DS is in his final year of an Extended Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science and has applied to university for 2025 entry.
He, like most on his course, found the Sports Psychology module in the first year really interesting. Many of his classmates looked at studying Sports Psychology at BSc but were eventually put off by the rather limited career prospects for this very specialist undergraduate course.
In the end, DS has applied for Sport and Exercise Science. Most of these degree courses are accredited by BASES whereas the Sports Psychology ones are accredited by the British Psychological Society.
Many , if not most, of the S&ES courses offer multiple modules in Sports Psychology over several years. The psychology of sport has huge overlap with the physiological effects and nutrition so I’d be wary of specialising too much at undergraduate level.
In terms of Universities, everyone always suggests Loughborough. It’s a bit like suggesting Imperial for engineering or Warwick for maths. If you’re not A*AA, or competing at national level, forget it.
The best thing to do is attend plenty of open days. Some unis have really good sports facilities, but the actual sports science labs seem like an afterthought - shoved into a dark, dingy basement or a broom cupboard in a sports centre designed only for its competition facilities.
Some universities (such as Surrey) offer only one sports course within a Health/Medicine faculty and so the range of optional modules is limited and the course more focused on heath/exercise rather than elite performance.
As far as employment prospects go, I am yet to be entirely convinced. There are several courses that offer professional qualifications as part of the S&ES courses (level 2 gym instructor and level 3 Personal Trainer) so look out for these. I’m not sure if anything like this would be available on a Sports Psychology course. These are really entry level qualifications, but I get the impression that many who don’t go down the postgraduate qualifications route have to start in fairly entry level roles.
In summary, I think Sports Psychology at undergraduate is too specialised and job prospects at BSc level would be very limited.