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4 year plan for Psychology degree/BPS accreditation

Hi there, mature student here looking to pursue a career as a psychologist

I'm told that I need to do 2 things -

a) Conversion course (1 year)
b) A Society accredited Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (3 years)

Now my only issue is finding a city/university that offers both these things at the same location as I plan on moving to said city full-time for the 4 year period it will take to complete my studies.

Any recommendations? Keen to get this right as it's something I've wanted for a long time, and finally have the funds to make it happen. I appreciate any info anyone can give me!

Thanks.
You also need relevant work experience (full-time, paid, recent), and clinical psychology is incredibly competitive, so it's likely that you'll be looking at more than 4 years unfortunately. Not sure about places that offer both courses, but even if you can find one and you get onto the course straight away, there is no guarantee that your placement will be close enough to commute to from that city
Reply 2
Hey Interrobang, thanks for your response.

I was told that completion of the conversion course and doctorate would be enough to begin practising independently. Is that the case?

From my research these are the cities that offer both the conversion course (1 year) and accredited doctorate (3 years):
Birmingham
Cardiff
Canterbury
Coventry
Edingburgh
Glasgow
Leeds
Liverpool
Manchester
Nottingham
Plymouth
Belfast
Surrey
Staffordshire
Original post by itwtyped
Hey Interrobang, thanks for your response.

I was told that completion of the conversion course and doctorate would be enough to begin practising independently. Is that the case?

From my research these are the cities that offer both the conversion course (1 year) and accredited doctorate (3 years):
Birmingham
Cardiff
Canterbury
Coventry
Edingburgh
Glasgow
Leeds
Liverpool
Manchester
Nottingham
Plymouth
Belfast
Surrey
Staffordshire


That is what you need to become a clinical psychologist, yes. However, being accepted onto the doctorate course is easier said than done. The work experience is to be accepted onto the course. After you've completed the course, you will be a qualified clinical psychologist.

As for the courses, I'm afraid I don't know which unis offer it, but it looks like you've done some research there anyway
To add to what Interrobang has said, the Clinical Doctorate is incredibly competitive (in 2016 there were 3730 applicants for 595 places with a success rate of 16%). It is not a career that you can just decide to pursue and be sure that you will achieve. The general rule of thumb is: 3 year undergrad, 1 year masters and 2 years work experience before you are truly in competition. Of course, people get on without masters and some get on with much less experience, but I wouldn't bank on that person being you.

What is it that draws you to this career? There are many other options for Psychology based jobs which are much easier to pursue.
Reply 5
Hey guys, thanks for the additional info.

As to what draws me to this career, I’ve held an interest in the subject for a long time (early 30s now). I’ve been in therapy myself (early mid 20s on and off) and know that it works. I believe the only real good I can personally do in this world is improve people’s confidence and worldview.

I finished a degree in Criminology (2:1) 10 years ago, have been successful in an irrelevant field ever since, and am in a position now where I can go back to uni and work toward a new career.

I should mention I’m not particularly interested in working in prison services, so that would render my Criminology degree irrelevant. Ideally I want to be able to practice independently from my own office. I can also see myself working with young people with low self-esteem, maybe in an educational setting.

What other psychology-based jobs did you have in mind? Perhaps there’s something I haven’t considered.
If you are looking to pursue clinical psychology, you may want to check out the clinpsy forum, particularly their starting out page which answers a lot of the questions you will have.

http://www.clinpsy.org.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=17

You can also read the clinical psychology FAQ in my signature for more information, but your plan to do your conversion and DClinPsy in the same place generally doesn't happen because there is usually a lot of moving around in the early stages of the career. My undergrad and DClinPsy (as well as my first postqual job) happened in very different locations. You may be able to stay in say, London for the duration of all of your studying, but that will make everything far more expensive (plus those are the courses that are the most competitive to get into in terms of applicants to place ratio).

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