[CJ99]

Because it's a new relatively new subject, it's extremely popular (especially with girls) and it's often considered to be in between a science and an art subject. That and until you get to Uni level it's a joke by all accounts.

[lolboi]

I think its a great subject, the problem I have with people taking it at degree level is as someone said earlier. Its Massively over subscribed, people don't think about their prospects for employment after the course. If you can afford to get a huge amount of debt to study a subject your interested in good on you, but id just like to think people would use their heads and not study a subject thinking they will get a super job, when that many of them simply don't exist.

Not picking purely on psychology lots of similar subjects have the same pitfall's.

[abc:)]

(Original post by geekay1)
Why does everyone slag it off so much, its a subject i really enjoy but everyone isl seriously putting me of , ideally I would like to take the undergrad degree then follow on to a paid research based phd but everyone makes it sound like such a rubbish degree that it doesn't seem worth it

I think it gets a bit better when you get to degree level, I found the A-level really **** and boring though. I know someone who did psychology and now she's a lecturer and does a lot of research, she seems to really enjoy it too. So just do what interests you the most.

[Pride]

It's because it's not in much demand compared to many other degrees, and so many psychology graduates don't follow a psychology-related career after graduating. It comes across to many people as though no employers need the degree and it is pointless studying it, only to jump onto tesco's graduate scheme when it's not used in the supermarket.

[fnm]

I really do like psychology. But it's a ten a penny degree nowadays. Plus I don't think it's that well respected by the science community either...I've had a psychiatrist I know ***t on the degree!

[SpicyStrawberry]

(Original post by fnm)
I really do like psychology. But it's a ten a penny degree nowadays. Plus I don't think it's that well respected by the science community either...I've had a psychiatrist I know ***t on the degree!

Psychiatrists are medically qualified so probably don't have a psychology degree, or they do and did grad entry.

[Fuzzpig]

(Original post by Pride)
It's because it's not in much demand compared to many other degrees, and so many psychology graduates don't follow a psychology-related career after graduating. It comes across to many people as though no employers need the degree and it is pointless studying it, only to jump onto tesco's graduate scheme when it's not used in the supermarket.

That's not strictly true. The demand for Psychologists isn't that bad, but you have to do a lot of extra study to become one. Many people graduate, realise they can't afford/get accepted onto the post-grad course which you need in order to become a psychologist, and so have to go into something else. That's the case with most psychology students - they have to choose a different career.

[Lightman123]

There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not Physics.

Let me expand a little.

There are large numbers of people whom are of the attitude :
"Unless you do Traditional Science, Medicine or Law (perhaps Pharmacy) then you'll end up working in Mcdonalds."

They think this because Medicine, Law and Pharmacy all point their students toward a specific (highly regarded) career. And the Sciences have always been defined as the "most valuable" form of knowledge if you will. For this reason, those people tend to brand anything else as useless. They often ask
"What job can you get with that?" Or say " (insert subject) is easy anyway"

Then when you get the masses and masses of people applying for Psychology it damns it even more because there are far less jobs in psychology than there are applicants. Which makes the statistics look like psychology graduates don't get jobs, which is untrue. Its just that there are so many of them.

Work hard in Psychology, set realistic and desirable goals, try to rise above the masses of people who take it because its 'fashionable' at the moment ; and you'll have no problems.

You'll have to get used to people slamming Psychology though because, like I said it's just not Physics.

I'm taking Psychology too by the way.

[lightburns]

(Original post by Lightman123)
There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not Physics.

Let me expand a little.

There are large numbers of people whom are of the attitude :
"Unless you do Traditional Science, Medicine or Law (perhaps Pharmacy) then you'll end up working in Mcdonalds."

They think this because Medicine, Law and Pharmacy all point their students toward a specific (highly regarded) career. And the Sciences have always been defined as the "most valuable" form of knowledge if you will. For this reason, those people tend to brand anything else as useless. They often ask
"What job can you get with that?" Or say " (insert subject) is easy anyway"

Then when you get the masses and masses of people applying for Psychology it damns it even more because there are far less jobs in psychology than there are applicants. Which makes the statistics look like psychology graduates don't get jobs, which is untrue. Its just that there are so many of them.

Work hard in Psychology, set realistic and desirable goals, try to rise above the masses of people who take it because its 'fashionable' at the moment ; and you'll have no problems.

You'll have to get used to people slamming Psychology though because, like I said it's just not Physics.

I'm taking Psychology too by the way.

Your post is win. It cuts through all the bs of what people are slinging back and forth.

I hate how Psychology is fashionable at the moment. Makes my life a lot more difficult. I also take psychology.
I hate how many unscientific people are on my course. If you are arts-minded, please take an arts degree Non-scientific people taking psychology is probably the reason that many doubt its scientific value.

[The Dynamic Uno]

I just finished my Psychology A Level and I can honestly say it's rubbish. It's interesting in parts but unless you really want to go into a career in Psychology, it's all completely useless information. The exams are absolutely gash too. It's all just memory work. There is no real skill involved in the learning whatsoever. It's also very boring in parts. If I could go back in time I definitely would not have chosen it. The only reason I chose it in the first place was because I thought 'ooooh Psychology, that sounds interesting'.

And no, I don't hate it because it was 'hard' either. I got 90% in my first year but turned out with a B overall because it just got to the point where I couldn't motivate myself any more.

[fnm]

(Original post by Lightman123)

Then when you get the masses and masses of people applying for Psychology it damns it even more because there are far less jobs in psychology than there are applicants. Which makes the statistics look like psychology graduates don't get jobs, which is untrue. Its just that there are so many of them.

Work hard in Psychology, set realistic and desirable goals, try to rise above the masses of people who take it because its 'fashionable' at the moment ; and you'll have no problems.

I really don't get what you're saying in the first point I've quoted. Isn't it a bit contradictory?

Also, it's not really just fashionable at the moment, it has been very popular for the last 15 years.

[SpicyStrawberry]

(Original post by Oh my Ms. Coffey)
Its a social science, wouldn't want to tarnish the real sciences reputation now.

The only "real science" is Maths if you really want to take it that far.

[SpicyStrawberry]

(Original post by The Dynamic Uno)
I just finished my Psychology A Level and I can honestly say it's rubbish. It's interesting in parts but unless you really want to go into a career in Psychology, it's all completely useless information. The exams are absolutely gash too. It's all just memory work. There is no real skill involved in the learning whatsoever. It's also very boring in parts. If I could go back in time I definitely would not have chosen it. The only reason I chose it in the first place was because I thought 'ooooh Psychology, that sounds interesting'.

And no, I don't hate it because it was 'hard' either. I got 90% in my first year but turned out with a B overall because it just got to the point where I couldn't motivate myself any more.

We're talking about the degree, not the A-level. The A-level is complete balls in comparison and doesn't equip you properly for the step-up. I think this is why so many people think it's a generally stupid discipline; the A-level isn't done properly. Mind you, loads of people think all A-levels are soft. You can't please everyone.

[iammichealjackson]

(Original post by The Dynamic Uno)
I just finished my Psychology A Level and I can honestly say it's rubbish. It's interesting in parts but unless you really want to go into a career in Psychology, it's all completely useless information. The exams are absolutely gash too. It's all just memory work. There is no real skill involved in the learning whatsoever. It's also very boring in parts. If I could go back in time I definitely would not have chosen it. The only reason I chose it in the first place was because I thought 'ooooh Psychology, that sounds interesting'.

And no, I don't hate it because it was 'hard' either. I got 90% in my first year but turned out with a B overall because it just got to the point where I couldn't motivate myself any more.

If you want to take psychology at uni I think its really usefull, as long as you supplement it with extra reading/thinking. Psychology A Level really marks against thinking :/

In bold is why so many people end up hating the A Level.

[Lumos]

(Original post by Alex-92)
Oxford teaches History of Art as an undergraduate degree.

By the way I actually agree with you, with respect to Psychology. Just disagree with the argument "Respectable university teaches x, therefore x is respectable"

was that a not so subtle stab at history of art as a respectable subject?

[R.J. Omega]

(Original post by iammichealjackson)
If you want to take psychology at uni I think its really usefull, as long as you supplement it with extra reading/thinking. Psychology A Level really marks against thinking :/

In bold is why so many people end up hating the A Level.

The real problem with the A Level is that there's just too much to cover, just like in Law - we did Anomalistic Psychology but pretty much the whole class agreed that we'd have preferred to do Addiction. The college can't decide what EVERYONE would like to do, so they have to compromise.

The exams being memory work is also a problem - they try to treat it as a science, but they've got the exam set up all wrong.

[Pride]

(Original post by aliluvschoc)
That's not strictly true. The demand for Psychologists isn't that bad, but you have to do a lot of extra study to become one. Many people graduate, realise they can't afford/get accepted onto the post-grad course which you need in order to become a psychologist, and so have to go into something else. That's the case with most psychology students - they have to choose a different career.

yes, you're right. I should have added that.

[Jabberwox]

I don't want to be harsh to people who have studied psychology as a single degree but I'd never take it on its own, I'd take it with something else. Just my opinion but the actual subject itself is amazing and very interesting.

[Jabberwox]

(Original post by The Dynamic Uno)
I just finished my Psychology A Level and I can honestly say it's rubbish. It's interesting in parts but unless you really want to go into a career in Psychology, it's all completely useless information. The exams are absolutely gash too. It's all just memory work. There is no real skill involved in the learning whatsoever. It's also very boring in parts. If I could go back in time I definitely would not have chosen it. The only reason I chose it in the first place was because I thought 'ooooh Psychology, that sounds interesting'.

And no, I don't hate it because it was 'hard' either. I got 90% in my first year but turned out with a B overall because it just got to the point where I couldn't motivate myself any more.

I agree.

I was fortunate to have an excellent psychology teacher (apparently they're quite hard to come by ) who made the subject really interesting. But the way in which you have to learn it... To put it bluntly, it is nothing more than cramming/memory work. You have to memorise names and studies; that's it. Some people do pick up on it more than others though, like I could understand it very very well so it wasn't a very challenging subject, whereas others in my class simply didn't understand it at all, probably because they simply didn't engage with the subject. I was genuinely hooked though, so I guess that's why I did okay. I got a B overall too

The exams are rubbish though. I'm not sure which exam board you were on, but I was on AQA and for the third module you literally had to write THREE essays in an hour and a half. That's one essay per half hour. It required no skill at psychology, just writing at 80mph as much as you could possibly remember. Coursework would have been a lot better like, say, going out and conducting your own study but apparently they scrapped the coursework a couple of years back.

Psychology is fun though I enjoyed it, and want to take it further at university alongside English

[Jabberwox]

(Original post by R.J. Omega)
The real problem with the A Level is that there's just too much to cover, just like in Law - we did Anomalistic Psychology but pretty much the whole class agreed that we'd have preferred to do Addiction. The college can't decide what EVERYONE would like to do, so they have to compromise.

The exams being memory work is also a problem - they try to treat it as a science, but they've got the exam set up all wrong.

We did Media Psychology (Psychology in Action) and it was pants. I would have MUCH preferred doing anomalistic psychology as that's the area I am most interested in My teacher only chose Media because HE found it the most interesting

And I definitely agree with the exam set-up, it sucks. I got A's all year for the practice essays we were set; in fact, I got full marks in one. But when it came to the actual exam, I got B's and C's, because of rubbish timing. Personally, I don't think exams are really representative of how good you are at a subject. Coursework is far, far better in my opinion.