Good UK uni's for psychology?

[psychologystudent501]

I have had a look at league tables and am considering having a look at:

• Royal Holloway
  
• Reading
  
• Southampton
  
• Sussex (my teacher went there and said it was good
  

I was wondering if anyone on here knows any particularly good uni's for psychology, also having this on here could help follow psych students

[maereth]

Im not from the UK, unlike you, so I only have a limited knowledge but first of all, psychology course needs to be of a certain standard everywhere, in order to be a BPS accredited course. Personally, I wanted to go to UCL as I think it's of the best standard, but I got rejected I have offers from Bath, Cardiff, Leeds and Kent though. I chose them mostly because of the placement year they all offer but from what I know, Bath psychology graduates are highly esteemed so I'm gonna firm it. As to your choices, I heard that Reading is nice for psychology and Southampton is nice in general, although in Southampton I know people from engineering courses more than psychology. Generally, I would suggest you take a look at psychology and unis threads on tsr if you haven't yet. Peeople there are really helpful and they will be able to give you some more specific advice ;d

[Arrowhead]

I have a friend doing Psychology at Edinburgh and she loves it, and I know someone in Psych at King's College. They're both very happy with their programmes. Oh, and I've heard only good things about the Psych programme at Aberdeen. You apparently get a lot more freedom in your research interests and academic support there.

[Alixandra Steyn]

I have researched a **** load on psychology and criminology because that is what i want to study later this year in the UK,

HL- Portuguese B

Geography

English Lang and Lit (we don't have the option of Psychology at my school)

SL- Art

Biology

Maths

I've done things like talk to students in some Universities and what I've found out and based my choices on include; how happy those students are, the record of achievement, the help and attention they receive, rate of employment after they finish and how much freedom in the course they get...

literally on this bases alone i have applied to

Brighton University

Leeds metropolitan

London Metropolitan

Manchester Metropolitan

and Keele University

Hope this helps and I'm not too late

[Sandwich]

http://www.thecomple...gs?s=Psychology

I think that's a pretty good assessment of them. Also, it's important to ignore the overall rankings and look at the specific criteria rankings. It depends on what concerns you, but if money and potentially an academic career are important, you should look at graduate prospects and research and not gloss over them. Generally with science subjects, your opportunities to do research depend entirely on the people doing the research already at your institution. If they're at the top of their field it will give you a massive boost to have been involved in one of their projects, especially if you can wrangle to have your name added as part of the publication. Similarly, the 'brand' of an institution can impress employers if you're after some cash and want your CV not to be binned.

Entry standards aren't useful for helping you decide unless you're worried about your grades not being good enough and limiting your selection. Student satisfaction is a bit of a moot issue. For instance, where I'm studying, student satisfaction is very low but the course is rated very highly by a lot of other factors and there's really good employability and reputation attached. So you don't really get much coaching, the organisation is rubbish and nobody holds your hand (or even looks at you, let alone goes near your hand)... but actually student satisfaction during the course doesn't necessarily mean student satisfaction re: jobs, quality of skills gained and training at the end. If you feel academically less confident, I think that student satisfaction generally represents the extent to which students feel that their supervisors and teachers actually engage with them as students and help them to learn. So it may be worth going somewhere with a lesser reputation but higher satisfaction if you feel that being cast out to sea by your own with a lifejacket isn't really the way forwards for you. Definitely having a good experience is a wonderful thing and I'm busy rating my Uni nice and low on all the feedback sheets I'm ever sent for the reason that we really don't get much help... at all. Life would be better if we did

Just some thoughts, possibly more confusing than not, but I do think it's important to try to make as informed a decision as possible. Back when I was applying, I totally glazed over when staring at league tables, but you can actually try to draw some decent information out of it all. Also: look up the researchers at the Universities you're considering, see what they're up to. Chances are, what they're up to is what you'll be taught a lot about and do projects on. Researchers often clump together in terms of their interests.

[Adrianna]

Hi guys, relating to psychology I would like to ask you what is the difference between Psychology or Psychology(Applied) or Psychology applied with foundation? I also wonder if it is even possible that I wuill be accepted on psychology since I don't have any sciene on HL, only biology and mathematics on SL. Also, what are you going to do after psychology and generally is it cost-effective? Psychology really fascinates me but I wonder if it is the best coice..

[psychologystudent501]

I think the difference is that Applied psychology is more to do with the actual practice of psychology opposed to the theory-but most BSc courses I've looked at include a module of Applied psych.

It depends on the specific uni requirements whether you will be accepted, but having biology is probably a good start. When you go to open days ask questions to the department regarding entry levels and preferred subjects so to gain an idea of what they particularly look for-you could even tell them your subjects and see what they think.

Whether psychology is cost effective really depends on you making the most of the course and what you want to do, I think-how well you will use the degree in the future. Psychology lends itself to many careers due to its broadness as a subject, and obviously if you love the subject that will help it be cost effective from the enjoyment of learning the subject in depth!

I hope this helps and good luck

EDIT: Just thought I'd add, if you are really successful as a psychologist if that's your overall aim (like me) I have heard of pay being as much as £66,000 p.a. which to me at least would mean the degree was worth it

Edited August 26, 2013 by psychologystudent501

[Adrianna]

Thanks a lot

Well, I am still not sure if I want to become a proffesional psychologist.. Just don't know if I am able to, it is a demanding profession in my opinion.If I am going to end up working in some firm I don't know if choosing business or some languages isn't more profitable.

[Erasmusrasmus]

I've also been doing research about universities in UK (mainly Scotland) offering psychology and I am so confused as to what the difference between BSc and MA Psychology is. Anybody know?

[Arrowhead]

I've also been doing research about universities in UK (mainly Scotland) offering psychology and I am so confused as to what the difference between BSc and MA Psychology is. Anybody know?

A BSc is a Bachelor's in Science. An MA is a Masters of Arts.

You cannot apply for a Master's degree, such as an MA, without having a Bachelor's (undergraduate) degree first.

[meowchelle]

I've also been doing research about universities in UK (mainly Scotland) offering psychology and I am so confused as to what the difference between BSc and MA Psychology is. Anybody know?

A BSc is a Bachelor's in Science. An MA is a Masters of Arts.

You cannot apply for a Master's degree, such as an MA, without having a Bachelor's (undergraduate) degree first.

Um I'm not sure if that's true. I've seen MA degrees in University of Edinburgh (psychology, cognitive science etc) that requires almost the same entry requirements as their BSc counterparts (only difference is BSc might have a slightly higher overall point with science pre-requisites, such as a science at HL).

Which means that after four years you get a MA straight away, no prior undergraduate degrees needed.

[Arrowhead]

Um I'm not sure if that's true. I've seen MA degrees in University of Edinburgh (psychology, cognitive science etc) that requires almost the same entry requirements as their BSc counterparts (only difference is BSc might have a slightly higher overall point with science pre-requisites, such as a science at HL).

Which means that after four years you get a MA straight away, no prior undergraduate degrees needed.

I've also been doing research about universities in UK (mainly Scotland) offering psychology and I am so confused as to what the difference between BSc and MA Psychology is. Anybody know?

I just read this, which should clarify it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_(Scotland)

You can always trust the Scots to do things differently.

In a nutshell, at the ancient Scottish universities (St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow) an undergraduate academic degree in the arts, liberal arts, social sciences or humanities is designated with an 'MA' (Master of Arts). However, if you pursue postgraduate studies in these disciplines, your designation will be MLitt (Master of Letters).

Furthermore, if you check the Edinburgh website, this was published.

Applying for MA or BSc

The MA Psychology (C801) and the BSc Psychology (C800) degree programmes only differ in the pre-honours courses taken alongside Psychology in years one and two. The Psychology content of the two degrees is identical.

In Scotland, MA and BSc both specify a four-year degree. On the Psychology BSc programme, students are required to take some biological sciences pre-honours courses with a strong chemistry content and their access to such courses is guaranteed.

On the Psychology MA, students may choose from the whole range of pre-honours courses, but with no guaranteed access to particular courses.

Applicants to the Psychology BSc who do not have a strong Chemistry background may be asked to transfer their application to the Psychology MA.

Both Psychology degrees are British Psychology Society accredited.

[Erasmusrasmus]

Aaaaaaah okay! That clarifies things quite a bit! Thank you so much ^^