TOP unis for psychology

Hi there,
I am in year 12 and have already started looking for universities. I really need som e help choosing a uni in London. I 100% know i want to study psychology but i don't know what job I want to do in the future. Does anybody study psychology at a London university or does any one have any advice??? I would really love to know the pros and cons of your uni. Thanks everyone!!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Zahid~

A university that helps you find placements for a placement year (like Aston university) sounds great

UCL

Original post by Noodlzzz

UCL

Thank you. Is there any reaspn why?

Reply 4

Mel-Kaur23

Original post by Zahid~

A university that helps you find placements for a placement year (like Aston university) sounds great

In London please.

Reply 5

InternationalXX

Go for one that best matches your interests! You'll have some optional modules and it'll be best if those will suit your interests. For instance, you may find you wanna do Educational but maybe your uni doesn't have any Educational modules. Also, if you have a clue about a certain path you'd be more interested in (e.g. Clinical, Forensic, Health, Organizational), then it would be helpful to choose one that offers a Masters and/or a professional doctorate and/or a PhD in your area of interest, cuz you'll get lots of people specialized in that area for an elective module and also, if you do an MSc in the same place, you'll get cheaper fees.
I know UCL has a great department, I believe King's dept is good too (check their Masters to see what areas they excel in). And I think I heard some good stuff about Goldsmiths too? That's only for the London unis, there's fab ones outside of London too ofc, like Bath.
In Psychology, I'd say it's more about having a department that specializes in your specific thing, it'll make things easier. If you're not sure yet what you wanna do, just think of which area you'd like to do most, or at least you think you'd like - neuro, social, developmental, cognitive.

Reply 6

Mel-Kaur23

Original post by InternationalXX

Thank you so much!!! Im not quit e sure on what career I want to do however I will do more research.

Have you heard anything about queen marys??

Reply 7

Goldsmiths, University of London

Hey there,

If you want to do a psychology degree then it's worth doing one that is BPS accredited - this will give you an advantage if you ever want to practice psychology or become a chartered psychologist. Many of the best psychology programmes have this accreditation, though by extension that means there is less variation in the curriculum during the first two years of different BSc programmes.

Different universities have different strengths, and I would say that - in addition to clinical psychology and neuroscience - we are quite good for psychology in relation to art and music, as well forensic psychology (psychology within the criminal justice system and rehabilitation).

I feel one of the bigger misconceptions about psychology at this level is that it is social science based. Although you can take this route if you wish, there is a strong element of empirical research and statistics involved, which can give you transferrable skills in a wide variety of professions.

Reply 8

harrysbar

Original post by Mel-Kaur23

Thank you so much!!! Im not quit e sure on what career I want to do however I will do more research.

Have you heard anything about queen marys??

Queen Mary's is a good Uni, it's Russell group and part of the University of London.

It's not as popular as places like UCL because it's located in the East End of London rather than centrally, which means that the local area is poorer. It's very culturally diverse - but so are all London Unis.

Reply 9

InternationalXX

Original post by Mel-Kaur23

Thank you so much!!! Im not quit e sure on what career I want to do however I will do more research.

Have you heard anything about queen marys??

I haven't heard anything about the dept being particularly strong tbh, but it may be just me. Also, as someone else pointed out, make sure the courses you go for are BPS accredited! That won't limit your options, most are accredited, it's just good to check for each course. More specialized Bachelor's like, idk, BSc Forensic Psychology or BSc Clinical Psychology (not Master's) are unlikely to have all the required modules you need to be accredited due to a narrower focus of the course.

I've had a look on QMUL's website, what drew my eye is the professional placement, that's usually gold in terms of whatever you wanna do afterwards, be it Psych or a different domain. However, do ask how the placement is secured, some unis would just let you go on your own to secure it without helping and if you don't manage to, you won't get the placement, so it's worth looking into how much support they provide. Also, just based on the module listing, it sounds like the dept is quite focused on Physiological Psych, Evolutionary Psych, Biological Psych, Epigenetics and the like (if someone's from QMUL and I'm wrong about the Psych Department, please feel free to correct me!). They also seem to have rather little on Social Psych, and there are no modules for Forensic Psych, Organizational Psych etc. So I'd say QMUL seems to be quite focused on a specific area and most modules seem to reflect that, although my conclusion is just based on what I could see on their website. So yeah, it's worth taking into consideration.

Reply 10

A Rolling Stone

Original post by Mel-Kaur23

"I 100% know i want to study psychology but i don't know what job I want to do in the future"

the problem with psychology students.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5779952

Reply 11

InternationalXX

Original post by CollectiveSoul

"I 100% know i want to study psychology but i don't know what job I want to do in the future"

the problem with psychology students.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5779952

I have to say, I kind of disagree. In fact, I think a bigger problem is that a lot of Psych graduates are not aware of many other domains they can go into, cuz the degree can be quite flexible if you have some extracurricular experience and know how to sell it. I think it's perfectly acceptable to go do a degree because you like it, as long as you are fully aware of your employability status once you graduate (which I was when I decided to study Psych).
I also find it quite sad that people are supposed to have it all figured out so early on, so much pressure. And I say this as someone who's known exactly what part of Psychology they wanted to go into even before uni. Being flexible is much more important than being set in your ways and saying 'I want to go into x' even after, say, you've started studying the subject at uni and realized that niche isn't for you. And this 'I don't know what job I want to do in the future' attitude can be true for pretty much any subject.

So OP, don't worry about not having everything figured out from the cradle, be aware of the employability situation and stay flexible :smile:

Reply 12

Afterlife?

Original post by CollectiveSoul

"I 100% know i want to study psychology but i don't know what job I want to do in the future"

the problem with psychology students.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5779952

I always see you posting on psychology posts but why are you so interested in psych posts if you don’t like it 🤔🤔

Reply 13

A Rolling Stone

Original post by Afterlife?

I always see you posting on psychology posts but why are you so interested in psych posts if you don’t like it 🤔🤔

because it's this big black hole in young peoples' futures, that 100,000 students every year stubbornly refuse to stop jumping into

Reply 14

Afterlife?

Original post by CollectiveSoul

because it's this big black hole in young peoples' futures, that 100,000 students every year stubbornly refuse to stop jumping into

Ye but what are you expecting is going to happen? Psychology at <top20 unis are bare ez and have little science to them so it's obviously attractive to people who don't like/can't do maths and science. That combined with the fact that psychology is undeniably Interesting and that going to university is expected/required/cultural norm in UK society means it is pretty logical that it's the most popular degree in the uk. U cant force people to take stem and a lot of people dont have the capacity to go to a higher ranked university for psych and cultural norms dont change over one tsr thread so theres nothing you can do.

Reply 15

A Rolling Stone

Original post by Afterlife?

psychology actually is pretty sciency for the most part and has a huge stats element which is quite a lot of maths. i think you summarise why people jump into the black hole, they have no imagination or intelligent plan for their own futures

Reply 16

Afterlife?

Original post by CollectiveSoul

Psychology is supposed to be sciencey however those <top20 unis don't do much of the science cuz they want their students to do well. You can see this when you look at the proportion of firsts and 2:1 at UCL and the proportion of firsts and 2:1 at ntu and u see that it's similar.

I guess people jump into such a black hole because so many people go to university for the 'experience' and so so many people who are not sure about themselves feel pressured to go because society tells them it's a 'once in a lifetime opportunity ' that they can't miss and it's now or never . It's society you should blame not the students

Reply 17

A Rolling Stone

Original post by Afterlife?

let's agree to blame both.

Reply 18

harrysbar

Original post by CollectiveSoul

Psychology isn't that sciency considering the vast majority of Unis allow people to do it without Science or Maths A levels - even the top Unis - and yet most still come out with 2.1 or above. There is barely any science in it beyond a bit of basic Biology and the stats is perfectly doable for anyone with a decent grade in GCSE maths.

Also, how is going into Psychology "open minded" any different to going into any other non vocational degree like English, History, Languages, Biology etc - without knowing what exact job you're going to enter afterwards?