psychology or maths at uni?

I have been interested in doing psychology (BSc) at uni for a while now but I am worried about the essay component of the course. Essay based subjects have never been my strength and because of this I am unsure if I would struggle with psychology at degree. Does essay skills have a huge affect on how well you do in a psychology degree ?
Also I know that psychology is a competitive subject so I don't know if I want to risk not being able to good a good job at the end of the course . I have considered doing maths instead as this is something I enjoy and tend to do well in at school .Maths being a highly respected subject in which there will always be good job prospects , would this be a better option?
Any advice on the situation would be appreciated.

Reply 1

username738914

Original post by JadeSkinner

Getting a good job is more about you and your specific experience/temperament/skills than it is about anything you've studied. Someone studying Psych who is switched on with all the right qualities and actively finds networking opportunities/applies to internships/contributes to uni life etc will get a better job than a Maths student who does bugger all with a poor attitude (if the maths person even gets a job that is).

Study what you want to study for the next 3-4 years of your life but from day 1 of university, start setting yourself up for career success wherever possible.

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Reply 2

Kevin De Bruyne

I would add, don't think about studying maths at uni just because you are good at it at school (I realise that may sound quite patronising but it is not meant to be). It's a lot different to study it at university and if you don't like it, you will struggle, so have a look at the kind of things that will actually be studied :h:

Reply 3

iammichealjackson

Original post by JadeSkinner

Why do you think you're not good at writing essays? Whilst some people may be able to write essays with more flowery language, in the end, a good psychology essay only requires basic language skills. When writing empirical reports, you can pretty much stick to a formulaic structure and method of reporting (i'm pretty sure a AI program will able to do that soon, thats how simple it is). Whilst psychology is mostly assessed via essays, examiners care more about you demonstrating that you've done lots of reading and research into a topic, and are able to translate that into a coherent argument in an essay. Its not particularly easy for anyone at first, but you do get better.

Reply 4

monkyvirus

I just wanted to add that I'm starting a PhD in Psychology as a Statistics graduate. Maths degrees can be very flexible in terms of the postgrad opportunities they open up particularly if you focus on statistics.

There are also options like "Psychology and Statistics" at Lancaster University and I think most universties will allow a Psychology + Maths combination. Another option is a more scientific degrees like neuroscience.

Reply 5

iammichealjackson

Original post by monkyvirus

Sounds interesting, what is the topic of your PhD?

Reply 6

monkyvirus

Original post by iammichealjackson

Sounds interesting, what is the topic of your PhD?

It's devolping Bayesian methods for Psychology so it's pretty statistical! I did see quite a few opportunities for data analysis PhD's but I don't actually have a strong interest in Psychology as a subject so I took the more "statistical theory" route.

Reply 7

iammichealjackson

Original post by monkyvirus

Oh cool. Yeah im increasingly finding im less interested in psychology and more interested in methods issues (although not necessarily just statistics). This is out of the topic of this thread but can you recommend some good stats textbooks for learning basic theory (not like applied ones for knowing which tests to use which data). Working through DeGroot's Probability and Statistics and Schaum's Stats textbooks in my sparetime, not sure if there is anything better.

But also on the topic of this thread, from general observation there seem to be quite a few jobs in doing statistics/data-analysis for medical research (if the OP wants to do something maths/science related) and obviously a bit in psychology departments too, so there are definately ways of combining both things.

Reply 8

monkyvirus

Original post by iammichealjackson

Man I'm a really bad person to ask about textbooks :P I don't actually have a general one, I only ever buy really specific textbooks... I did a stats degree so I covered all the basic theory in my lectures and I just never needed basic textbooks.

When I buy textbooks I generally look at reviews and try and guage what will suit me (so someone might give it 5/5 because it's super technical but I would hate that so I try and match reviews to my learning style). I also always try to buy from ABE books and places like that with ex-library copies as they're usually way cheaper (though you'll likely have to get an older edition).

Back on topic, yeah I just wanted to the OP to know that if they did choose maths then it wouldn't slam all the doors closed and it can be a pretty safe bet if you're unsure.