Kent VS RHU VS King's VS Sussex vs Surrey for Psychology BSc

Hi Everyone!

I'm a bit muddled at the moment as I have a difficult decision to make from 5 unconditional offers.

I'm really unsure as to which one is the best for Psychology (my interests are specifically in Clinical Psychology, Research Psychology, Mental Health, Applied Psychology, Interdisciplinary Psychology and Research, Social Psychology, and Holistic/Eclectic Therapeutic Approaches - I would like to develop new therapies.)

I would appreciate your inputs and need help weighing in on this decision.

Here are the courses I've gotten into :-

1. Royal Holloway, University of London : Psychology, Clinical Psychology & Mental Health BSc

2. University of Surrey : Psychology BSc

3. University of Sussex : Psychology (with a professional placement year) BSc

4. The University of Kent : Applied Psychology with Clinical Psychology (4-year sandwich) BSc

5. King's College London: Psychology BSc

Thank you so much in advance and good luck everyone on making their decisions.

Hi Everyone!

I'm a bit muddled at the moment as I have a difficult decision to make from 5 unconditional offers.

I'm really unsure as to which one is the best for Psychology (my interests are specifically in Clinical Psychology, Research Psychology, Mental Health, Applied Psychology, Interdisciplinary Psychology and Research, Social Psychology, and Holistic/Eclectic Therapeutic Approaches - I would like to develop new therapies.)

I would appreciate your inputs and need help weighing in on this decision.

.

Hi @anusharamji,


I hope you don't mind me getting in touch, but I have a few ideas which may help you to narrow down your options I was a student at Surrey from 2012-2015, so I completely get what it's like to have to choose between a number of great unis. I'll try to give you some general advice on picking a uni and give some info about what it's like to be a student at Surrey. Unfortunately I don't have any experience of the other unis, but if you contact them they should be able to help Sorry in advance for the wall of text!


Firstly, take a look at the modules offered in each course. Is there a vast difference in the modules offered by any one course or are they all fairly similar? Take a look at the module descriptions within each course to compare and contrast. You can find the modules for Surrey's BSc in Psychology broken down year by year here (click the module title to be taken to a full description, including how the module is assessed, learning outcomes etc.). Not sure if all unis do this, but if you'd like to speak to a member of the teaching team for your course then Surrey's Admissions team can usually help put you in touch with an academic who will be happy to discuss the course and answer any questions you may have. You can contact our Admissions team on +44 (0)1483682222 or email [email protected]. It might be worth contacting the other unis as well to see if they can arrange for you to have a conversation with a member of the Psychology team to find out about the course in greater detail.


Secondly, do all the courses offer a placement year? Many students find that doing a placement year greatly enhances their employability prospects after graduating, with many students being offered graduate jobs with their placement provider if they impress them during the placement year. This really takes the pressure off in your final year as you can focus on studying for your exams and doing your coursework instead of job hunting. Surrey offers a placement year on all its programmes, which most students take advantage of. Placements recently undertaken by Surrey BSc Psychology students include working at St Thomas' hospital in London in the Tics and Neurodevelopmental Movement (TANDeM) service in the department of children’s neurosciences, at the NHS in a mental health inpatient ward and early psychosis intervention service, at Broadmoor Hospital, at the Domestic Terror Unit at the Metropolitan Police (that was my friend Emma, she hasn't done a write up about it I'm afraid!) and at a private rehab centre dealing with various addictions. The links provided will also give you an idea of what life as a Psychology student is like at Surrey as the profiles were all written by current students/recent grads


Thirdly, what are the departmental and wider university facilities like? Do you want to be at a campus uni where everything is easily accessible in a single place, or would you prefer a city uni where the uni facilities may be spread across a larger area? How important are things like the local night life, uni sports and societies, cost of living, proximity to shops etc. to you? You should be able to find info about all of this on each uni's website With regards to Surrey's campus, the main Stag Hill campus is a 10 minute walk from Guildford town centre, 10 minutes in the opposite direction from a Tesco Superstore, and a 15 minute walk from the Manor Park campus which houses some student accommodation and Surrey Sports Park, where our sports teams train. There are over 46 sports clubs and 100+ societies at Surrey, and lots to do in the wider community as well.


As for departmental facilties, the School of Psychology provides its students with their own computing laboratories with a large number of Windows-based workstations and PCs. In addition, students have 24-hour access to the University’s computing facilities and the University Library.
The School also has a range of dedicated laboratories for conducting a wide variety of psychological research, including infant observation facilities, laboratories for perception and psychophysiological research, a suite of small project rooms, an extensive library of psychometric and clinical tests, the use of an MRI brain scanner, EEG recorders and TMS equipment.


There’s always lots going on on campus – Rubix (our on site nightclub) is open on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there’s a weekly Open Mic night in Hari’s Bar (in the Students’ Union) which is brilliant. The Union organises trips and activities throughout the year, too. Past trips have included Edinburgh, Brighton, Oxford, Winchester, Disneyland Paris, Thorpe Park and loads more. There are regular free movie screenings, and training classes such as self-defence and CPR…. I’m pretty sure the classes are free too The SU produce an Events calendar for each term which lists everything going on – you can pick one up from the Union’s stand at Freshers Fair or access it online. You can see the current term’s events planner here (it ran from the end of January exams through to the start of Easter break).


I’m a big fan of Guildford as a place to live – it’s a very safe, pretty town with plenty to do. After graduating from Surrey in 2015, I lived in Oxford for a year, but I much preferred Guildford so I decided to move back! Guildford has got a nice mix of high street chains and independent shops, restaurants and pubs/bars as well as a few clubs. Our Wetherspoons (Spoons to the locals) is much nicer than most Spoons – it’s set over two levels in this cool old industrial building and has a dancefloor (and obviously great drinks deals – 4 jaegerbombs for £10 being a student favourite haha). It’s open til midnight on weekdays and until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. Of course, there are other clubs too which open til 3am or so at the weekends. Pubs-wise, the best in my opinion is The Whitehouse or The Weyside, with my fave bars being Turtle Bay, Alley Bar and All Bar One. Then you’ve got your usual restaurants like Nandos, Pizza Express, Giraffe etc. as well as some fantastic family-owned places like Positano (best Italian food I’ve had) and Thai Terrace (incredible cocktails and thai cuisine). We’ve got a cinema, leisure centre with bowling and a massive ice rink, 3 theatres, a number of music venues, loads of parks and scenic places to walk/cycle and it’s only a 34 minute train ride to London!


The only downside I can think of is that it is a bit more expensive than other towns due to its proximity to London. However, you can find nice rooms for £400 a month after you move out of your first year halls. I pay £550 for a double room with all bills included (and a Sky box) in a nice area that’s only a 20 minute walk from uni. If you need to find a part time job to help with living costs, there are loads of jobs available in bars/restaurants and within the uni as well. We have a Unitemps on site who have a variety of part times available that would suit students, and you can also apply to work in the Students’ Union at Hari’s Bar or Rubix (I did when I was a student and had some great fun with my coworkers). Or you can go direct to the shops, pubs etc. in town

Finally, it's a really good idea to try to visit all the unis you've applied to if at all possible. This will allow you to see the campus and surrounding area first hand and helps you get a sense of what it would be like to study there. Surrey does campus tours every Wednesday at 1pm which last an hour, or you can do a self-guided tour anytime (info included in previous link).


I hope this helps a bit! If you've got any further questions about what it's like to study/live at Surrey then feel free to message!

All the best,
Ashley

Over the last 20 years I have had exposure or direct experience of several of the places on your list (and others) as either student, teacher, staff, clinician and external examiner. They are all quite different in their own ways. I would say asking "which one is best for psychology" is probably going about it the wrong way, and it would be better to see which one is a best fit for you as an individual. Placement years are helpful if you want to go into any applied psychology field, but beyond that it would be essential to think about where you would thrive best so you are happy, engaged and able to get your best academic performance as that will matter when it comes to doing anything postgraduate.

Some of those places are campus based (e.g. RHUL) whereas others are more city based (like KCL), which have their pros and cons. Some places are more suitable for big partiers (e.g. sussex), whereas the vibe at others is more studious and focussed. Societies and clubs are a massive boost for some, but a terrible distraction for others. You know yourself best, and I would advise spending some time at each if you can. What I would say is don't focus too much on rankings as these come from the research output, and as an undergraduate you are going to be limited in your involvement with this, or picking a place on the basis of your parents impressing their friends -if you are not happy there, you will not do so well.

As someone who is currently in the process of working clinically and actively developing/evaluating therapies, I can say that none of those places will hinder your ability to do what I am doing. What will be crucial is the experience you gather during and after your degree, the mentors who you can develop links with (sometimes easier at smaller places than larger ones) and the calibre of fellow students/people in your network who will develop your thinking and support you (people on your wavelength). For me that was starting off at a smaller more academic campus based university and developing confidence, going onto more research focussed institutions for postgrad research, and then more vocational focussed universities to develop my clinical skills. However, that's just me. Some of my friends fell in love with a particular places and found it got the best out of them. We are all different (which is the tl:dr of psychology come to think of it) so do think carefully about what would fit your personality best.

Thank you so much for this detailed reply. You are so wonderful and kind! This wall of text is incredibly helpful. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours.