English language and linguistics or criminology and psychology?

Right, so I'm an extremely biased linguist who would obviously big up my own chosen degree, but unfortunately I can't tell you which side you're better suited for. However, I could give you some ways to judge which you should go for.

Which university/universities do you prefer?
- Not all universities will offer criminology/psychology, and the same with linguistics. If, say, you were desperate to go to Cambridge you'd be weighing up pure linguistics vs psychological behavioural sciences - two different degrees to the one you stated above. Do some research and look at universities, then see which courses they offer in the field of eng lang, and psych.

What's the course like at the universi-ty/-ties you've picked?
- From the very very brief details I know, I believe the Manchester linguistics course has an optional module in forensic linguistics, and UCL's course is phonetics based which would lead nicely into forensics (ie tracing voices on cell phones, identifying voices etc), and Leeds is linguistics and phonetics. Totally backwards way of going about it, as everyone would recommend finding the course then the uni, but I think with you it's more the uni determining the course as you're undecided.

What's the reading like?
- Off the top of my head, read 'Wordcrime' by Olsson (that's probably spelled wrong sorry) which has the details of some instances of forensic linguistics. Find a reading list for psychology/criminology, order some of the books cheap off ebay and start reading. If you get quickly bored, you know you've picked the wrong one. For your uni course, reading will be very important with both subjects, and so your best bet is testing the waters a bit for both subject areas.

What are your grades like?
- As dumb as it sounds, your AS grades or your results from the 'AS' exams (if your subjects are reformed and you're not doing AS) should give you an indication of which subject you're more proficient in, eng lang or psych.

What do students of the subjects say?
- Your best resource will be people already doing what you want to do. Stalk a couple of TSR threads and chat to people doing those subjects and see what they say, see what A Levels they chose, see what they hope to do in the future. If you're completely incompatible, it might be an indication that you may not be cut out for it (warning: do not abandon life plans though, you might just meet someone who's not the 'norm').

What would you put on your personal statement?
- Again, another dodgy-ish way of judging it, but you've got to be writing your PS at the mo, yes? If your reasons for taking psych and criminology are "I like UK Border Force", you're unlikely to be offered a place anywhere. You'll have to show universities that you're invested in the subject, you know what it entails/the details of the course, and that you have a genuine reason for taking it. This can be supported by work experience, extra reading, super curriculars like EPQ or essay comps, that kind of thing. If you've got nothing to say about a subject, it's probably not right for you.

Hope this helps

Hi!

Not sure if you knew this, but some universities actually offer a combined degree of English Language or Linguistics WITH Psychology, so if you're having a hard time making up your mind this could be an option.

I know Lancaster University does this (which has a great Ling/Lang department) and is also very flexible. In your first year you do 3 subjects which you can then combine or drop for your second and third year. So you could do a combined major (equal of both subjects) or even major/minor (more of one and less of the other) - not sure if that's available for ling and psyc but they're usually really flexible with what you want to do so you can check.

They also offer criminology for maybe if you apply for ling/psyc then you can take that as a third in year 1 if it doesn't clash and has the same number of credits (you won't be able to combine that one though I don't think) but you could see which you like best and take it from there.

Hope this helps! Best of luck to you!

Edit: I just finished Year 1 English Language at Lancaster and loved it after doing A Level. I'm going to be studying it for years 2 & 3 as well.

Thanks so much for the help! I've found out that Kingston university do English language and linguistics with psychology but that seems like an awful lot of work if I'm honest

I shall pester my year manager when school begins

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