psychology degree help

You also can’t go straight into a doctorate. First you have to do a masters and then you usually have to gain experience in the area to do a doctorate in clinical psychology.

You are going to struggle to get into Nottingham with a C in maths as they require a B at gcse. You need to check the GCSE requirements for the universities.
Statistics and research methods is a key part of a psychology degree as psychology is a science and if you wish to go on and do a masters and a doctorate then you will be heavily doing work in these areas so it’s better to get comfortable with them sooner rather than later.

You also can’t go straight into a doctorate. First you have to do a masters and then you usually have to gain experience in the area to do a doctorate in clinical psychology.

Not necessarily. Clinical Psychology MSc's are available but they're largely for those who didn't perform so well in their undergraduate as it's a way for them to show that they're capable academically - a distinction at MSc can make up for a 2.2 at undergraduate in some cases.

OP - the most important thing is work experience. You want at least a years experience of working as an assistant psychologist or similar in order to get onto the doctorate. But be aware it's very, very competitive, most people end up applying 2/3 times before getting a place.

You also can’t go straight into a doctorate. First you have to do a masters and then you usually have to gain experience in the area to do a doctorate in clinical psychology.

An MSc is a masters a doctorate is a PhD. You can nearly always go straight into a masters after finishing an undergraduate course however you usually require experience in the field of study to be able to get onto doctorate (phd) degrees.

hi, im y13 right now and applying for ucas rn. ive picked university of manchester, birmingham, lancaster, warwick and nottingham.

uob as firm. lancaster/warwick/manchester as insurance idk yet.

so i want to do a BSc in psychology. im slightly put off by how much statistics it has. got a c in maths and b in biology gcse.

the main problem is graduate prospect. i read there were 4000 places and only 600 places. thats a 15% chance of success which is lower than oxbridge..

so i need advice if i should go on. psychology modules at uob and manchester seem really interesting and being a clinical psychologist really seems like what i'd like to be doing until i retire.

should i do a 4 year degree with a placement to gather experience and go straight into a clinpsy doctorate or do standard degree with some experience along the way during y2 and y3 then do a masters then doctorate?

also anything i can do to give me an advantage over others when applying for a doctorate?

Yes, I'm quite aware of the disctinction. If you graduate from an undergraduate with a first or high 2.1 then it's recommended you seek as much relevant experience as you can before applying. Whereas if you graduate with a 2.2, you may be best off completing an MSc alongside with experience in order to raise your academic profile and to 'make up for' the lower BSc grade.

An MSc is a masters a doctorate is a PhD. You can nearly always go straight into a masters after finishing an undergraduate course however you usually require experience in the field of study to be able to get onto doctorate (phd) degrees.

imo try to get on a four year degree if it's possible so you can get the experience. It's so hard to get experience once you graduate in psychology so it's best to do it while you're on your degree. It takes on average 8-12 years to become a clinical psychologist. You need to complete your bachelors degree, masters, get at least 12 months experience and then go onto the doctorate for clinical psychology. You can't just go straight onto a doctorate. It's so hard to become an assistant psychologist straight from graduation as they would rather employ someone who was a clinical psychologist before.

This video helped me a lot (she goes to Exeter but it's still helpful):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fSB7uz6UUw

does the placement year guarantee experience? if so wouldn't that be worth doing then go onto the doctorate since i've got 12 months experience?

i read on multiple websites the requirements for a clinical psychologist and i haven't seen a requirement for a masters. most/all say a accredited degree with 2:1 or first, 12 months experience and a doctorate.

however some youtubers and people have said a masters is worth doing if you dont know much about your job because the BSc doesn't offer much preparation for clinical psychology. its really only a year and might give an advantage(?).

ALSO would you guys recommend a BA rather than a BSc. im not really good with maths and i've watched a fair bit of youtube vids on psychology degree and they all stress how much math and bio there is. i got a B in bio, chem physics but a C in maths.

That's exactly my point An MSc is only really beneficial if you don't get a good classification in your first degree

I would say a BSc is more likely to be accredited than a BA, but if you find a BA that's accredited and offers modules that suit your interests more then by all means, go for it. There will always be some maths in a Psychology degree but most of it is statistics and run by a programme called SPSS, there's not much in the way of actual calculations that you actually do yourself.

And as for whether the placement year would be good enough experience, I can't answer that myself as I don't have any clinical background. There are other people on here who would be better placed to answer

does the placement year guarantee experience? if so wouldn't that be worth doing then go onto the doctorate since i've got 12 months experience?

i read on multiple websites the requirements for a clinical psychologist and i haven't seen a requirement for a masters. most/all say a accredited degree with 2:1 or first, 12 months experience and a doctorate.

however some youtubers and people have said a masters is worth doing if you dont know much about your job because the BSc doesn't offer much preparation for clinical psychology. its really only a year and might give an advantage(?).







ALSO would you guys recommend a BA rather than a BSc. im not really good with maths and i've watched a fair bit of youtube vids on psychology degree and they all stress how much math and bio there is. i got a B in bio, chem physics but a C in maths.

It's not that it's a requirement to have a masters but as it's so intense to get on they would prefer people to have a masters than people who have gotten straight out of a degree. On average it takes 3 tries to get onto a clinical psychology doctorate and it can be up to 25 applicants for one place so it's defo intense

100%. i might because it may provide a greater insight compared to the undergrad. im looking into becoming a trainee PWP as experience. would that be sufficient. after 12 months experience+job i can apply for a qualified pwp afterwards. its less competitive as an assistant psychologist.

This has given me hope haha. The BA is accredited in lancaster uni. Ill go for the BSc incase i want to go for clinical psychology.

Ik this sounds dumb but what is statistics. Hopefully im fine with the bio aspect if i put some practice in it.

Maybe @Lord Asriel can help with the placement year

Statistics is about numerical data. There's a wide range of tests/calculations that help you analyse data from studies which lets you know if the study has worked or not. Significance meanss that the results produced have happened due to the conditions themselves rather than due to chance.

You'd use a programme called SPSS which bascally does all the calculations for you. All you really have to do is make sure the right data goes in the right boxes and then interpret the results correctly.

Have you considered Exeter uni? Not only is it a combined masters and bsc but third year is experience as a trainee PWP which is still competitive to get into once you've graduated https://www.exeter.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/psychology/msciapppsy/

Have you considered Exeter uni? Not only is it a combined masters and bsc but third year is experience as a trainee PWP which is still competitive to get into once you've graduated https://www.exeter.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/psychology/msciapppsy/

Oh ok. How is the bio?

I can't speak for the undergraduate degree as I ended up doing a conversion course instead but I had one biology based module which was cognitive neuropsychology. If you look on course pages for uni's you're thinking of applying to, they should give you an outline of the course content and which modules you'd be studying.