Would this make my PS seem "off-topic"?

genevie

I'm thinking of applying for the following courses for 2012 admission:

•

Politics, Psychology and Sociology (Cambridge)

•

Psychology (Warwick)

•

Psychology with Sociology (Sussex)

•

Social Psychology (Loughborough)

•

Sociology (LSE)

My PS would probably focus on Psychology and Sociology equally. Would having a dual focus lower my chances of being accepted to Warwick, or LSE, because I'd be partially off-topic for their courses?

I know it's early days, I'm just wondering..

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Reply 1

neutralmilkhotel

No, just link them together. How does Psychology relate to Sociology, and so forth.

Reply 2

Pheebs1201

Warwick is quite competitive so it may slightly disadvantage you there, but universities will understand you are applying to others and that the course may differ, so it shouldnt impact too much, as long as you show a passion for psychology. Good luck. :smile:

Reply 3

Minerva

Original post by genevie

I'm thinking of applying for the following courses for 2012 admission:

•

Politics, Psychology and Sociology (Cambridge)

•

Psychology (Warwick)

•

Psychology with Sociology (Sussex)

•

Social Psychology (Loughborough)

•

Sociology (LSE)

Very likely. A PS with a lot of psychology in it will not help your cause with LSE at all, and vice versa won't help you with Warwick. I would strongly suggest you make up your mind - not now, nearer the time! - which of psychology or sociology primarily interests you. Remember too that social psychology is a specialist discipline within psychology and has little to do with sociology, so Loughborough won't go a bundle on a PS with sociology in it either.

Reply 4

genevie

Original post by Minerva

Social psychology is not available as a single honours degree subject at undergraduate level. However, courses are offered as outside options for students registered for degrees in other subjects. There are courses available in all three years of the undergraduate programme.

Which is one of the main reasons I'd be interested in doing a Sociology degree there..

If I focused my PS more on my interest in Social Psychology specifically, would that make me appear to be a better candidate for those five courses all-round? Or am I definitely going to have to knock LSE off my list?

Reply 5

Minerva

Original post by genevie

I see what you're saying..

However, Social Psychology isn't just a psychology discipline. It's also a sociology discipline. The two aren't exactly the same, but they have similar focuses. And LSE has courses in Social Psychology -

Which is one of the main reasons I'd be interested in doing a Sociology degree there..

If I focused my PS more on my interest in Social Psychology specifically, would that make me appear to be a better candidate for those five courses all-round? Or am I definitely going to have to knock LSE off my list?

I wouldn't have thought so, frankly, but your best bet is to contact LSE and talk to them.

Reply 6

Rogercbinboy

It would be off-topic if you were talking about your sex life, that should be fine. Universities realise that some people opt for duel-courses and need to appeal to both sides, just maybe focus more on psychology than sociology.

Reply 7

sc0307

Original post by Minerva

I have the same problem, I applied for 2 different courses, pharmacology and human sciences. I tried to relate them as best I could without mentioning the course names in the PS, will it lower my chances considerably at places like UCL and KCL even if the rest of my application is good?

Reply 8

Minerva

Original post by sc0307

Even if I had read it, I couldn't possibly say. I'm afraid you're committed now, and will just have to wait and see. The courses you've applied for are somewhat less competitive than psychology, and arguably have more of an overlap, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Reply 9

sc0307

Original post by Minerva

OK thanks

Reply 10

synvilla

I applied to Sociology & Psychology combined at some universities last year, while pure Sociology / Psychology at some. I got straight rejections from all the pure sociology / psychology ones with the motivation that my PS didn't sufficiently demonstrate my interest for their course. I really wouldn't recommend doing the same thing.

Reply 11

Colour Me Pretty

Original post by synvilla

I applied to Sociology & Psychology combined at some univesities last year, while pure Sociology / Psychology at some. I got straight rejections from all the pure sociology / psychology ones with the motivation that my PS didn't sufficiently demonstrate my interest for their course. I really wouldn't recommend doing the same thing.

I applied for English and American Lit
and I've got an offer for straight Lit,
admittedly it is a lower Uni but still...

However Psychology and Sociology are completely different disciplines
even if they do overlap. I think it's entirely dependent on the university and the course. :dontknow:

Reply 12

Interrobang

Original post by synvilla

Please listen to this, OP. I've read sooo many PSs in my time and the ones applying for a mix of single and joint honours sound far less dedicated. You MAY be able to get away with it at less competitive unis, but those aren't. If you're doing that just cos of Cambridge however, I would say don't bother to incorporate them. Cambridge will know that the degree title isn't done anywhere else really and so they won't mind you focusing on one of those disciplines in your PS - you can use your SAQ to talk about the others :smile:

FYI Oxford do an accredited experimental psychology degree if that interests you

Reply 13

genevie

Original post by xKTx

FYI Oxford do an accredited experimental psychology degree if that interests you

I'm not just doing it because of Cambridge, I'm doing it because I have developed a genuine interest in both Psychology and Sociology.. I'm not interested in Oxford, really. Especially since I don't have any science A Levels. :/

I suppose I can knock LSE off the list an choose a different uni, then focus my entire PS on Psychology ... but I really wanted to apply to at least one hometown university :frown:

Reply 14

Interrobang

There are plenty of unis in london that do psych - ucl and royal holloway (altho I know that's not central) for example. Not sure if they do joint degrees tho

Reply 15

linnie99

I wanted to do PPS as well so I have emailed both Cambridge and LSE about personal statement. LSE said that they understand the ps is not completely focused on sociology because there are a number of students applying to PPS as well. Cambridge said that you don't have to talk about all three subjects in equal amount in your PS because you can talk about them in more detail on SAQ. However, I don't recommend you applying for Warwick; my school has advised me that Warwick is very keen on focused/well written personal statements.
I ended up applying to Oxford for Experimental Psychology at the end because I still found writing the ps for PPS really difficult and I didn't want to risk anything for UCL which is my second choice. And I didn't do any 'traditional' sciences..apart from maths and further maths. Anyways... you have plenty of time to think about what you really want to do and whether or not you are ready to risk some of your choices. Have a look at Bristol-they have Politics and Sociology and Psychology and Sociology(I think).

Reply 16

Pheebs1201

My personal statement was 100% Psychology based and I have an interview for PPS. They dont expect you to have a PS geared towards all three, or even two of them, as they are the only university that offers this course so obviously you will only be applying to one of the three everywhere else.

Reply 17

angelmxxx

I applied for completely different courses and got 4 offers.

Applied for - 2 x History (1 offer, 1 rejection after interview),
1 History, sociology and English Lit,
1 Social history & Social anthropology,
and 1 History, anthropology and management, all at very competitive universities.

As long as you link the subjects properly (ie approaching themes from both perspectives), you should be fine - in fact, showing that you can critically evaluate a theme/idea from different perspectives is showing that you have a really great skill.

Reply 18

angelmxxx

Original post by Pheebs1201

Do Cambridge still let you write an additional ps on their questionnaire? Some of my friends applied there 2 years ago and were allowed to write 1000 characters I think?

Reply 19

angelmxxx

Original post by genevie

Definitely not, with the 1000s of available courses out there universities know that their course is not going to be identical to other universities'. Even courses with the same name can be utterly different - especially in anthropology and other social sciences. Psychology can be an almost entirely biological course, or a very applied, social focused course. If they have optional modules then they will expect their students to have different interests and ideas, and pick the modules which suit them - if they didn't expect this, they'd have 100% compulsory modules!