The Student Room Group

Questions about Post Grad Study

-Firstly, do you NEED to do a masters before a PhD, and how many people normally do a masters beforehand? Does this depend on how much preperation you have done at undergraduate level- i.e. if your 3rd year dissertation is on the same topic of your potential PhD and you know the area well would you need a masters?

-Secondly, I know people who have done paid and unpaid research assistant posts after uni. Where do you find out about such placements? I would quite like to do something like this. I am interested in comparative psychology, but i wouldn't mind doing other things.

Ideally I would like to be a psych lecturer. Im a second year at the moment.

Anyway thanks!
Reply 1
Check the course requirements for specific unis but I'm pretty confident that none ask for a masters for a PhD application, though it would help an application.

I'm doing paid research assistant, it was advertised on my uni's career section. I'm also currently in the process of emailing lecturers to see if I could any voluntary work with them.
Are you doing RA after graduating, or over the summer? I have volunteered before at my local uni, which was interesting, but mostly doing the menial tasks (like inter-rater reliabilities)!
Reply 3
Over the summer with London business school behavioural lab. Hmm yeah it can be a bit menial but if you work with them enough they might be able to bump you up to something with more responsibility and a bit more exciting?
Reply 4
Original post by iammichealjackson
-Firstly, do you NEED to do a masters before a PhD, and how many people normally do a masters beforehand? Does this depend on how much preperation you have done at undergraduate level- i.e. if your 3rd year dissertation is on the same topic of your potential PhD and you know the area well would you need a masters?

-Secondly, I know people who have done paid and unpaid research assistant posts after uni. Where do you find out about such placements? I would quite like to do something like this. I am interested in comparative psychology, but i wouldn't mind doing other things.

Ideally I would like to be a psych lecturer. Im a second year at the moment.

Anyway thanks!


A masters is not a prerequisite for a PhD, however will strengthen your CV, potentially making it easier to get funding. But then this depends on numerous factors anyway (competition from other applicants, the project, your past experience...). No reason you can't apply for Masters and PhDs simultaneously, and take a Masters place if you can't get a Phd one first time around. Also, a lot of places are now offering 3+1 places (the PhD preceded by the MSc in Psych research or similar) in any case.

Have a look on academic job sites like jobs.ac.uk for RA jobs if you want to go that route, and on individual university websites if you are keen to stay in a particular location. It is also worth emailing specific PIs to ask if they have anything going, even if they aren't advertising - I got offered an RA post at an MRC research institute by doing this.

(I have an MSc in neuro and did an RA job for a year and am now finishing of a DPhil so have been there!)

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