[ameliajp]

I graduated last summer with a 2:1 degree in Advertising & Journalism. Since graduating, I have moved home and I currently just work in retail. My initial plan was to go back to college to get my Biology GCSE (nearly completed this) so I could apply this winter to go onto a Primary PGCE course. I have done work experience at local schools, and whilst I enjoyed it, I am not 100% sure this is the route I want to go down anymore.

Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed my undergrad course, I know for sure that a career in my degree subjects is not what I want to do. I have recently been considering a career path in counselling. I have always been interested in it, but never pursued it academically. I have suffered from depression and anxiety for four years, and recently have completely overcome it with thanks to my counsellor. This has strengthened my desire to pursue a career in this area. Until I stumbled upon the option of the psychology conversion courses, I thought my only option was to start at undergraduate level - which seemed too costly and time consuming. So now I feel like this may be an option for me.

Only I have a few questions that I would be grateful if someone could answer:

1. I am aware that a lot of courses require 60 credits in a psychology subjects. Is there any way around this? I saw in a couple of other threads that some uni's offer a bridging/summer module, or a test based on an introductory handbook. Would this be fine for my situation? I really don't have my heart set on any uni so their ranking wouldn't much matter to me.

2. How would I go abut getting these credits if I absolutely had to? Would they be costly? How long would they take? I looked on OU, and they do what I presumed was psychology credits but the courses were in their thousands.

3. Is there any funding for these conversion courses? I have not found anything on it, so I am presuming not?

4. Following the conversion course, what exact qualification do I have? Ive found this difficult to determine online. Is it a masters qualification or an undergrad qualification? Do I then have to go on to study something else if I want to become a counsellor?

Any other information would be really helpful, thank you.

-ajp

[shr2007]

Hi Amelia

I've applied for the conversion course at the University of Sussex (their MSc in Experimental Psychology), which does not require you to have 60 credits of psychology. They stipulate a minimum of a 2.1 degree, which you have, so I'm certain you'd be a competitive candidate. Their deadline has closed now, but applications for the next academic year open around October, I believe.

I know that the University of Sheffield has a distance learning course as a prerequisite to a conversion course. It’s called Short Course Preparation, and you can find it here: http://www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus/course/1043/. Fees are £1780 for this year.

There used to be funding for the conversion course at Sussex, but it was scrapped this year, presumably because of government funding cuts. I've been working full time to cover the cost of the course (almost £5000), and will work part time to pay for rent while I'm on the course (should I get a place). I'm also considering getting a career development loan to cover other expenses: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/educatio...oans/index.htm

As for your qualification, it depends what conversion course you take. At Sussex it's a Masters, but elsewhere it's a PG Dip (which is a graduate diploma but equivalent, apparently, to half a Masters). Manchester and Cambridge offer an MEd, which are full Masters programmes, except they're awarded by their respective educational departments.

If you want to be a counsellor you need a conversion course that awards you a GBR status at the end of it, so it’s important to check that the conversion course you apply for offers this. After you’ve completed a conversion course you’d need further training as a counsellor (though I haven’t looked into where or how long as I’m looking to take a different route).

There’s always clinical psychology after you’ve completed a conversion course, though this takes an extra 3-4 years training and programmes are highly competitive.
Hope that’s of some help. Good luck!

[shr2007]

*Sorry, to clarify a bit more about funding for conversion courses: it's virtually unheard of, unfortunately. You'd need a loan or savings (or mum and dad if they can offer anything).

[~ Purple Rose ~]

1. I am aware that a lot of courses require 60 credits in a psychology subjects. Is there any way around this? I saw in a couple of other threads that some uni's offer a bridging/summer module, or a test based on an introductory handbook. Would this be fine for my situation? I really don't have my heart set on any uni so their ranking wouldn't much matter to me.

A 60 point Open University module counts, such as Child Development, Social Psychology. You need prior study for the courses, because then everyone is at a somewhat similar level and you aren't going in with no knowledge/experience of the subject.

2. How would I go abut getting these credits if I absolutely had to? Would they be costly? How long would they take? I looked on OU, and they do what I presumed was psychology credits but the courses were in their thousands.

OU prices have gone up this year, but you can pay through OUSBA, in monthly installments, which makes things a bit easier.

3. Is there any funding for these conversion courses? I have not found anything on it, so I am presuming not?

You can't get a student loan etc, but some universities may have their own bursaries that you can apply for.

4. Following the conversion course, what exact qualification do I have? Ive found this difficult to determine online. Is it a masters qualification or an undergrad qualification? Do I then have to go on to study something else if I want to become a counsellor?

It will be a masters degree, postgraduate deploma or possibly a diploma, depending on where you study.

To be a counsellor you have to do additional training, my course is one year, a masters, but a lot are either two or three.

[katiesimpson7]

To be a counsellor you do not need to do a psychology conversion course. Psychologists and counsellors have different qualifications. Look at the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists for how to become a counsellor and see a list of accredited counselling courses, and the British Psychological Society for a list of accredited conversion psychology conversion courses.

[catoswyn]

(Original post by ameliajp)
I graduated last summer with a 2:1 degree in Advertising & Journalism. Since graduating, I have moved home and I currently just work in retail. My initial plan was to go back to college to get my Biology GCSE (nearly completed this) so I could apply this winter to go onto a Primary PGCE course. I have done work experience at local schools, and whilst I enjoyed it, I am not 100% sure this is the route I want to go down anymore.

Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed my undergrad course, I know for sure that a career in my degree subjects is not what I want to do. I have recently been considering a career path in counselling. I have always been interested in it, but never pursued it academically. I have suffered from depression and anxiety for four years, and recently have completely overcome it with thanks to my counsellor. This has strengthened my desire to pursue a career in this area. Until I stumbled upon the option of the psychology conversion courses, I thought my only option was to start at undergraduate level - which seemed too costly and time consuming. So now I feel like this may be an option for me.

Only I have a few questions that I would be grateful if someone could answer:

1. I am aware that a lot of courses require 60 credits in a psychology subjects. Is there any way around this? I saw in a couple of other threads that some uni's offer a bridging/summer module, or a test based on an introductory handbook. Would this be fine for my situation? I really don't have my heart set on any uni so their ranking wouldn't much matter to me.

2. How would I go abut getting these credits if I absolutely had to? Would they be costly? How long would they take? I looked on OU, and they do what I presumed was psychology credits but the courses were in their thousands.

3. Is there any funding for these conversion courses? I have not found anything on it, so I am presuming not?

4. Following the conversion course, what exact qualification do I have? Ive found this difficult to determine online. Is it a masters qualification or an undergrad qualification? Do I then have to go on to study something else if I want to become a counsellor?

Any other information would be really helpful, thank you.

-ajp

The OU are now offerring counselling qualifications. All counselling training post-grad will have to be paid for yourself. UWE, Bristol has some excellent courses and there are many others across the country. Psychology conversion is not strictly necessary for counselling work. More important perhaps is to try to get some work that gets you onto these courses. Read Bristol's details for the kind of thing I mean...