Psychology

[bagandcoat]

If your dc did psychology A-Level, did they enjoy it on the whole?

And if they studied Psychology at uni, did the course meet the expectations and what sort of profession or further study did they go onto?

@LarissatheDragon

If you can share any factual information or rather than focusing on how ignorant you think I am, I'd appreciate it. You seem to have knowledge of this topic, so please feel free to contribute to the discussion and help those of us who are less familiar with psychology involved to learn more. Otherwise, I think it's best to leave it there.

I did my psychology degree in the mid 2000s and had no idea what I would do with it…turns out I became a Forensic Psychologist! Training places are very competitive but it is possible if either a) you are willing to work your way up slowly or b) you can pay to self-fund a doctorate (which still requires a decent amount of experience first). Bloody love my job (mostly).

The thing is, there’s not many degrees that will set you up straight for a job that will immediately be seen as worthwhile. There’s only a few I can think of and most are health or finance related. It’s not what you study but your plan and interests.

fuck me, I forgot how boring statistics was. Completely over my head. Lesson may as well have been in Greek. No inclination to learn. But the rest of it was amazing. I still read my text books and do deeper reading.

@bagandcoat That poster thinks everyone is less intelligent than she is! It’s very tedious. My friend did psychology as an adult and is now studying for a doctorate. Her thing is counselling. A neighbour’s DD raises money for a charity, and my niece with the same degree also works for a charity. I know my friend didn’t do the A level but the younger people did.

I think work experience matters with the degree and Bath is very good for this. Oxford is of course excellent and both are competitive to get into! Many grads don’t get NHS positions and too many dc want them. You almost certainly need a first and the best cv to move into nhs employment and further training it can be very slow as you need experience to progress.

I did psychology as a mature student. I didn't even have "O" level maths but I blagged it and no one ever asked for certificates in those days (mid 1980s) I did masters and doctorate in human computer interaction and went on to be an academic in the same field. Psychology was useful as a background discipline but I combined it with modules in anthropology and military studies. I don't know anyone in my cohort who went on to use their degree in a profession.

@Friendlygingercat And look at uni numbers back then! Far fewer. Psychology is now one of the most popular A levels. It’s considered an easier science! With the huge increase in numbers studying it, there’s even less chance of being a psychologist post 2030 when dc would graduate.

It’s definitely very competitive @MeetMeOnTheCorner- the DClinPsy clearing house website gives the odds of getting on a course by year and it’s on a slow downward trend, less than 20% of those who apply I think. But most people studying Psychology at undergrad don’t want to be psychologists so it’s not as bad as it looks, if you’re only going by the number of students doing the degree.

@crazycrofter Yes, that’s true but it doesn’t give an obvious “in” to stem jobs and therefore grads have stiff competition for the jobs that take humanities grads. Like many subjects, a cv needs extra elements to show the grad is employable. I don’t see a degree in psychology as a stem degree and therefore grads need an employment plan.

Yes that’s true, so it’s basically on a par with other humanities, languages etc degrees, although I think the stats and research methods elements could give an advantage for certain grad roles. It’s always about more than just the degree though, obviously. That’s just the baseline.

DD took A Level Psychology but found it very dull compared with her other A Level subjects. She said the exams were simply a regurgitation of facts rather than any applied knowledge. On the plus side, it was an easy A star but she loathed the subject by the end of sixth form. She went on to take an MBiol in Biology at Oxford.

DS did Psychology A level. He’s now doing Sport performance analysis and has found it useful in the terminology and theory of sports psychology. He found his first year just a repeat of his psychology and PE A levels so breezed through it. It’s essentially about research methods and some of the basic principals. There is a lot of memorising various studies in order to support ideas discussed in essays. DS found it interesting and it has definitely helped him in his field.

One of his friends has just completed a degree in criminal psychology and was hoping to join the police force but failed the entrance tests. He passed the academic stuff but failed the suitability test. He was also going to apply for the civil service but they are currently operating a strict positive discriminatory application policy so his private education means he can’t apply. He would make a wonderful police officer but is probably too much of a critical thinker. Hopefully the civil service will change their policy. I did suggest he becomes gender fluid but he has a deep bass voice and is built like a gladiator so would struggle. He is mixed race but I don’t think he’s even considered playing that card.

It’s the most popular subject at my school and it’s always well regarded. More maths than they expect usually and they’re not keen on that often (which is a third of the marks!) but they find the rest fascinating, often like doing a different subject.
it sits nicely between science and humanities in terms of question structures and exam prep.
I think if it’s delivered by a specialist it’s fantastic. If it’s someone fighting to keep up (was me for a bit mo longer thank god!! It’s a toss up whether the teacher is able to do it justice or not.

@LottieMary Never quite sure what well regarded means. By whom? It’s not recommended for the Psycholigical and Behaviour sciences degree at Cambridge for example. They strongly recommend three from Maths, FM, Biology, Chemistry or Physics. So dc should always bear in mind what universities say, especially if aiming high.

DS did Psychology A Level and it made him want to become a clinical psychologist. He did his degree, spent two years as an assistant psychologist and has just got a place on the clinical psychology doctorate course. He loves it.

He was also going to apply for the civil service but they are currently operating a strict positive discriminatory application policy so his private education means he can’t apply. … Hopefully the civil service will change their policy.

Hmmm? I am aware that the civil service is offering summer internships (which can be a strong route to the fast-track stream) to those who are from lower socio-economic backgrounds – bit of a blunt tool but maybe it will do some good – but I was not aware that YP who went to private school were not allowed to apply for the civil service at all? I'm somewhat sceptical about this tbh. But your comment about claiming to be gender fluid makes me wonder if this post is a bit tongue in cheek @Crwysmam so if so, apologies for taking it at face value!

I did psychology A level in the dark ages alongside chemistry & biology. Like any A level it suits a particular skill set. To do well at psychology a level you need to be good a formulating logical arguments and write reasonably well as well as being fairly numerate to be comfortable with research methods & stats. You have to learn a lot of theory & empirical studies. I think it suits 'all rounder' type students well. I enjoyed it, but i know it can be a bit marmite. Like a lot of a levels that arent commonly taught at KS4 it suffers from students not really understanding what it is about before they take it. They are often attracted to the clinical and forensic aspects, but these make up only a small part of the a level. Many students find things such as cognitive psychology dry in comparison. If a student is interested i would suggest looking up the syllabus and past papers online to get a feel for the reality.
As for how it is regarded by unis, I think well by most. Cambridge prefers others for the specific course mentioned, but most very selective social science courses are happy with psychology alongside other relavant a levels. It is often listed as an acceptable as a science or 'science adjacent' a level for many science, nursing or allied health courses. Students regularly get medicine offers with a bio, chem & psych combination. When I took it, it was rare. Now it is the second most popular A level. I can never find it easily, but UCAS has a tool where you can see the most common A levels taken. For biological, health related and social science courses (including highly selective ones) psych often pops up in the list.

What about psychiatric nursing?

If I were your DD I’d go into social work. Always a job at the end of that!

The other thing I would mention is that I think psychology degree courses are represented in a slightly skewed way on MN. Stats & bio aspects are a little over-emphasised. All BPS accreditated courses have to include the core areas. These include things like biological, cognitive and social psychology as well as research methods that will include both quantitative and qualatitive approaches. Students need to be numerate and happy to take on statistics, but a good grounding at GCSE level is fine for the vast majority of courses. If you hate maths or struggled with it then it isnt a degree course for you, but you certainly dont need to have studied A level maths to take psychology at degree level. If it is a strength it is a goid choice, but their are plenty of sound alternatives.

Beyond the core areas degree courses have different emphases and it is worth looking at this when choosing. Many academic psychologists focus on qualitative methodology and students final year research project can be qualitative. Some departments have dominant research groups that are biological and cognitive with quantitative methods predominating in others the main focus may be health or mental health with qualitative methodology being commonly used many departments have wide ranging groups. Groupings change over time, but they will influence the portfolio of options modules offered. You cant guarantee what exact options will be available in future years but you can get a feel of the 'flavour' of the department from the research groups and the types of taught masters offered.

Apologies - even more typos than usual. Early.

@LaBelleSauvage123 Those jobs are not possible for the vast majority of psychology degree holders who want the career though because of the competition. What university did he go to?

Professional doctorates (clinical, education & forensic) lead to a professional career as a psychologist. They are fiercely competitive. To stand a chance of acceptance you need a high 2:1 (preferably a first) and very significant voluntary and paid experience with relevant client groups. Sucessful applicants often build voluntary & paid experience during the course and have multiple paid positions as support assistants, assistant psychs & research assistant post graduation. Many will ave relevant taught masters. You need academic credentials & experience plus bags of resilence & drive. In the application process you have to demonstrate a very broad range of charecteristics and talk about how you applied psychology during your work experience. University attended is not the key factor.

A psychology degree isnt directly vocational you need a sucessful doctorate application to become a psychologist. While the odds are long it (or a postgrad conversion).are an essential starting point.

Many psych students go on to jobs and careers that use the skills developed, but dont require psychology specifically. Employability is similar to other social science degrees. Students need to be realistic that becoming a psychologist is only going to be possible for a very small minority of graduates.
For students who want to work in the area of mental health or learning difficulties there are less competitative options which will require a postgrad degree or further in work training (social work, mental health nursing, access to psychogical thearapies practioner). Some are only open to those with a psych degree, some are an accelerated pathway & some like social work are open to all.

There are also health, occupational and counselling routes into being a professional psychologist. Also very competitative.
Being a counselling psychologist requires a professional doctorate - different from being a counsellor.

@MeetMeOnTheCornerdd and I have been stalking trainee clinical psychologists on LinkedIn for the last four years 😂 - hundreds of them - so she can get an idea of what’s required. @Owlbookendhas set it out well, in terms of experience needed - but uni attended does not seem to be at all relevant. There are lots of former polys represented. They all have to have a BPS accredited degree of course.

I did a psychology a level and really enjoyed it

I’m now a psychiatrist (not a psychologist) so indirectly use it every day