clinical psychology

what is the pathway to becoming a clinical psychologist?
what levels do you need and what grades?

So first you need a bachelors degree, it needs to be Psychology (must be BPS approved, it should say this on the Universities website)
During your degree its a good idea to get some relevant experience as clinical psychologist roles are competitive to get to.
You need at least a 2:1 or 1st in your undergraduate.
Most undergraduates then take a year or two to work as an assistant psychologist, or research assistant in a clinical area (those are just the most popular there are other options, id advise you have some work experience during your undergraduate as these jobs are highly competitive straight out of University).
The reason most go for work first is your next step education wise is the Dclinpsy which is a doctorate degree in psychology which is incredibly competitive to get onto. This doctorate is also around 3 years, after completing it you would be eligible to work as a Clinical psychologist.
Oh also if you needed slightly less competitive work after your undergraduate for experience, healthcare assistant roles are really useful for Dclin 😊
Hope this helps! This was the pathway i was going to go through, so I spoke to a lot of people about the best ways to get through the process.

thank you so much 🙂 I'm just asking this for a friend who is quit busy at the moment so doesn't have time to research themselves. Is it possible if you could tell me more about the work experience? should it be more towards the research side or does it not matter?

No problem! The closer to the clinical side the better! But if its experience in clinical research thats great too!
Your friend could always reach out to local NHS organisations, or charities aimed at mental health and either do some voluntary or part time work for them 😊

is being a health care assistant some that is recommended for this for experience? or is there something that they tend to prefer ?
thanks

The most popular option is an assistant psychologist, but from speaking to both current clinical psychologists and students on the doctorate course some work experience as a healthcare assistant in a mental health area is also really good experience to get on the doctorate 😊
I do know of one doctorate student who only had experience as a research assistant before getting onto the course too.

what work experience do you recommend doing while doing the 1st degree ?