Psychology - where to apply?

[EducatedElephant]

DS is struggling to narrow to 5.

Pretty sure on
Bath
Loughborough
Warwick

also likes
Manchester
Nottingham
York

Predicted grades AAA (or A* AA)
GCSEs 6-8s

Any thoughts or insights into any of the above welcomed please….

Not sure if OP has expressed that DS wants to go onto clinical psychology but if he does, I would definitely recommend the placement year as they can build up experience as well as contacts in the local NHS trust which helps enormously. Getting as much experience as possible before graduating (with a 2:1) is likely to be more beneficial than having a first with no experience. I am a clinical psychologist and regularly interview for assistant psychology posts, and my department has several trainee clinical psychologists on placement. My current trainee did her undergrad at Surrey and the AP was at Exeter. Not the easiest career to get into but very worthwhile!

It’s not snob value at all. It would be ridiculous to go to a less prestigious course if you don’t need to especially in a sector where jobs in that sector are hard to come by. Employers will rightly or wrongly prioritise students from universities higher up the league tables.

my dd is studying a different subject at a university ranked 5th in the world for her subject. The course leader said if they pass they will not struggle for work, again in a very competitive sector. She’s previously studied at a much lower ranked university and said the teaching, the support, the opportunities are night and day.

Plus it’s 100% a fact that teaching will be aimed at the majority. So an AAA student may well not be stretched with material aimed at CCC students

Yes, I was aware, but I believe when it comes to PhD level study, there are actually even more differences beyond the 2 you name, which include neuroscience, forensic psychology, educational psychology etc etc etc.

Wow! Thank you all so much for all the replies. I really appreciate the time you’ve taken to share insights. I’ve just read them all through in one go as I’ve only just finished work - but will read through them again more carefully later this evening and tomorrow.

To answer some initial questions that jumped out…DS isn’t after clinical psychology. He’s set on an accredited course to ensure he has the most valuable psychology degree to keep future options open but at the moment (this could change over the coming years) he’s most interested possibly aiming to get into Educational Psychology.

A levels are Economics, Psychology, Politics (and an EPQ).

Sounds like GCSE results may prevent an offer from Bath then based on replies above. No 9s and only three 8s. The rest were 7s and one 6. Bath were particularly impressive at the open day by way of the support they give to secure placements. That was their biggest USP to us. He is set on a course with a placement year to hopefully help improve future employment prospects.

And yes, he is aspiring to the best University (that he likes) that he can get into. He’s done so much research you wouldn’t believe. This thread is a Mum thread. He doesn’t know I’ve posed. This is part of MY research as occasionally parents can throw additional insights into the melting pot and I find Mumsnet great for gems of information or considerations we may have missed or just not known about.

Regarding Cardiff - this seemed equally good to those on his current shortlist (although we didn’t pick it up as better from his research so perhaps we have missed something) but he’s not keen on the location so ruled it out as he had to rule some out. Given he’s struggling to get down to 5 he had to knock some off from the ones he felt were equally good. Anything in the top 10-20 on CUG highly ranked for psychology has been researched. Once he got to a list of “top” Universities with course modules he felt were right, highly rated for his subject, positive feel at open days, good employment figures then all sorts of things were used to knock some off or keep some on - travel time to home, travel time to other key (to him) locations, chats on open days, chats with staff, feedback from students online, places that felt like that had like minded students and many more that are not front of mind!

He has mentioned the consideration of continuing to a doctorate but he hasn’t shared that research in depth with me.

Additional thoughts and replies now I’ve answered some questions are warmly welcomed. Thanks for all your time.

We’ve been extremely impressed by Liverpool. It’s accredited, challenging, great teaching but heavy on stats

He’s weird! Stats are part of the subject he finds easy and actually quite enjoys 😅

Mine loves the stats side too but some of their friends don’t

Nottingham is also quite heavy on stats/coding etc in the first two years; much more choice in years 3 and 4.

@EducatedElephant York doesn’t have a placement year option?

And just to flag that those with a placement year sometimes have a higher requirement than the 3 year degree, so sometimes at least 1 predicted A* is needed at the more selective uni’s …the UCAS tool for seeing how many at each grade level are made offers, can be useful.

It has placements that run concurrently with study in the 3rd yr of a 4 yr MSci. I think I already said that on this quite short thread...

@EducatedElephant I don’t think you have said that?my DD has discounted York specifically because it doesn’t have a placement year (and I can’t find anything about placements on the MSci course details)?

@EducatedElephant they do research projects but it doesn’t state placements?

You said this but not the op (sorry op i missed tagged you) is your child there at the moment?

Such great advice. I have a niece at Bath and a DD considering psychology doing a levels, so following with interest.

Yes, she just started her 1st yr of a 4 yr Msci. She was told it by a professor. I'm not sure everything is on the website, which is why I suggested going to an open day and signing up for a course specific talk.

@KittyMacNitty its not the same as a placement year though because placement years are charged at a reduced cost and there is no academic content or exams whereas the 3rd year MSci at York is full charge and has a number of academic modules and exams / coursework. It’s a really great course but they obviously have to pack masters content in to the 4 years - a BSC with a placement year offers a different experience as it’s designed to put theory into practise for the whole academic year . If there were actual lengthy placements then they would very likely state this as this is what attracts people to certain courses.

I appreciate everything you say. I would add that while cost is not part of the equation for every student choosing a place to study, that the placements are York are actually paid positions, so I don't know if you were aware of that. I also think given they are currently #5 in the UK for Psychology, that they're not having much trouble attracting strong applicants with high A level grades.

My DD is also hoping to start a Psych degree next year and has offers in from Loughborough, Sheffield, Birmingham and Keele. We’ve looked round them all (essential as they’re so different and she vetoed some of her “favourites” after visiting). The courses are all very different even tho all are BCP accredited so again, need to look at these carefully. All hers have an option to do 3rd year in industry but some look more into this than others. Loughborough’s year out looks particularly well organised and Keele has creative placement options even if only doing the 3 years without a year “out”. Some of Loughboroughs placements are paid and some not. We found out on the open day that Keele also has no exams which is appealing for DD…. Loughborough is very good for Psych and colleagues who are Ed Psychs which is what she’s interested in have said all her choices look good.

Thank you for the reply. What was her Loughborough offer? Os she applying grades in hand or sitting her exams this academic year?

She’s sitting her A-Levels this year but her college make them apply early so she already has her offers in and Loughborough’s is AAB. I think it’s her favourite course. She liked how geared up they seem for placements and the range of module options.

That’s great that she’s got her form in and offers back so early. Well done her.

Loughborough is a real favourite here too. Did she get any rejections or is she still waiting to hear from anywhere?

DS has sent his off but it’s with school now to do their reference.

Even when offers are back the next challenge is deciding a firm and insurance and that’s not going to be easy either!

All offers in apart from the integrated masters at Birmingham which is a slightly different process apparently. I think her firm will be Loughborough unless she absolutely loves Birmingham (open day this month) and gets an offer for the masters and her insurance will be Keele which she also loved and has a low offer at BBC. It’s made her feel so much less anxious to have a lower offer in the bag!

Could you possibly link to that tool? I looked and could not find it (im v short sighted, in my defence!)

I don't see how the marerial would be different -presumably they'll be using much of the same core texts and articles everywhere.

Students may interpret these with varying levels of sophistication but I doubt what they're actually studying is that different.