[missybct]

Hi all, I hope you don't mind me posting in here.

I'm a mature student (27, no kids etc.) who is currently studying an Access to Health and Social Care in Bury St Edmunds.

We've been told in our induction week to start looking for Universities and begin our personal statement. I'm actually a bit ahead of this and have narrowed down my selection to about 10 universities (I know I can only have 5 on UCAS) to study Psychology.

I wanted to know from current Psychology students how they rate the University. I have to admit I'd never heard of it before I searched for it within ranked uni's and was pleased to see it was high. I was thinking of doing the Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Mental health undergrad degree as I eventually want to be a Clinical Psychologist.

Are the lecturers knowledgeable and approachable? Would you say the standard of teaching is high?

I'm really keen on this Uni as it's in London, somewhere we've both wanted to live for a while, plus it specialises in this clinical side of things.

Any replies would be most grateful!

Thanks in advance.

[gm15]

(Original post by missybct)
Hi all, I hope you don't mind me posting in here.

I'm a mature student (27, no kids etc.) who is currently studying an Access to Health and Social Care in Bury St Edmunds.

We've been told in our induction week to start looking for Universities and begin our personal statement. I'm actually a bit ahead of this and have narrowed down my selection to about 10 universities (I know I can only have 5 on UCAS) to study Psychology.

I wanted to know from current Psychology students how they rate the University. I have to admit I'd never heard of it before I searched for it within ranked uni's and was pleased to see it was high. I was thinking of doing the Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Mental health undergrad degree as I eventually want to be a Clinical Psychologist.

Are the lecturers knowledgeable and approachable? Would you say the standard of teaching is high?

I'm really keen on this Uni as it's in London, somewhere we've both wanted to live for a while, plus it specialises in this clinical side of things.

Any replies would be most grateful!

Thanks in advance.

Psych dept: Ask llacerta she does psychology and is a student ambassador.
In london:....mostly in surrey albeit borders. But closer than bury st edmunds

[missybct]

Thanks gm15 - I will get in touch.

[llacerta]

(Original post by missybct)
Hi all, I hope you don't mind me posting in here.

I'm a mature student (27, no kids etc.) who is currently studying an Access to Health and Social Care in Bury St Edmunds.

We've been told in our induction week to start looking for Universities and begin our personal statement. I'm actually a bit ahead of this and have narrowed down my selection to about 10 universities (I know I can only have 5 on UCAS) to study Psychology.

I wanted to know from current Psychology students how they rate the University. I have to admit I'd never heard of it before I searched for it within ranked uni's and was pleased to see it was high. I was thinking of doing the Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Mental health undergrad degree as I eventually want to be a Clinical Psychologist.

Are the lecturers knowledgeable and approachable? Would you say the standard of teaching is high?

I'm really keen on this Uni as it's in London, somewhere we've both wanted to live for a while, plus it specialises in this clinical side of things.

Any replies would be most grateful!

Thanks in advance.

Admittedly, Royal Holloway is one of those places that not everyone has heard of before finding out more about it. (However, I think it's partly to do with the name- if it was the "University of..." with a place name instead, I'm sure more people would say that they've heard of it, haha!)

But the department is VERY well-known, and for good reason; great facilities (second department in the country to get an fMRI scanner, for example), fantastic lecturers (they win awards for both their teaching and research, and as an example of how approachable and fun they are, they even hold a Christmas pantomime every year!) and a great course. The department is recognised as being one of the best in the country and the majority of my experiences in the past two years reflect this. Of course, not EVERY lecturer is amazing, not EVERY topic is interesting, but the majority are, and that's more than can be said of most places! It's quite a tight-knit department as well, you can tell the lecturers get on with each other, and hence they're happy in their workplace and are incredibly approachable. For example, I've been helping one lecturer out with some research, and every time we meet up to discuss the research, he always ends up answering my questions about what I should do after university and so on- and he does so very willingly. Sometimes I think he prefers talking about that than his research, haha!

The course is one area that I can't help you with specifically, however. I find it strange that we're going to be having all of these different psychology courses, though I guess it's good if you know what area you want to go into...My concern is that, for example, I know a lot of people in my year who, in first year, wanted to go into Clinical, but now, two years on, wouldn't dream of it. Of course not everyone changes their mind, and I guess even if you do one of these specific courses, you have the option to change onto the C800 course at some point, but still. And though I know we have a few lecturers that specialise in clinical, it's not an area that I'd say is a particular strength of the department- I think we're more of a neuroscience and cognitive psychology department than anything (though that doesn't mean that's all they do, just that those are the real strengths). However, they are generally great lecturers, so I'm sure they'll have organised these new courses well to fit in with what's already been done.

Finally, as gm15 said, Royal Holloway is not in London- it's 40 minutes away by train. Still very accessible, but different to somewhere like UCL, for example.

Anyway, I'll stop blabbering now- hope that's helped a bit and if you have anymore questions, let me know!

[missybct]

Llacerta, thank you SO much for this in-depth response - it's really helped me.

See, I was thinking I might end up going on a specific Clinical course and want to switch, so I think it's best if I did apply, I made it the Psychology degree on it's own. I'm also interested in Neuroscience (there is a Psychology with Neuroscience degree somewhere in the country and it's escaped my mind) so the department sounds well suited.

The 40 minute outside of London thing suits me just fine - either from living in London or suburbs - I just want to be closer to it than Bury St Eds

May I ask what grades you got to get into Holloway? I'm currently doing an Access course and just wanted to know if you'd spoken to or heard of anyone on your course or other years, who may have applied and been accepted via this qualification.

[llacerta]

No worries, you're welcome!

I agree that it would be best just to apply for a straight Psychology course. After all, if you ended up wanting to go into Clinical anyway, it's not like you'd be at a disadvantage by not having taken the specialist course, so you'd still have the option of going down that route, but would also be able to do something different if you so wished. There's still an aspect of Clinical on the C800 course so you wouldn't be missing out entirely, and in your third year, you'd be able to tailor your modules to the more Clinical ones, and even do a project and/or dissertation on Clinical.

Just had a quick Google search of Bury St. Edmunds (my geography is awful!) and yes, Egham is certainly closer to London, haha. (Looks like a beautiful place to live, by the way- I love old market towns).

I had ABB to get into Royal Holloway, though this was when the standard offer was ABB (but I'd already achieved the grades so instead received an unconditional offer). Although the standard offer is now AAB, it seems as though every year, there's a fair few applicants who get below this but are still let onto the course. As for doing an Access course, I can think of two students off the top of my head who applied via this qualification and got in, though I don't know whether they got Pass, Merit, or Distinction in their subjects. I'm sure there are others, but those are the two people I know of. It might be worth contacting Royal Holloway and asking exactly what they'd expect from you.

[Soule]

(Original post by missybct)
Llacerta, thank you SO much for this in-depth response - it's really helped me.

See, I was thinking I might end up going on a specific Clinical course and want to switch, so I think it's best if I did apply, I made it the Psychology degree on it's own. I'm also interested in Neuroscience (there is a Psychology with Neuroscience degree somewhere in the country and it's escaped my mind) so the department sounds well suited.

The 40 minute outside of London thing suits me just fine - either from living in London or suburbs - I just want to be closer to it than Bury St Eds

May I ask what grades you got to get into Holloway? I'm currently doing an Access course and just wanted to know if you'd spoken to or heard of anyone on your course or other years, who may have applied and been accepted via this qualification.

I did an access course last year, and received an offer from Royal Holloway for psychology to start this September. My offer was 15 distinctions and to pass the access course. I have also met a few other mature students that are starting psychology this September, and their offers were 24 distinctions and to pass the Access.

So it appears that the offer ranges from between 15 and 24 distinctions. It does mention on the website that level 2 statistics is required as well, that didn't appear on my offer, but it was covered in level 2 maths on my Access course.


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[missybct]

Again - thank you so much for the responses, it's really helped.

I'm definitely going to carry on with applying for Psychology degrees rather than specialising in a particular field. Like you said, I can always take the specific modules.

Bury St Eds is a beautiful town, but a bit sleepy! I don't mind though - I lived in the rush of Norwich for five years so it's nice to have something quieter

Soule, thank you very much - it's really good to hear from someone in the same position as me. I will contact the University directly and just clarify what qualifications they are asking for. It says on the website that they are accepted students with 15 credits at Distinction, but will check. I have a GCSE in Maths at grade B, but we're doing some credits on Level 3 maths, so that should be sufficient (providing I pass...!) xx