Psychology at Uni - Ask Me Anything!

Hello everyone :ciao:

I'm Scotland Yard, first year Psychology student at Queen Mary University of London, here to answer any questions you might have about Psychology and applying to university! Don't hesitate to ask, I won't bite and I'd be extremely happy to help :biggrin:

Good luck to everyone applying to Psychology :goodluck:

SY

Edit: link to previous Psychology AMA: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6450962

(edited 7 months ago)

Hi, I just started my first year of A levels (studying Psychology, Sociology, Maths and Computer Science) and I don't really know what I can do for anything extracurricular besides mentoring the Y7s and I am completely lost on what to do for work experience. I want to be a forensic psychologist but anything related to that for work experience is confidential and heavily guarded, by the time we do work experience I'll still be 16 and I doubt I'll be able to get anything formal. I also live in a really remote area (East Lincolnshire) so there really isn't anything nearby or many people to help. Do you have any advice?

Reply 3

Scotland Yard

OP

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by Auriz

Hi, I just started my first year of A levels (studying Psychology, Sociology, Maths and Computer Science) and I don't really know what I can do for anything extracurricular besides mentoring the Y7s and I am completely lost on what to do for work experience. I want to be a forensic psychologist but anything related to that for work experience is confidential and heavily guarded, by the time we do work experience I'll still be 16 and I doubt I'll be able to get anything formal. I also live in a really remote area (East Lincolnshire) so there really isn't anything nearby or many people to help. Do you have any advice?

Hello there :biggrin:

As far as I understand, there is very little experience directly regarding Psychology that you can get during sixth form, so what you can do really is get yourself involved in mentoring like you're already doing, and other similar things where you help and/or talk with people. Volunteering is a great thing you could do, particularly if you can volunteer in charities involving mental health (the charity Mind comes to mind :tongue:

). @thrivingfrog, is there anything else you can think of?

Reply 4

thrivingfrog

Chat Forum Helper, Study Forum Helper

21

Original post by Auriz

Hi, I just started my first year of A levels (studying Psychology, Sociology, Maths and Computer Science) and I don't really know what I can do for anything extracurricular besides mentoring the Y7s and I am completely lost on what to do for work experience. I want to be a forensic psychologist but anything related to that for work experience is confidential and heavily guarded, by the time we do work experience I'll still be 16 and I doubt I'll be able to get anything formal. I also live in a really remote area (East Lincolnshire) so there really isn't anything nearby or many people to help. Do you have any advice?

Thanks for the tag @Scotland Yard :smile:

I've just finished writing my personal statement so I'll give you a few things I think you could look for/include etc.

Any voluntary work is good, ik this isn't related to forensic psychology but if you managed to get some in a care home etc you can make a lot of links to psychology in general. The same goes for youth work, which is what I did.

Another thing you can do is look on a website called Springpod. They do a load of online work experience, so definitely look into that as you may be able to find one specialised in forensic. If not, I did the general psychology one and there was a whole module on forensic psychology so you have options really

Reply 5

Auriz

3

Original post by thrivingfrog

Thanks for the tag @Scotland Yard :smile:

I've just finished writing my personal statement so I'll give you a few things I think you could look for/include etc.

Any voluntary work is good, ik this isn't related to forensic psychology but if you managed to get some in a care home etc you can make a lot of links to psychology in general. The same goes for youth work, which is what I did.

Another thing you can do is look on a website called Springpod. They do a load of online work experience, so definitely look into that as you may be able to find one specialised in forensic. If not, I did the general psychology one and there was a whole module on forensic psychology so you have options really

Thank you both very much for your help! I'll make sure to look into it, you're life savers! (:

Reply 6

Imogen285

4

Original post by Scotland Yard

Hello everyone :ciao:

I'm Scotland Yard, first year Psychology student at Queen Mary University of London, here to answer any questions you might have about Psychology and applying to university! Don't hesitate to ask, I won't bite and I'd be extremely happy to help :biggrin:

Good luck to everyone applying to Psychology :goodluck:

SY

Edit: link to previous Psychology AMA: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6450962

ive applied for psychology at, birmigham, nottigham, loughborough, southhampton, and trent when did you first hearing back about your uni offers?

Reply 7

Scotland Yard

OP

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

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Original post by Imogen285

ive applied for psychology at, birmigham, nottigham, loughborough, southhampton, and trent when did you first hearing back about your uni offers?

Hi there! I heard back within a month for two of my universities, and then the other universities took their sweet time - most of them were London based though, which are infamous for taking a lifetime and a half to get back to you!

But don't worry about hearing back - it's a process that takes time for some universities and you always have a chance to get an offer, no matter how long it's been since you applied. Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 8

swaggir

8

I'm currently predicted 3 A* but I am struggling to choose a safety uni - what grade requirement should I go for? I'm also considering the location of the university - will I enjoy living there? Any advice would be appreciated, thank you

Reply 9

Scotland Yard

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Original post by swaggiekaty

I'm currently predicted 3 A* but I am struggling to choose a safety uni - what grade requirement should I go for? I'm also considering the location of the university - will I enjoy living there? Any advice would be appreciated, thank you

I'd aim for somewhere like AAB-ABB - not saying that you won't get triple A*, it's just that the highest entry requirement you're likely to find is A*AA so it makes sense to go two or three grades below that maximum for a proper insurance choice. But I'd also suggest to not base your decision exclusively on entry requirements - apply to a university that you'll like and enjoy!

In terms of location, that's a personal thing that you'll need to decide for yourself - would you like to study in a big city, or maybe in a small place? Would you like a busy place, or a quiet place out of the way? Somewhere that will allow you to go and do many things - music, museums, fun activities - or somewhere that's a little more away from it all? You might not necessarily know the answers to these questions right away and that's fine, if you think about it and try going to the universities themselves and see where they are, you'll know your answer. Don't forget to consider the campus of the university too, as you might find the local area the uni is based and the uni is based are two completely different worlds on some cases. The way to figure this out is to go explore and see it with your own eyes! Hope this was helpful :smile:

Reply 10

almashehadeh

5

Original post by Scotland Yard

Hello everyone :ciao:

I'm Scotland Yard, first year Psychology student at Queen Mary University of London, here to answer any questions you might have about Psychology and applying to university! Don't hesitate to ask, I won't bite and I'd be extremely happy to help :biggrin:

Good luck to everyone applying to Psychology :goodluck:

SY

Edit: link to previous Psychology AMA: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6450962

Hii! I'm Alma from Swansea, Wales. I'm in year 13 interested in doing psychology next year. right now I'm going through the process of personal statement and selecting where i want to go, although i do have a few questions:
I'm worried that psychology in uni will be so complicated and hard, i do take a level psychology however I'm worried psychology in uni is just so much worse in comparison. can you explain how you feel and the difference towards a level, would you say its much more complicated? please do tell me about your experience
PS this is my first time on this website so I'm worries i wont be able to open it up again or wont get notified about a reply. i hope to see a reply thanks so much

(edited 5 months ago)

Reply 11

Scotland Yard

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Original post by almashehadeh

Hii! I'm Alma from Swansea, Wales. I'm in year 13 interested in doing psychology next year. right now I'm going through the process of personal statement and selecting where i want to go, although i do have a few questions:
I'm worried that psychology in uni will be so complicated and hard, i do take a level psychology however I'm worried psychology in uni is just so much worse in comparison. can you explain how you feel and the difference towards a level, would you say its much more complicated? please do tell me about your experience
i hope to see a reply thanks so much

Hi Alma,

I didn't take psychology at A-level... and I'm following along the course just fine so I wouldn't say it's overcomplicated and hard :smile:

I gather from my mates who did take psychology at A-level that our course has been so far mostly a recap of A-level while going a little more in depth. I do a module at my uni called biopsychology which presents the biggest step-up from A-level stuff, if not entirely new content, and then we do have a statistics module which no one is a big fan of, but it's all very doable anyway and I wouldn't be worried about it being worse than it is at A-level. It's a fun subject!

If you have any other questions, please ask :smile:

Reply 12

almashehadeh

5

Original post by Scotland Yard

Hi Alma,

I didn't take psychology at A-level... and I'm following along the course just fine so I wouldn't say it's overcomplicated and hard :smile:

I gather from my mates who did take psychology at A-level that our course has been so far mostly a recap of A-level while going a little more in depth. I do a module at my uni called biopsychology which presents the biggest step-up from A-level stuff, if not entirely new content, and then we do have a statistics module which no one is a big fan of, but it's all very doable anyway and I wouldn't be worried about it being worse than it is at A-level. It's a fun subject!

If you have any other questions, please ask :smile:

thanks for replying, could you tell me overall about your experience in uni compared to a level like the revision, exams people classes etc and overall how your finding it and your previous expectations of uni versus reality. thank you so much for getting back this is really helpful. I'm looking and trying to scatter a list of universities to go to next year and which i will pick my top5 for application however i do have an issue with my target grades being all B, however its the same to what i got in AS which is annoying none of my teachers decided to up a grade.

Reply 13

Scotland Yard

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Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by almashehadeh

thanks for replying, could you tell me overall about your experience in uni compared to a level like the revision, exams people classes etc and overall how your finding it and your previous expectations of uni versus reality. thank you so much for getting back this is really helpful. I'm looking and trying to scatter a list of universities to go to next year and which i will pick my top5 for application however i do have an issue with my target grades being all B, however its the same to what i got in AS which is annoying none of my teachers decided to up a grade.

Well, revision is entirely independent. I only started revising about two weeks ago and you're at first unsure how well you're doing it - but don't worry, everyone feels like this and it's just something you'll figure out how to do and you can always reach out to staff for help :smile:

. There is a big change of how to study when compared to A-levels. In A-level, you know you've got the specifications and the book and you know that anything you might be asked will be in there somewhere. At uni it's a little more complex, what we could be asked or not isn't as clear-cut as it is in A-levels... I guess everything we could be asked will be in our books, but they are 900 pages long, which isn't what I'd particularly describe as revision-friendly resources :redface:

The content actually taught on the lectures is a good base and one of our lecturers openly admitted that revising just from the lectures for her module will easily give us a pass, but for other modules we have been told that yes, we need to base off the content taught during the lectures but then we need to go revise and take notes from the book.

I'm unsure of how exams work at other universities but at Queen Mary we have multiple-choice questions for our first year (for second and third year we'll have both MCQs and essay exams). I was taking a look at some past papers this morning and the questions don't look too mean. I have two midterm exams, one next week and one the following week, and then I'll have end of semester exams in January.

The people are nice, but I won't say much more because how the people will be will depend entirely of where you go and the year as well. Most students will be girls though, which I do know is just about the only guaranteed fact regardless of where you end up.

Classes are alright. We have two hour lectures, about four or five of those a week, plus a tutorial every week (small group teaching) and two hours in the computer lab every other week to do statistics stuff on computers.

I'm finding everything good so far. We got eased into things, my expectations broadly matched reality - but I didn't anticipate just how much independent study time there actually is! You need to be careful, else assignments will sneak up on you! I also found that a lot of stereotypes that you might know of university students are largely true for a lot of people - there's drinking, there's partying, there's silly things happening left right and centre, there's a crowd of people who are here doing their very best to waste their time and tuition fees and get absolutely nothing but debt and clubbing from uni and then there are those who are slaves to their degree and barely see sunlight because they go above and beyond infinity what they're meant to do... and then there's a lot of in-between. It's a fun place, uni. It's different from anything you've ever lived, and there's something for everyone, if you look you'll find people you'll enjoy hanging out with and people to help you with your degree - me and my friends frequently collaborate to help each other with reading and things we don't understand, which makes everything so much easier and fun.

Teachers are understandably not very happy with predicting a higher grade from what you've actually done or if you're not showing any signs of improving or being on the up. If you have any big exams before the Christmas break, I'd try to negotiate with your teachers some sort of deal to have new predicted grades if you perform well in these exams and apply in January before the UCAS deadline. But I wouldn't count on this happening and look at universities that will take you with your current predicted grades and maybe one or two ABB unis. An alternative would also be to try to ace your A-levels and take a gap year to apply to places with your actual grades, if you think you can perform better than your predicted grades.

Sorry for the long post :colondollar:

Psychology at Uni - Ask Me Anything!

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