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University of St Andrews

Psychology BSc and MA

so I know that psychology Bcs is a science degree and MA is a masters degree and I know with scottish Uni's you get to choose extra modules - please could someone give me some example of the modules you can choose for each?
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Original post by sarahjoireman
so I know that psychology Bcs is a science degree and MA is a masters degree and I know with scottish Uni's you get to choose extra modules - please could someone give me some example of the modules you can choose for each?


So in St Andrews an MA is the same as a BA anywhere else... apparently some tradition or something that they've kept going for a reason I do not know. So essentially you are choosing between a Psychology BSc or BA. The way this is decided is whether you do more science or arts modules in first and second year - the psychology degree is identical for both. The only difference is the letters you receive at the end of it.

Regarding module choices, you must take 120 credits a year. In first year you take 40 psych credits (two 20 credit modules, one per semester) and so you need to choose 80 more credits worth of modules. In first year, modules are almost always 20 credits. For example, I did the two psych modules, two biology modules and two social anthropology modules. You can choose to take modules in literally any subject across the university (except medicine). In second year, the two psychology modules are worth 30 credits (as are all other science subject modules) and so you must choose 60 more credits in other subjects. Second year arts modules are usually 20 credits, therefore most people choose 2 science modules or 3 arts modules (although you could do a mixture of both and end up with extra credits). At the end of second year, if you have more science credits, you will be doing a BSc. If you have more arts credits, you will be doing an MA. For example, I did 2 biology modules in second year so I will receive a BSc at the end. As I've already said though, there is no difference between the BSc and MA in the actual psychology modules.

Hope I made sense!
St Salvators Quad, University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
Poster above is mostly right, but you technically can't just take any modules you like. If you sign up for BSc, your advisor is supposed to allow you to take 80 credits at most in your whole degree from Arts, the rest have to be in Science (vice versa for the MA). The Faculties page tells you which schools are in which faculty:

https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/ug/options/faculties/
Original post by MinnieD
So in St Andrews an MA is the same as a BA anywhere else... apparently some tradition or something that they've kept going for a reason I do not know. So essentially you are choosing between a Psychology BSc or BA. The way this is decided is whether you do more science or arts modules in first and second year - the psychology degree is identical for both. The only difference is the letters you receive at the end of it.

Regarding module choices, you must take 120 credits a year. In first year you take 40 psych credits (two 20 credit modules, one per semester) and so you need to choose 80 more credits worth of modules. In first year, modules are almost always 20 credits. For example, I did the two psych modules, two biology modules and two social anthropology modules. You can choose to take modules in literally any subject across the university (except medicine). In second year, the two psychology modules are worth 30 credits (as are all other science subject modules) and so you must choose 60 more credits in other subjects. Second year arts modules are usually 20 credits, therefore most people choose 2 science modules or 3 arts modules (although you could do a mixture of both and end up with extra credits). At the end of second year, if you have more science credits, you will be doing a BSc. If you have more arts credits, you will be doing an MA. For example, I did 2 biology modules in second year so I will receive a BSc at the end. As I've already said though, there is no difference between the BSc and MA in the actual psychology modules.

Hope I made sense!


This is so helpful, I applied for a Bsc but got an MA offer instead, i'm less worried now, I don't mind as long as the degrees are the same

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