Help, DD not happy with A-level choices, now wants to do psychology…

[IsNothingSacred1234]

DD is halfway through year 12. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do when she chose her A-levels. She was considering law or joining the police but did have an interest in psychology.

I steered her towards more facilitating subjects in order to keep her options open. She’s now doing history, English lit and sociology.

She’s become more and more interested in psychology. Some of the degree courses she’s looking at want her to have psychology A-level but her school won’t let her swap.

I feel awful for steering her away from the A-level and making it harder to get onto a degree course.

What could she do? An online A-level along side her current ones?

*swap Sociology for Psychology

The maths point is very valid as, even at A level, those doing psych without maths found the maths element challenging. I agree foundation year sounds a good option.

Uni lecturer in psychology here, and I agree that the maths is important, and so is a liking for science. Psychology is a science, and she'll be doing experiments and writing them up as part of her course.
Also, as others have noted, the British Psychological Society requires certain course content, and that means all degrees have to cover the more biological aspects of psychology - e.g. what different parts of the brain do, how neurotransmitters work etc - hence why you see A Level Biology in some degree course requirements.

I also agree with PP that if she is going to do Psychology at degree level, it'd be good to make sure the degree is British Psychological Society approved and will give her "graduate basis for chartered membership". Without that, she won't qualify for a number of the postgrad level training courses (e.g. clinical psych, organisational psych, counselling psych, educational psych, forensic psych) that many people go into psychology wanting to do.

One thing that's not been mentioned is that a number of unis offer postgrad psychology conversion courses for people who didn't do undergrad psychology but now realise they want a career which requires graduate basis for chartered membership. Here's a list: www.bps.org.uk/public/become-psychologist/accredited-courses?type=CONV&status=C. The Open Uni does one, so she could study and work if need be. I know people who've gone this route who' went on to be successful practicing psychologists or to do PhDs.

So, even if your DD can't get onto a psychology degree course with her current combination of A Levels, and can't swap what she's studying, she shouldn't be too disheartened - it's not game over and the door's definitely not shut on a career as a psychologist.

Could she restart year 12 next year, either at her current school or somewhere new, if this is what she really wants to do?
Another option, see if she is allowed to drop an A level, so only do two at school (some were allowed to do this when I was at school), and do Psychology by distance learning. If she starts now, she'd have over a year to study.

I did a sociology degree and made friends with lots of psychology students and most didn’t have psychology A level. This was many years ago.

@IsNothingSacred1234

She’s now saying I’ve ruined her future as I steered her to do English. Do you think a tutor could help her catch up?

No, not at all ruined her life!! In fact as a pp said, many psychology based/related degree courses actively prefer other A-levels. What is it that she wants to study?

I’d restart Year 12 next year. It’s called 17,18,19 education for a reason as you have 3yrs to do the 2yr A-levels course.

She doesn’t need psychology A level to study psychology at uni.

She could add an EPQ in year 13 and make it psychology or stats based.

What does she want to do afterwards? That may help her with uni choices

Also, the vast majority of psychology degrees are now BScs and lean towards the scientific side, and will normally prefer straight science and maths A-levels to psychology A-level.

If however she wants to lean towards the humanities/social science side of psychology (eg a BA), those courses tend to be happy with other traditional academic A-level subjects too. Has she thought about social psychology for example, which has a large crossover with sociology?

In any case, psychology as either a BSc or BA tends to have high grade requirements, so she is better off worrying about meeting the grades in her current subjects, rather than switching subjects.

(It’s also worth bearing in mind that schools are really selling A-level psychology to students at the moment, and it’s currently fashionable/popular - often it fits into the students’ current interest in “identity” and self-knowledge, and it sounds vaguely sciencey and vocational, but without actually requiring schools to funnel students through to actual science teaching….)

However, as an academic subject it isn’t largely as useful for university admissions as more traditional arts and sciences subjects. The content of A-level psychology would be taught again - and with a different emphasis - at university level, so it really isn’t a necessary prerequisite for a related degree.

It’s definitely not the case that not taking it at A-level has ruined your DD’s life 🤣 or that you’ve given bad advice. It might well be the case though that the current fashion amongst students for psychology A-level has left your DD with a bad case of FOMO or a sense that held friends are doing a more “fun” and fashionable subject!

The A levels that your dd had chosen would work well for Law which was a possible degree choice last year. The problem is that she has changed her mind and now favours Psychology.
With an A level in Sociology there are already possibilities to choose something that overlaps with Psychology. For example there are joint degrees that include both subjects.
Doing an EPQ in a relevant subject may also help.

She doesn’t need psychology A-level. She could do a psychology based epq and/or an AS in maths or statistics or core maths. She could also apply for a foundation year in psychology if necessary.