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MolKMch
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Hello all,
Psychology is the course I want to take at university. I was wondering what people did for work experience/volunteer work, what books to read, what make you stand out on your personal statement. Also, what A Levels to take, I'm doing my GCSE's currently which seems early to be thinking about this but making A Level choices soon. My current thoughts are biology, maths and psychology. Any thoughts????
Thankyou for any comments
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Nirvana1989-1994
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I didn't do any work experience, but I write about books I'd read, and studies I'd read about, in my personal statement. For example, The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel explores delayed gratification, and it's implications.

I don't take A-Levels, but if you're thinking about taking A-Levels, you'd probably want to study Psychology at that level, and a science like Chemistry, or Biology, if you want to get into a Russell uni. Maths is good too, as I understand in Psychology you do a lot of statistics work.

Good luck.
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iammichealjackson
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(Original post by MolKMch)
Hello all,
Psychology is the course I want to take at university. I was wondering what people did for work experience/volunteer work, what books to read, what make you stand out on your personal statement. Also, what A Levels to take, I'm doing my GCSE's currently which seems early to be thinking about this but making A Level choices soon. My current thoughts are biology, maths and psychology. Any thoughts????
Thankyou for any comments
Hi,

Here is a list of books people have recommended: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show....php?t=2739866 They are not just good for name dropping in a PS, but if you get interviewed its quite clear who is well read and interested vs. those who are less so.

In terms of a levels, some universities require one or two science (including maths and psychology) a levels. The three a levels you have listed will definately give you the best background for psychology, however i'd pick what you are interested in and will do best at too, rather than doing something you really don't like. This is a good resource for making a level decisions.

It's hard to get relevant work experience for psychology - and also - because psychology undergraduate degrees are an academic degree, your work experience (even if its clinical) isn't going to be that relevant (unlike if you were doing medicine or nusing, for example).

Good things to do are an extended project in psychology (not all schools offer this unfortunately) or an essay competition - Cambridge Uni used to offer one, and even just participating or getting shortlisted looks great!
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thewinelake
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My daughter is considering Psychology. We've suggested that Psychology A-level is of little particular value and that another science such as Biology or Chemistry would be at least as good.

One thing that we would like to do is go and see some lectures on psychology. I was assuming that these would be easy to find, but it would appear not! Lots of great stuff online, but attending in the flesh would be better...
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iammichealjackson
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(Original post by thewinelake)
My daughter is considering Psychology. We've suggested that Psychology A-level is of little particular value and that another science such as Biology or Chemistry would be at least as good.

One thing that we would like to do is go and see some lectures on psychology. I was assuming that these would be easy to find, but it would appear not! Lots of great stuff online, but attending in the flesh would be better...
Sure but if you're not as interested in other subjects its going to be harder to get a good mark in them. A level psychology is not a bad choice for psychology at university... it would be much more useful to combine it with a psychology extended project or essay competition if you want to show "flair". Also the a level provides a good starting point for doing one's own reading, and any additional reading also works as good revision.

(Also, as someone who used to have to commute to go to lecturers for a year, the videos are so much better than being there in person). You can watch twice as much in the same time!
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thewinelake
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That's a good point...
Presumably from the point of view of requiring a "science" a-level, psychology would count?
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iammichealjackson
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(Original post by thewinelake)
That's a good point...
Presumably from the point of view of requiring a "science" a-level, psychology would count?
Yep for psychology, although it is not going to be classed as a science for applying for other degrees! I'm not saying that its an amazing a level (the essays are very simple and formulaic, and theres a lot of rote memorisation), I think it's good in combination with other a levels which open doors (Maths, Sciences, English Lit/History/etc.).
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thewinelake
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OK, I now find that DD's school doesn't offer Psychology A-Level!
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