Kent vs. Birmingham for psychology?

Birmingham is a Russel Group uni, and I suppose it's more reputable than Kent.

However, Kent offers a 1 year work experience placement which could prove useful to do a Phd in psych (you need to have a minimum of 2 years experience.)

And I hear it's really competitive for psych graduates to get jobs, so would the sandwich course offered by Kent be advantageous, despite it not being a "russel uni" group?

Thanks in advance.

Who told you that you need a minimum of 2yrs experience to do a PhD?

Hey, I completed my undergraduate psychology degree at Kent uni and recently completed a PhD at Kent uni so if you have any questions, ask away.

I would strongly recommend the work placement opportunity at Kent!!! I wish I completed one of the sandwich psychology courses. Psychology is insanely competitive and gaining any sort of experience during undergraduate studies will put you at a definite advantage. Applicants with good grades (ie high 2.1s) and relevant experience almost always get the prestigous assistant psychologist jobs and other psychology graduate jobs.

Gaining a good undergraduate degree mark (ie at least a good 2.1) seems to be very important! Although there is evidence to suggest that people look at whether applicants studied at Russell Group universities....but all in all, getting good grades in a BPS accredited psychology degree and gaining experience is what's important rather than the actual university.

I don't agree with your minimum 2 years experience requirement for a PhD! Someone in my department received a First in her psychology undergraduate degree (at Kent) and went straight onto an MA and PhD course all at Kent university.

For a PhD, you will need a good academic background, usually a research methods MSc, ideally some publications and some research experience. As far as I'm aware, there's no minimum requirements for years of experience to gain entry onto PhD courses.

Sorry, not *minimum*, but a couple of threads I've seen on TSR and various websites I've seen have said that it's best if you have 2 years work experience with a minimum work experience of 6-12 mnths.

For a PhD? Not neccesarily. Many people go straight from doing a MSc. That said, research assistant positions would be very beneficial. It's certainly not a requirement or anything though.

I always thought there were two routes to doing a PhD in psych.
1) doing a Bsc psych and then around 2 years work experience, PhD
2) doing a Bsc psych and then doing an Msc, and then a PhD

..or is that wrong?

Hi did you not do the sandwich course at Kent?

There's a couple of reasons why I'm hesitant on applying for Kent. It's not a "1994 group" or Russel Group uni and I'm afraid that because of that, employers etc. will not recognise it as being a good uni (even though last I checked it was higher than Birmingham on league tables) Also, what if the work experience I end up with isn't even that good e.g. social work etc. because I hear the best positions are assistant/research psychologists.

I thought you didn't need a Masters to do a PhD?

thanks in advance!!

For a PhD? Not neccesarily. Many people go straight from doing a MSc. That said, research assistant positions would be very beneficial. It's certainly not a requirement or anything though.

I always thought there were two routes to doing a PhD in psych.
1) doing a Bsc psych and then around 2 years work experience, PhD
2) doing a Bsc psych and then doing an Msc, and then a PhD

..or is that wrong?

For a PhD? Not neccesarily. Many people go straight from doing a MSc. That said, research assistant positions would be very beneficial. It's certainly not a requirement or anything though.

I'm quite confused now. On the BPS site it says you will need an accredited Bsc psych. degree and a doctorate to become a clinical psychologist. It doesn't say anything about doing a masters. Do you have to do a masters to do a PhD? Is it preferred? So when do you do work experience then? (sorry to pester you so much )

I'm quite confused now. On the BPS site it says you will need an accredited Bsc psych. degree and a doctorate to become a clinical psychologist. It doesn't say anything about doing a masters. Do you have to do a masters to do a PhD? Is it preferred? So when do you do work experience then? (sorry to pester you so much )

PhD =/= clinical doctorate.

eeeek, unless i've misunderstood you Godspeed, the Clinical Doctorate (DClinPsy) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) re very different doctorates!!!

Similarities
- Doctoral qualification- so same standard of doctoral level work applies
- Thesis
- Juggling different workloads
- Regular supervision with supervisors
- Viva voce examination (ie defending thesis in front of a panel)
- Very long hours devoted to study

Differences
-PhD- emphasis on one large research project. Thesis needs to show some contribution to knowledge
DClinPsych- emphasis on placements and developing competencies outlined by the BPS in working with different client groups and different services.

PhD thesis- 80,000 words (mine will be 99,999 as the absolute max!).
DClinPsyc thesis- 10,000-20,000 words

PhD- every PhD student has one unique research project. No other student will have the same research project....every PhD differs from another PhD so therefore a PhD can be very isolating!!
DClinPsy- Trainees complete the same assessments (essays, exams, tests), so arguably, trainees are more or less in the same boat!

You don't need an MSc in order to become a clinical psychologist. The minimum requirements for clinical training is a BPS accredited undergraduate degree (with a good overall degree classification) and some relevant work experience. Once you've obtained a place on the 3 year clinical psychology doctorate (ie clinical training), you will become a qualified clinical psychologist. But applying for clinical training is extremely competitive and very difficult to get into. Competition is extremely fierce and you will be up against people with postgraduate degrees and years of relevant experience, although others manage to get on much sooner so the whole pre training process is very random!

However, some admission tutors award applicants for clinical training for completing a masters degree and even more points for completing a PhD. Generally, applicants with the most points are shortlisted for interview. BUT, others have managed to get onto clinical training without postgraduate qualifications. Some aspiring clinical psychologists complete masters degrees to strengthen their academic CV, gain more skills and experience, for interest purposes and to open up other career paths within professional psychology. Others also complete master degrees to improve their chances with getting onto psychology doctorates. It also depends on where you apply. Some more academic universities prefer to have applicants with postgrauate degrees whereas others prefer applicants with loads of clinical experience. I was recently rejected for clinical training because I don't have full time clinical experience and because of my incomplete PhD.

http://www.clinpsy.org.uk/forum/index.php This is an excellent website for aspiring clinical psychologists (I'm a frequent contributer).

Equally, with a PhD, especially for applicants with a First Class undergraduate degree, some have managed to jump from undergraduate degree straight to a PhD without having to complete a masters. But the vast majority of PhD students completed masters degree prior to starting a PhD. Some PhD scholarships (like mine) require applicants to complete a masters degree in research methods (accredited by the ESRC).

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lifesciences-faculty/degree-programmes/research-methods-psychology I completed this MSc (EXCELLENT course) immediately prior to my PhD.

I would collect as much relevant experience as possible alongside academic studies, although ensuring that any work experience does not get in the way of obtaining the best mark possible at undergraduate level.

Do you not know what '=/=' means?