Work Experience to support Psychology aspirations?

[MotherOfGirls]

DD is in Year 11 and thinking of studying Psychology at uni. Planning to do AS Biology, PE, Psychology and Geography and I am wondering what sort of work experience she should look to do over the summer, before 6th Form, which might help a UCAS application. Any thoughts?

Hi there,

Unless you have family connections in the professional services linked to psychology, I think you may have problems getting a specific psychology relevant placement for her. The few placements that might be available are usually reserved for 6th formers.

However, psychology is such a broad subject, any placement where she may be in a helping capacity would be useful. Even working in a charity shop, where she would be part of a team of differently aged helpers, working with often the poorest members of society would give her something to discuss on her personal statement. Encourage her to follow her own interests, because these will be most relevant to her. Contact your local volunteer organisation to find out if there are any interesting positions she might like to apply for. Some examples of useful areas could include:
Visiting the elderly - in retirement homes/ care homes
Working with young children - play groups/ nurseries/ play schemes
Sporting activities - summer schemes/ clubs etc.
Cadet force - armed forces/ police/ fire service
Scouts/ guides etc

Also, don't discount the idea of summer visits to museums, galleries etc.
Because psychology is the scientific study of mental processes & behaviour, you can draw it into nearly everything!

Thank you - that's really useful. Lots of good ideas there. She is a real animal lover so I guess even working with a rescue could be helpful, in the same way as a charity shop could.

I am wondering what sort of work experience she should look to do over the summer, before 6th Form, which might help a UCAS application.

I seriously doubt that work experience will make a blind bit of difference to an application for psychology. It's not medicine or veterinary, which carefully read personal statements in order to decide who to interview, and then actually do interview with work experience part of the stuff involved in proving you want to be a doctor/vet. Psychology is just another science, and either she has the GCSEs/ASes, gets an offer of whatever at A2 and meets it, or she doesn't. They don't interview, and it's unlikely that personal statements make a huge difference either. Central admissions will just make an offer based on past qualifications, and maybe pass a few borderline ones to the department. And if you're applying to Oxbridge, they don't give a toss about work experience (other than, again, for medicine and vetting).

It's just about possible that with very, very borderline GCSEs there might be a university, somewhere, which cares about work experience when applying for science degrees, but it would be very unusual.

That's interesting, friday16. DD1 had communications from universities she applied to for Sports Science which showed they had certainly read her personal statement - which was reassuring, given the hours which went into it. It is quite depressing to think work experience and anything else they do outside school to make themselves better candidates is completely ignored in the application process.

It is quite depressing to think work experience and anything else they do outside school to make themselves better candidates

That is rather begging the question of whether work experience does make someone a better candidate. I don't think that's at all obvious in the general case. You're being admitted to an academic course, so your academic history is going to be pretty much front and centre in the decision.

The point about medicine is that they're interviewing you both for a degree and for a job: your clinical placements are an inherent part of your MBChB, and therefore before starting you on the one they want to be reasonably confident you can do the other. But at the other end of the spectrum, what would be a better proof of your facility for doing a Maths degree than an A in Maths, an A in Further Maths, maybe an A* in Additional Further Maths and possibly whatever-the-top-mark-is in STEP Maths? That you've got DofE Gold, Grade VIII Flute and volunteer in a McMillan shop isn't wildly relevant, is it?

I agree with friday16 that work experience will be less crucial for getting into a psychology degree than some other courses. But if she is interested in actually working as a psychologist after university, then work experience is crucial. Clinical psychology is hugely competitive, for example, and applicants work very hard to get relevant experience. So I'd be looking for work experience now that will help her get better work experience in the future. Anything that could be classed as 'caring' e.g. with children or the elderly would be good. If she might be interested in work-related (occupational) psychology, then anything that is exposing her to the world of business would help. For example, I am an occupational psychologist, and the most useful summer job I had was working on the production line of a Tommee Tippee factory!

As an admissions tutor of social sciences, I routinely ignore the vast majority of work experience and other extra-curricular activities on UCAS forms. These say much more about the social background of the applicant than their academic abilities. Thus it would be unfair to make these part of the assessment process.

The only time that they make any difference is for mature students who are seeking entry on the basis of work-related skills.

I also agree that a work-experience placement may not be so relevant to access a Psychology degree. However, it might help to confirm her interest in the area, or, to find another area that interests her more. So long as it doesn't impede her studies, it's not going to do her any harm, and it may make the difference if she applies to a uni where they're specifically looking for well-rounded candidates, with something to offer the community.

Between now & Y13 when she applies for uni, a lot can change e.g. she may not enjoy the psychology A level course as much as she thinks she will. The more experience that she has had of the world of work, the better she will know what she likes & doesn't like, as well as exposing her to situations that will give her some maturity. Saturday jobs, holiday jobs, voluntary work etc are all good. If she loves animals, a stint in your local vets or zoo would interest her too. Wherever she goes she will experience a workplace & working with other people, as well as possibly dealing with members of the public.

When she comes to apply to uni, make sure she applies for a British Psychological Society accredited degree - see www.bps.org.uk - or she won't be able to go on to do professional training in psychology.

In general, for academic degrees (which psychology is), you are trying to show an academic interest in the subject. It's a good idea to show you have an interest in the subject outside of studying it at A-level, so things like extra reading, and maybe attending open lectures can help an applicant. However, it's not really worth worrying about until Y12.

The thing is, when you apply for a psychology degree, you are not applying for a job. You are applying to study a degree. A PS is not the same as a CV at all and needs to demonstrate different things to the reader.

That is not to say she shouldn't do some work experience, as it will benefit her later on, when she is looking to get a job. If she can get some psychology related work experience because you know someone who can help her do this, then it will help her decide on a career after she has completed her course.

Thanks everyone. So while it is less important than I thought for her PS, it still makes sense for her to get some experience of related work areas. Thanks for the link to bps.

I think there is a danger of losing sight of what the purpose of work experience actually is.

Imho it is not about setting a pupil up for a particular career, I don't believe a pupil who managed to get work experience in a vets should possibly be advantaged over a pupil whose experience was in a car showroom.

To me the value of W.E. is getting out of the classroom environment and immersing in an adult environment, dealing with adults and seeing adults doing their jobs and accepting responsibility for what they do.

If someone applying to be a vet only has experience of working in a car show room they will not even get a sniff off getting on a vet med course! As most psychology students do not get psychology jobs it is less important. I would try and do some volunteering experience though as it does make for a more rounded person. Even if the admissions tutors do not care, a future employer might.

If someone applying to be a vet only has experience of working in a car show room they will not even get a sniff off getting on a vet med course! LittleSiouxieSue

That is probably true, but then I am referring to the week that many secondary schools place students within local businesses. If a student is able to arrange longer term experience in an appropriate environment, of course that should be viewed differently.

I'm sorry if that wasn't clear from my post

I was going to say that DS1 has just applied to do psychology and he definitely has to go to at least one interview!