Psychology conversion masters or re-take an entire degree with Open Uni?

Hi everyone, I'd like to hear what your ideas are about how to continue with my studies. I have an undergrad in English lit (2:2 from Uni of London) and a masters degree in autism studies (from Uni of Kent), both done by distance. Turns out, employers in my country look at both my degrees, go "Oh, you were a distance learning student, how cute" and my pay rank takes a nose dive to the same scale as teachers with a diploma or a BA. My goal is to take an MSc in applied or clinical psychology in a real brick and mortar uni so I can become a clinical psychologist when I return here. Problem is, my undergrad is a really *****y 2:2 (undiagnosed learning difficulty which eventually got diagosed and sorted with intensive study skills coaching) and most MSc conversion programmes ask for a 2:1. And due to a limited budget and my partner needing me to continue paying my part of the mortgage, I can only spend one year in the UK. After a ton of research, I have come up with the following choices but I need to hear from people who know more about the system in the UK whether they are good ideas or ideas I should throw out.

a) Apply with my 2:2 to conversion MSc programmes but I don't know much about the few unis I've seen with the requirement (London metropolitan uni, Sheffield Hallam uni, I THINK Uni of Aberdeen takes 2:2s as well but I can't remember if it's applied psych or psych studies). My fear of this one is that if I return with such an MSc, I'll face the same discrimination against that degree with I face with my current ones because they are not considered 'reputable' here. (I think employers here only consider foreign degrees acceptable if you've been to what they consider 'big name' unis)

b) Do a new BSc in psychology with the Open U and then apply to a postgrad programme in psychology so I have more options. It sounds to me from my research that OU degrees are accepted by some unis. Is that true? If doing a new degree with OU means more opportunities can open up for me, I would not mind doing that at all even if it'll take me a longer time, I can totally deal with being a 31 year old in undergrad again.

Can anyone offer any perspectives or ideas? In the mean time, I'm off to email schools.

Hi,

Where are you from? I take it you're not from UK and thats why you can only spend a year in the UK? Have you considered continuing your studies in your home country?

The thing about the BPS is that there are strict routes, you have you either get a BPS accredited undergrad degree plus PhD/DClinPsy and training to become a clinical psychologist. If you didn't do a psychology BPS accredited undergrad then you take a conversion course - do you know if your MA was considered a conversion course? If not then yeah you'd have to find a conversion course first but that shouldn't be too hard to achieve as you already hold a masters and therefore are at an advantage compared to those who apply straight from their non-psychology degrees.

I personally wouldn't do another 3 years - you already have an undergrad and a masters, why do another undergrad? Try your best with securing a conversion course to help you proceed with your career goals. And don't think about the name of the university when it comes to conversion courses - you just need to prioritise getting a university thats BPS accredited if you want to be a registered clinical psychologist in the UK. Good luck!

That's really interesting as I'm pretty much experiencing that. Where I live there is no official board so they tend to favour BPS (or APA) in terms of working within the field, however for me I can only be a registered psychologist, even if I were to do an MSc in clinical psych or a even a PhD abroad as they favour those who went to their universities i.e. done the DClinPsy or PhD in clinical psychology. And there are only two universities that do that and one does a lot of their lectures in their local language which I can't speak so that's why I've opted to study abroad.

It would be so much easier if there was an official board as currently they take things on an 'individual basis' - I emailed asking if Oxford's child development course would be better/worse than KCL's child and adolescent mental health if I wanted to be a registered psychologist (not clinical) and they couldn't even give me an answer! So I'm just hoping with work experience after a masters I can get that registration!

Yeah focus on getting an conversion course and get clinical hours back home. Check when your official board at home (assuming you have one?) if a conversion course will be sufficient.

We have a psychology society here, but their website is not too helpful. All I've managed to get off their site is that if I can clock 1000 hours under a clinical psych and I have done the right degree, I can register. But what makes up a right degree? No one knows. And BPS recognition is a grey area too. Sounds like you're in almost a similar pickle too. I'd say it depends on how much a 'brand' means in your country. In mine, I could have a lot of doors open to me if I can get a psych degree from Oxford just because it's Oxford. Not that I'm good enough to apply. Good luck to you!

Haha I wonder if we live in the same place! Are you from HK by any chance? Yeah I get what you mean about the name but I just worry that if theres an actual board in the future, my masters degree won't mean anything because it isn't BPS accredited (MRes degrees aren't sadly as its research!). And thank you!! Best of luck to you too

Hi everyone, I'd like to hear what your ideas are about how to continue with my studies. I have an undergrad in English lit (2:2 from Uni of London) and a masters degree in autism studies (from Uni of Kent), both done by distance. Turns out, employers in my country look at both my degrees, go "Oh, you were a distance learning student, how cute" and my pay rank takes a nose dive to the same scale as teachers with a diploma or a BA. My goal is to take an MSc in applied or clinical psychology in a real brick and mortar uni so I can become a clinical psychologist when I return here. Problem is, my undergrad is a really *****y 2:2 (undiagnosed learning difficulty which eventually got diagosed and sorted with intensive study skills coaching) and most MSc conversion programmes ask for a 2:1. And due to a limited budget and my partner needing me to continue paying my part of the mortgage, I can only spend one year in the UK. After a ton of research, I have come up with the following choices but I need to hear from people who know more about the system in the UK whether they are good ideas or ideas I should throw out.
a) Apply with my 2:2 to conversion MSc programmes but I don't know much about the few unis I've seen with the requirement (London metropolitan uni, Sheffield Hallam uni, I THINK Uni of Aberdeen takes 2:2s as well but I can't remember if it's applied psych or psych studies). My fear of this one is that if I return with such an MSc, I'll face the same discrimination against that degree with I face with my current ones because they are not considered 'reputable' here. (I think employers here only consider foreign degrees acceptable if you've been to what they consider 'big name' unis)
b) Do a new BSc in psychology with the Open U and then apply to a postgrad programme in psychology so I have more options. It sounds to me from my research that OU degrees are accepted by some unis. Is that true? If doing a new degree with OU means more opportunities can open up for me, I would not mind doing that at all even if it'll take me a longer time, I can totally deal with being a 31 year old in undergrad again.
Can anyone offer any perspectives or ideas? In the mean time, I'm off to email schools.