The Student Room Group

Psychology... Is this the right degree for me?

This question is aimed at those doing or have done a psychology degree at university.

At the mo I'm at a cross-roads and not sure whether to choose psychology unversity or something else. I haven't done psychology a level but i have done volunteer work at a care home for alzheimer's patients and done an introduction to counselling skills at my local college (i understand that counselling and psychology are 2 different things).

My main question is I'm not quite sure whether I would be quite up for it. I'd love to study people's behaviour and the reasons why they do things... however if it was just looking at statistics all day and learning by rope what psychologists think (e.g. freud) without any application, i probably wouldn't enjoy it. I realise that all degrees would differ between unis but i imagine that there would be huge similarities in the courses.

Also when reading prospectuses they mention a lot about experimentation. Now i know what an 'experiement' is, doing bio and chem at a level, but what experimentation do you do in a psychology degree?

Also how good at maths do you have to be be to use statistics etc.

thanks for your help
Reply 1
The course you apply for will probably tell you what grade in maths GCSE you'll need.

I did a psychology course and we applied it to real people e.g. looked at case studies of agnosia, amnesia etc.

Maybe take some psychology books out on different topics (e.g. see what topics are mentioned in the prospectus) and see if you'll be interested in learning those things?

I hadn't done psychology at A Level but really enjoyed it at university level (I'm doing it this year too).
Maybe the question you should be asking yourself should be will you enjoy the job? Once you go into a psychology job then it all becomes about application of skills. Ultimately with any degree you do it for the job at the end of it, the degree is a means to an end. Try going to a few university open days and ask around the psychology bits, they'll let you know in more detail. I am about to start my psychology degree in a few weeks.

All I'm really going to say is that university seems to be about building up your knowledge of psychology. Afterwards during your training etc you begin to apply the knowledge to help people with their lives.
Reply 3
Just to add to the last comment, many people who get a psychology degree do not become a psychologist, or even do anything related to psychology (because it's a competetive career to get into, or people simply dont want to), so it's not always about whether you will like the job, you have to really be interested in the three years of study as well to stay motivated.

The content of your volunteer work and counselling course would probably be touched upon in a psychology degree, although probably only briefly.

A psychology degree is far from just looking at stats all day (although this is part of analyzing the data gathered during an experiment, and you'd probably have lectures on statistics throughout the degree). Neither is it rote learning of what psychologists think. Although you would look at the studies other psychologists have conducted to gain understanding of their methods and findings, and what the findings mean in the real world.

I don't know what other uni's do for the experimentation aspect. But here we'd do a practical (i.e. experiment, asking a question, collecting data, analysing what the data means in order to answer the question) and then write up a practical report (saying what you did, what you found, how it relates to what other experiments have found). Experiments are a reasonably big part of a psych degree. and generally in your final year you would do one big experiment.

As for maths, you dont really need to understand maths to understand statistics in psychology (although basic algebra helps). As statistics is much more applied than maths at school/college, and is taught as a distinct subject from the beginning.
NSW
Just to add to the last comment, many people who get a psychology degree do not become a psychologist, or even do anything related to psychology (because it's a competetive career to get into, or people simply dont want to), so it's not always about whether you will like the job, you have to really be interested in the three years of study as well to stay motivated.

The content of your volunteer work and counselling course would probably be touched upon in a psychology degree, although probably only briefly.

A psychology degree is far from just looking at stats all day (although this is part of analyzing the data gathered during an experiment, and you'd probably have lectures on statistics throughout the degree). Neither is it rote learning of what psychologists think. Although you would look at the studies other psychologists have conducted to gain understanding of their methods and findings, and what the findings mean in the real world.

I don't know what other uni's do for the experimentation aspect. But here we'd do a practical (i.e. experiment, asking a question, collecting data, analysing what the data means in order to answer the question) and then write up a practical report (saying what you did, what you found, how it relates to what other experiments have found). Experiments are a reasonably big part of a psych degree. and generally in your final year you would do one big experiment.

As for maths, you dont really need to understand maths to understand statistics in psychology (although basic algebra helps). As statistics is much more applied than maths at school/college, and is taught as a distinct subject from the beginning.



you seem to know alot about psychology, i need your advice!
i have been offered a placed to do english at university (ABB)
but feel that perhaps psychology which has the same entry requirements will get me much further? do you think so? i need help deciding what to do...
Reply 5
pinkmonkey3
you seem to know alot about psychology, i need your advice!
i have been offered a placed to do english at university (ABB)
but feel that perhaps psychology which has the same entry requirements will get me much further? do you think so? i need help deciding what to do...


Will get you much further in WHAT? If you want to be an English teacher, then probably a degree in Psychology does not help. If you want to be a psychologist, well, a degree in English definitely does not help you get there. Where do you want to go? These degrees lead you into very different places.
Ebenia
Will get you much further in WHAT? If you want to be an English teacher, then probably a degree in Psychology does not help. If you want to be a psychologist, well, a degree in English definitely does not help you get there. Where do you want to go? These degrees lead you into very different places.


I dont have a clue what to be. always wanted to be a clinical psychologist, but the competition and negative reports have put me off it. So i don't think i'm really cut out for it :frown: