Psychology and work experience

Psychology is an academic degree - you don't need to include anything about work experience in your PS. You should be focusing on your academic interests and activities. Your work history should be listed in your work experience section on your application.

Hi thanks for replying! Yeah that’s totally true it goes on the work experience section I did forget about that! However I haven’t got any hobbies, activities or interests besides shopping and psychopathology so that’s why i’m unsure what to include i mean even my gym membership goes to waste so I have nothing to say about myself

Hi all! I’m writing my personal statement at the moment and i’m really struggling. I have worked in a silver service restaurant for a year, a very fast pace and stressful job and I want to put it on my personal statement. My problem is, how on earth does working in a restaurant apply to my psychology degree???
In addition, i’m a regular volunteer at Oxfam charity shop but again how can I apply this to a psychology degree.

I’ve read that in my personal statement I need to
A- state what I’ve done (work/work experience/volunteer)
B- it’s applications to course (psychology)
C- how it will help me once i’ve joined university

Please help I have no idea and i’m running out of time. All i can find on my research is “group skills!” and “teaches you to be positive” but I need something outside of the box. My grades aren’t the best and my personal statement had to be so amazing that universities will let me have lower grades because i sound that cool and smart

Please help a girl out!!!!!

Hi all! I’m writing my personal statement at the moment and i’m really struggling. I have worked in a silver service restaurant for a year, a very fast pace and stressful job and I want to put it on my personal statement. My problem is, how on earth does working in a restaurant apply to my psychology degree???
In addition, i’m a regular volunteer at Oxfam charity shop but again how can I apply this to a psychology degree.

I’ve read that in my personal statement I need to
A- state what I’ve done (work/work experience/volunteer)
B- it’s applications to course (psychology)
C- how it will help me once i’ve joined university

Please help I have no idea and i’m running out of time. All i can find on my research is “group skills!” and “teaches you to be positive” but I need something outside of the box. My grades aren’t the best and my personal statement had to be so amazing that universities will let me have lower grades because i sound that cool and smart

Please help a girl out!!!!!

Hi @isabel.xx,

I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling, I hope I can be of help.

I am a second year psychology student myself, and my advice to you is to express your genuine interest for psychology and to further elaborate with any specific topics within psychology to demonstrate your passion and depth of knowledge. Perhaps you could briefly speak about a certain theory or phenomena(s) from any journal articles that you have come across that sparked your interest.

Psychology is a very broad topic and can branch into many sectors and jobs. Being specific shows to applicant reader that you're genuinely interested in the course and that you know your stuff! If you still wish to mention your work experience, you can mention a specific event during your work that has shaped your character and how that specific trait can relate to future career prospects in the future.

Hope this helps you, best of luck!
Danish
BCU Student Rep

Hey Isabel,

I was also a waitress before going to university and I think there's lots of skills you can include from that! The first one that popped into my head was resilience and then you can mention the ability to work under pressure/ to a time frame as well as experience interacting with lots of different people from different cultures and walks of life- people/ communication skills are very valuable. Stress management is also vital at university! If you can't think of anything that will link directly to your course, focus on why it would help with your studying etc and then put why you're interested in psychology/ why would you be suited for the course in another part of the statement. Also, charity work in general says a lot about your person and is worth mentioning.

I hope this helps

Beth.