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Anyone currently studying criminology, may I ask of your experience so far?

I'm thinking of applying for a criminology degree to start 2015, I'm very interested in crime in general and I really enjoyed the last year of psychology A2.

Could any criminology students tell me their opinion so far and maybe give me some examples of what they are studying or have studied in the past.

Also could you tell me your future plans, career wise, forensic psychology sounds so interesting to me but I'd love to learn more before I commit to a course.

Thanks a bunch.
Reply 1
Original post by Dr.Gonzo
I'm thinking of applying for a criminology degree to start 2015, I'm very interested in crime in general and I really enjoyed the last year of psychology A2.

Could any criminology students tell me their opinion so far and maybe give me some examples of what they are studying or have studied in the past.

Also could you tell me your future plans, career wise, forensic psychology sounds so interesting to me but I'd love to learn more before I commit to a course.

Thanks a bunch.


I am in my 1st year criminology degree. Its really interesting so far! Apart from the law, human rights and criminal justice module, it actually fries my head atm. We are currently looking at the different theories of crime and have a 2000word essay to do on it. We had a 5week study skills session referencing, essay writing, active learning, library and plagiarism, paraphrasing etc. It was really helpful as helped to jog my memory for referencing etc.
Law, HR and CJ module is about parliamentary sovereignty, how the state works etc, seperation of powers and rule of law. Just start human rights weds.

So far the experience is good but alot od hard work and studying already! Seminar prep now aswell as essay writing and also thinking ahead towards exams in january and blog writing.

After this degree i would like to work with prisoners and their families and currently volunteer in the local prison doing exactly that.

Hope that helps and good luck in your decisions. :smile:

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Original post by Dr.Gonzo
I'm thinking of applying for a criminology degree to start 2015, I'm very interested in crime in general and I really enjoyed the last year of psychology A2.
Could any criminology students tell me their opinion so far and maybe give me some examples of what they are studying or have studied in the past.
Also could you tell me your future plans, career wise, forensic psychology sounds so interesting to me but I'd love to learn more before I commit to a course.
Thanks a bunch.


Hi I am a second year! If you are interesting in crime in general I suggest you look at courses that have an element of criminal justice in them rather than pure criminology.

I'm generally happy with my course, unlike a lot of universities my course is a lot of theory so we are studying the reasons which may cause somebody to commit (and recommit) crimes. Looking at people like Cohen, Becker, Lombroso to name a few.

If you're interested in forensic psychology criminology is not the right degree for you. If you can find a joint honours course with psychology that gives you BPS accreditation then you can train further to become a forensic psychiatrist. Otherwise take a degree in psychology and specialise in forensics at MA and PhD level.

I'm a joint honours student with history and at the moment I am keeping my options open but split between GEM and the civil service... Pretty different career paths!
Reply 3
Original post by samjones2be
I am in my 1st year criminology degree. Its really interesting so far! Apart from the law, human rights and criminal justice module, it actually fries my head atm. We are currently looking at the different theories of crime and have a 2000word essay to do on it. We had a 5week study skills session referencing, essay writing, active learning, library and plagiarism, paraphrasing etc. It was really helpful as helped to jog my memory for referencing etc.
Law, HR and CJ module is about parliamentary sovereignty, how the state works etc, seperation of powers and rule of law. Just start human rights weds.

So far the experience is good but alot od hard work and studying already! Seminar prep now aswell as essay writing and also thinking ahead towards exams in january and blog writing.

After this degree i would like to work with prisoners and their families and currently volunteer in the local prison doing exactly that.

Hope that helps and good luck in your decisions. :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile


Thank you for your reply! I didn't realise there was such a strong focus on the law and seemingly not on the psychology part of crime. Ah it is so difficult to make a decision, it seems impossible to really understand a course without actually starting it. What sort of prison work are you interested in, in particular dude?
Reply 4
Original post by EloiseStar
Hi I am a second year! If you are interesting in crime in general I suggest you look at courses that have an element of criminal justice in them rather than pure criminology.

I'm generally happy with my course, unlike a lot of universities my course is a lot of theory so we are studying the reasons which may cause somebody to commit (and recommit) crimes. Looking at people like Cohen, Becker, Lombroso to name a few.

If you're interested in forensic psychology criminology is not the right degree for you. If you can find a joint honours course with psychology that gives you BPS accreditation then you can train further to become a forensic psychiatrist. Otherwise take a degree in psychology and specialise in forensics at MA and PhD level.

I'm a joint honours student with history and at the moment I am keeping my options open but split between GEM and the civil service... Pretty different career paths!


Thanks for you reply; I'm mostly interested in the psychology side of crime, why we think people do crime and so on. I just found out about BPS after I posted :frown:
That's interesting that you do a joint with history, I always thought I would study history but I actually quickly quit my history course this year because it wasn't what I thought it would be (and I wasn't happy). I'm currently a very lost little soul and I can't work out what course most interests me and whether uni is even right for me :confused:
Reply 5
Original post by Dr.Gonzo
Thank you for your reply! I didn't realise there was such a strong focus on the law and seemingly not on the psychology part of crime. Ah it is so difficult to make a decision, it seems impossible to really understand a course without actually starting it. What sort of prison work are you interested in, in particular dude?


The theories we are covering atm is classical, rational choice, biological positivism, psychological, social etc! It is hard to understand the course until you are doing it yourself really. But it is interesting especially looking at the theories atm. And i agree with the other poster aswell, if your more interested in the psychological side maybe do a joint with either one as your major and minor.

Basically helping prisoners rehabilitate through their family, keeping the family together whilst the father is in prison! Its important the family is kept together and its proved so far it helps to reduce reoffending by 39% :wink:
Original post by Dr.Gonzo
Thanks for you reply; I'm mostly interested in the psychology side of crime, why we think people do crime and so on. I just found out about BPS after I posted :frown:
That's interesting that you do a joint with history, I always thought I would study history but I actually quickly quit my history course this year because it wasn't what I thought it would be (and I wasn't happy). I'm currently a very lost little soul and I can't work out what course most interests me and whether uni is even right for me :confused:


If you have any questions then I can talk to you about history and criminology. If you are still passionate about history you may be able to do a degree in it despite not having a levels in it.

I know a little bit about Psychology degrees because I've looked in to it myself
Reply 7
Original post by EloiseStar
If you have any questions then I can talk to you about history and criminology. If you are still passionate about history you may be able to do a degree in it despite not having a levels in it.

I know a little bit about Psychology degrees because I've looked in to it myself


I worded that reply quite badly but what I actually meant was that I actually was studying history at university this September gone but I quit early on because I didn't think the course was right for me and I didn't like the uni area, which was a big deal to me.
I really did enjoy history at GCSE and A Level, but the course at the university I went to just seemed so strange to me and the idea of seminar feedback kind of spooked me to be honest, I have a bit of a problem with presenting to people lol. I also really enjoyed the second year of the psychology a level course but I don't think I would do well in it at degree level, is it much more difficult you know? Thanks very much for the replies, I need as much info as I can get right now, I've had two gaps years now and it feels like I'm slipping behind :frown:
Reply 8
Original post by samjones2be
The theories we are covering atm is classical, rational choice, biological positivism, psychological, social etc! It is hard to understand the course until you are doing it yourself really. But it is interesting especially looking at the theories atm. And i agree with the other poster aswell, if your more interested in the psychological side maybe do a joint with either one as your major and minor.

Basically helping prisoners rehabilitate through their family, keeping the family together whilst the father is in prison! Its important the family is kept together and its proved so far it helps to reduce reoffending by 39% :wink:


I don't even know how to sell myself in my personal statement for criminology any more, I really thought criminology had a heavy focus on psychology, but I guess not.

Yeah that makes sense to me, a nice cause dude. Something I don't understand about punishment in the UK is how a criminal record bars someone from the majority of jobs available, I mean what do we think an ex-offender is going to do? It's obviously they will either support themselves through illegal trade (especially if that's what they were convicted for in the first place) or claim benefits, neither are what the public want. If the punishment is prison time, and that's served, and they are deemed safe to walk the streets amongst the public, why can't they also work amongst others, what's the extra risk there?.
Original post by Dr.Gonzo
I worded that reply quite badly but what I actually meant was that I actually was studying history at university this September gone but I quit early on because I didn't think the course was right for me and I didn't like the uni area, which was a big deal to me.
I really did enjoy history at GCSE and A Level, but the course at the university I went to just seemed so strange to me and the idea of seminar feedback kind of spooked me to be honest, I have a bit of a problem with presenting to people lol. I also really enjoyed the second year of the psychology a level course but I don't think I would do well in it at degree level, is it much more difficult you know? Thanks very much for the replies, I need as much info as I can get right now, I've had two gaps years now and it feels like I'm slipping behind :frown:


I would get as much information about different psychology courses, specifically the difference between BA and BSC courses.

If you have criminology-specific questions then I will try to answer as honestly as possible.
Reply 10
Hi! @EloiseStar

I have some specific queries for MSc in Criminology & Criminal Justice. Do you think this will open doors for me into understanding the psychological side of crime?

There aren't very highly ranked postgrad courses for Criminal Psychology in the UK and hence I don't know if I should apply for MSc in Criminology & Criminal Justice. Any other recommendations for someone who is interested in studying the psychological side of crime?

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