I really dont know what to do.
I'm studying English combined, sociology and psychology for my A-levels currently, and I was going to choose a psychology Bsc to do however I've been told that psychology degrees get you nowhere or that you end up with low skilled, low paid jobs. This is really worrying me and I honestly don't know what to do - I was thinking maybe if I did a psychology course with something else like for e.g psychology with criminology this would maybe have better outcomes in future? I really don't know though. considering what ive said and what my subjects are any advice on any course will do... also job prospectus for whatever subject is adviced would be sweet!!!!
Do you have a career goal in mind?
My guess is that you aren't looking to pursue a career as a Psychologist, however, if you are, then you'll need to do the Psychology degree (combining it with something else will not make a difference one way or the other). If you're looking at other roles within healthcare, then it will depend on exactly what that role is.
Psychology teaches a number of transferable skills, though not really more than many other degrees. You learn some statistics, which is useful (as you may not pick up the same level of transferable skills in another degree that teaches similar levels of stats). You won't learn anything vocational and by itself, you won't be qualified to do anything specific. For general graduate scheme type jobs, you'll probably be fine provided you get a good classification and have good skills as a person. Some of the higher flying jobs will probably prefer some 'harder' subjects.
At the end of the day, unless you have a career in mind, its very hard to say.
My guess is that you aren't looking to pursue a career as a Psychologist, however, if you are, then you'll need to do the Psychology degree (combining it with something else will not make a difference one way or the other). If you're looking at other roles within healthcare, then it will depend on exactly what that role is.
Psychology teaches a number of transferable skills, though not really more than many other degrees. You learn some statistics, which is useful (as you may not pick up the same level of transferable skills in another degree that teaches similar levels of stats). You won't learn anything vocational and by itself, you won't be qualified to do anything specific. For general graduate scheme type jobs, you'll probably be fine provided you get a good classification and have good skills as a person. Some of the higher flying jobs will probably prefer some 'harder' subjects.
At the end of the day, unless you have a career in mind, its very hard to say.
Do some work experience, read about some jobs? Doing it with criminology won't really help. Psychology is a bit like an English lit degree, once you graduate there isn't really a job waiting for you when you leave (e.g. like in medicine or engineering) so you need to take a look at some careers anyway. If you simply coast through a psychology degree just getting 2;1s then your not really going to stand the best chance in getting a graduate job, unless you have things like work experience and good references.
Original post by ApesCakes
I don't even know what careers I could go into with the course type I want to do
It's a really tricky one. Psychology is often seen as a good choice for a degree to just do. There's thousands of Psychology graduates who have no intention of pursuing a career in Psychology, or even health. They wanted to go to university and did Psychology; whether because it was interesting, 'cool', what everyone else was doing, or whatever.
My gut feeling is, you're doing it the wrong way round. Don't pick a degree and then shoe horn your career into that. You could find yourself in a situation you're really unhappy with at the end of three years. Conversely, telling you, aged 17, to pick your career is neither realistic nor fair.
Do you have any general ideas of what you want to do? Are you more techy? Do you enjoy working with people? Do you want to help people? How much stress do you want? How much responsibility? How much money?
At base, Psychology is excellent for only one thing, becoming a Psychologist (or other, very similar roles, i.e. Psychological wellbeing practitioner, CBT therapist, etc.). It sets you in good stead for some careers in health/mental health, but often, and increasingly so, they have their own degrees that cover that job (Occupational therapist, art therapist, counsellor and so on). Psychology will qualify you to pursue general graduate type jobs (civil service, HR, marketing - essentially, 9-5 office jobs of various types) - Psychology is not a gold standard in terms of accelerating you into those careers. Psychology won't really assist you, except in specific cases, to obtain those high flying jobs in The City.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by _Sinnie_
It's a really tricky one. Psychology is often seen as a good choice for a degree to just do. There's thousands of Psychology graduates who have no intention of pursuing a career in Psychology, or even health. They wanted to go to university and did Psychology; whether because it was interesting, 'cool', what everyone else was doing, or whatever.
My gut feeling is, you're doing it the wrong way round. Don't pick a degree and then shoe horn your career into that. You could find yourself in a situation you're really unhappy with at the end of three years. Conversely, telling you, aged 17, to pick your career is neither realistic nor fair.
Do you have any general ideas of what you want to do? Are you more techy? Do you enjoy working with people? Do you want to help people? How much stress do you want? How much responsibility? How much money?
At base, Psychology is excellent for only one thing, becoming a Psychologist (or other, very similar roles, i.e. Psychological wellbeing practitioner, CBT therapist, etc.). It sets you in good stead for some careers in health/mental health, but often, and increasingly so, they have their own degrees that cover that job (Occupational therapist, art therapist, counsellor and so on). Psychology will qualify you to pursue general graduate type jobs (civil service, HR, marketing - essentially, 9-5 office jobs of various types) - Psychology is not a gold standard in terms of accelerating you into those careers. Psychology won't really assist you, except in specific cases, to obtain those high flying jobs in The City.
My gut feeling is, you're doing it the wrong way round. Don't pick a degree and then shoe horn your career into that. You could find yourself in a situation you're really unhappy with at the end of three years. Conversely, telling you, aged 17, to pick your career is neither realistic nor fair.
Do you have any general ideas of what you want to do? Are you more techy? Do you enjoy working with people? Do you want to help people? How much stress do you want? How much responsibility? How much money?
At base, Psychology is excellent for only one thing, becoming a Psychologist (or other, very similar roles, i.e. Psychological wellbeing practitioner, CBT therapist, etc.). It sets you in good stead for some careers in health/mental health, but often, and increasingly so, they have their own degrees that cover that job (Occupational therapist, art therapist, counsellor and so on). Psychology will qualify you to pursue general graduate type jobs (civil service, HR, marketing - essentially, 9-5 office jobs of various types) - Psychology is not a gold standard in terms of accelerating you into those careers. Psychology won't really assist you, except in specific cases, to obtain those high flying jobs in The City.
I was thinking something like a prison guard or something along those lines (that's whys I was thinking a psychology with criminology course) or something in hospital (just a small suggestion) but I don't want to be a counsellor or anything along those lines because I've been through enough of that myself so I really don't want to get involved with that.
Original post by ApesCakes
I'm studying English combined, sociology and psychology for my A-levels currently, and I was going to choose a psychology Bsc to do however I've been told that psychology degrees get you nowhere or that you end up with low skilled, low paid jobs. This is really worrying me and I honestly don't know what to do - I was thinking maybe if I did a psychology course with something else like for e.g psychology with criminology this would maybe have better outcomes in future? I really don't know though. considering what ive said and what my subjects are any advice on any course will do... also job prospectus for whatever subject is adviced would be sweet!!!!
Psychology, like with most degrees, doesn't lead into a job on its own. It merely ticks off the 'I have a degree box.' The rest is down to what the individual has to offer- work experience is crucial, as are good soft skills and putting together a strong job application.
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