The Student Room Group
Student at University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh

Psychology at Edinburgh? - Opinions please?

OK - lots of questions. lol :
Can any students tell me if they think Edinburgh is a good university? Pros and Cons pleeease. Is Psychology a good course? or if not, where else should i go to study Psychology. There are so many good Psychology combination courses such as Mind and Language, Psychology & Sociology, Psychology & Linguistics... can anyone give me any reviews of these courses? Bearing in mind that I hope to end up as child/educational psychologist.
I'm doing the international baccalaureatte soon (including higher level psychology, biology but not chemistry <--- does that matter!?) and I got 7A*'s and 3 A's at GCSE's :woo:
How exclusive is Edinburgh uni and what do you think my chances are of getting in?

Soz to overwhelm you guys! lol. just in general any thoughts/opinions/musings/advice welcome! lol

Thanks :biggrin:

XxxX
Reply 1
Nandika
How exclusive is Edinburgh uni and what do you think my chances are of getting in?


I can't help with any of the subject-specific stuff, or even the Edinburgh-specific stuff, because I'm not even there yet!

What I do know is that it says somewhere - the Edinburgh website I think? - that you have a good chance of getting in if you meet the grade requirements (BBB is an average offer, I believe) and have a solid personal statement. They don't interview (unless you want to do Music, Medicine or...something else that isn't Psychology), so my advice would be to pack your personal statement full of shiny little tidbits saying how perfect you are for the course blah blah etc.

Career-wise, as far as I know you just need a degree in Psychology to work in a Psychology-related area (although people can correct me on that). So I'm not sure the combo matters all that much.

And as for general: Edinburgh city is wicked. I think, whatever my opinion of the university will be, the actual city is a definite pro. It's always been lively whenever I've been there, there's loads of different people to meet and places to eat (a definite plus for me!), and there's no shortage of pubs, clubs and bars. As a student, Edinburgh city is perfect. I'll let you know about the university itself :wink:
Student at University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
Everyone I've met who's done psychology here absolutely loves it. It's a pretty bog department and has a bit of a community from what I'm led to believe. There's lots of option modules so you could get a whole load of developmental psychology stuff done if you wanted. Edinburgh's a strong research institute in all areas so a good place to build up research experience which will help with a PhD (which would be necessary for any form of clinical psychology - not sure if educational psychology counts as such). As for any further info I strongly suggest you go to a uni open day and have a good chat with some staff and current students.
Reply 3
I did psychology in my first year as an outside option so can help you a little bit.
The department is very friendly and there is a real community feel to the building.
The course is accredited with the BPS which is critical as I'm sure you know.
I didn't actually enjoy the first year course very much but most that I know really liked it. You do sections from all areas of psychology so really get a flavor for the subject. Tutorials are very much presentation based and you also have to do 10 hours of research participation during the year.
Feedback on essays isn't brilliant.

Oh and on the BBB entry requirements, most that I know had got straight A's at Alevel but Edinburgh do take the personal statement seriously as well.