdom that they don’t matter. On some competitive courses these elements do matter. So check it out.

It sounds like she may want a campus uni? In which case Warwick or Lancaster are both good shouts.

Can I hijack with another question - is there any way to work out which courses are for Dc who want to be psychologists long term vs doing the degree but don’t want to practise?

Well if they're not accredited then their students will struggle to find work as Psychologists.... But you can't therefore assume that those on accredited courses all want to be Psychologists. So no!

Joining the BPS used to be discretionary. It's not expensive and you do get an extra five letters after your name! But jobs in the sector are now calling membership an essential, not a desirable.

Maybe because you have to have an accredited degree, I don't know. Mine has lapsed.

DD's friend applied for Psychology last year with predicted 3 A stars. She didn't get offers from four of her choices (Cambridge, Kings, Bath or Bristol). She is in Nottingham now.

The core parts of undergraduate psychology degrees are pretty similar as they all have to deliver the BPS curriculum to get accreditation. The option modules are where you get the differences - and you can get a flavour of those (if they’re not listed) by looking at the range of research interests of the staff. Some departments and courses are very narrow- so if it turns out she doesn’t like the specialism she’ll be limited when it comes to dissertation time. But as the courses are also pretty similar, where she wants to live is a big consideration.

@Hattifatteners can't believe it was so competitive last year! This really worries me as my DD is going to apply Psychology this year, hasn't submitted Ucas yet as still indecisive which Unis to apply.

@Hattifatteners It might depend what subjects the A levels were. Also, at Cambridge, test results. Bath and Cambridge are fussy and results are just part of what they want to see.

It’s very clear not all students on psychology courses want to practice. Many courses are accredited but some clearly take lesser grades than others. Even 7 years ago, 75,000 were studying psychology in the uk. Looking at entry requirements and numbers tells you not all courses are competitive but getting to be a psychologist will be. One in every 24 undergrads is studying psychology.

Don’t worry too much. DD did apply and she has quickly had 3 offers from RG unis plus a hold from Bristol. She’s only waiting on one uni to get back to her