The Student Room Group

HELP!! really good uni and mediocre course VS alright good uni and good course?

I am struggling to choose between

UCL and Bsc Psychology
vs
Glasgow and Joint Honours CS and Psychology

There is a possibility that I might go into tech in the future. Whether that a tech cooperate job, or AI/Machine Learning, or maybe my dream field of Computational Neuroscience/Computational Psychology (mixture of tech and Psych), if the field become bigger than it is now because it is currently a very niche and research based field. Or i might just remain in psychology field.

i am aware that both are good unis within the UK, but I want to go abroad after education, and UCL prestige >> Glasgow internationally by a lot. And I don’t really prioritise which uni i’ll enjoy more really because ik both cities have extremely good social life. therefore I want this decision between both unis to be based on future employment prospects only.


PROS of UCL:
- london, so extremely loads more networking event, esp in terms of tech companies

- UCL international prestige >>>> Glasgow’s by a LOT. (for example - Glasgow even tho it is ranked higher than notts and birmingham for example, but notts and brum has higher international prestige than Glasgow i would say, partly because notts and brum is such a big city w a big uni w extremely high employability rates despite it ranked lower)

- target uni

CONS for UCL:
- j pure psychology degree is seen as a ‘mickey mouse’ degree, to put it harshly, because it’s oversaturated. and it’s got this stigma around it w employers as well that people who are average and don’t know what they want to do in life do psychology degree, hence it’s not an ‘employable’ degree at all. its got extremely low employment rates and for those w psych degrees who are employed in non-psych jobs, those jobs are in departments which don’t pay that well (eg. marketing)

- it might make it really hard to go into a field which involves even a little bit of tech (even Computational Psychology) with a just pure Psych degree. ik boot camps are a thing, but everyone does them nowadays, and with tech sector becoming more and more saturated as the years go on, it’s going to be harder to get into psych w just tech boot camps certificates

-A*AA

PROS of Glasgow:
- course is very good. it being a joint honours mean I am BPS accredited in Psychology, which allows me to go into pure Psychology field without and issue. whilst also allowing me to go into tech

-AAA

CONS:
- international prestige <<<< UCL by a lot

- not in london (and FAR from london), so there are so little networking events nearby. esp w tech companies

- semi-target uni (at best)

- although it is ranked very high, even compared to some other Russel Group unis, it’s employment outcome/employability rate is lower than most Russel Group unis. (for example - notts and brum are ranked lower than it, but employers love graduates from those two unis. their uni employment outcomes are superior than glasgow uni’s)

I am aware that if I do choose UCL and want to go into tech, I can do a masters in tech after my psych undergrad, and therefore go into tech. However, if I do go into Computational Psych, it is still a psych field, so I’ll most likely need a psych masters as well (as most psych fields need a masters to even step into the industry, not just a undergrad). So in that case, I would do a masters in Psych and either I do another masters in CS or i try to get hired into Computational Psychology with no tech degree at all. I feel as if this is risky as I am putting all my eggs and trust into the masters basket. Any thoughts on this?

also, I am currently holding AAC, and is resitting either One or Two of my A levels (very likely only one subject, aka my C in maths. Idk if i feel confident getting an A* for UCL, whereas i only need an A in glasgow)

i’ve also heard some negative things about glasgow’s psych course (it being oversubscribed so the uni pushes people out after second year into a bs degree which is not accredited) , but i need to research more into it. if anyone has any information please let me know! but in the meanwhilst, please give an answer or some input into my question of UCL vs Glasgow without taking this into consideration. i need to look into this more

apologies for all that waffle, i’m genuinely just so lost and stressed. please let me know if any advice or thoughts on this topic!!
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 1
Original post by eggtart
I am struggling to choose between

UCL and Bsc Psychology
vs
Glasgow and Joint Honours CS and Psychology

There is a possibility that I might go into tech in the future. Whether that a tech cooperate job, or AI/Machine Learning, or maybe my dream field of Computational Neuroscience/Computational Psychology (mixture of tech and Psych), if the field become bigger than it is now because it is currently a very niche and research based field. Or i might just remain in psychology field.

i am aware that both are good unis within the UK, but I want to go abroad after education, and UCL prestige >> Glasgow internationally by a lot. And I don’t really prioritise which uni i’ll enjoy more really because ik both cities have extremely good social life. therefore I want this decision between both unis to be based on future employment prospects only.


PROS of UCL:
- london, so extremely loads more networking event, esp in terms of tech companies

- UCL international prestige >>>> Glasgow’s by a LOT. (for example - Glasgow even tho it is ranked higher than notts and birmingham for example, but notts and brum has higher international prestige than Glasgow i would say, partly because notts and brum is such a big city w a big uni w extremely high employability rates despite it ranked lower)

- target uni

CONS for UCL:
- j pure psychology degree is seen as a ‘mickey mouse’ degree, to put it harshly, because it’s oversaturated. and it’s got this stigma around it w employers as well that people who are average and don’t know what they want to do in life do psychology degree, hence it’s not an ‘employable’ degree at all. its got extremely low employment rates and for those w psych degrees who are employed in non-psych jobs, those jobs are in departments which don’t pay that well (eg. marketing)

- it might make it really hard to go into a field which involves even a little bit of tech (even Computational Psychology) with a just pure Psych degree. ik boot camps are a thing, but everyone does them nowadays, and with tech sector becoming more and more saturated as the years go on, it’s going to be harder to get into psych w just tech boot camps certificates

-A*AA

PROS of Glasgow:
- course is very good. it being a joint honours mean I am BPS accredited in Psychology, which allows me to go into pure Psychology field without and issue. whilst also allowing me to go into tech

-AAA

CONS:
- international prestige <<<< UCL by a lot

- not in london (and FAR from london), so there are so little networking events nearby. esp w tech companies

- semi-target uni (at best)

- although it is ranked very high, even compared to some other Russel Group unis, it’s employment outcome/employability rate is lower than most Russel Group unis. (for example - notts and brum are ranked lower than it, but employers love graduates from those two unis. their uni employment outcomes are superior than glasgow uni’s)

I am aware that if I do choose UCL and want to go into tech, I can do a masters in tech after my psych undergrad, and therefore go into tech. However, if I do go into Computational Psych, it is still a psych field, so I’ll most likely need a psych masters as well (as most psych fields need a masters to even step into the industry, not just a undergrad). So in that case, I would do a masters in Psych and either I do another masters in CS or i try to get hired into Computational Psychology with no tech degree at all. I feel as if this is risky as I am putting all my eggs and trust into the masters basket. Any thoughts on this?

also, I am currently holding AAC, and is resitting either One or Two of my A levels (very likely only one subject, aka my C in maths. Idk if i feel confident getting an A* for UCL, whereas i only need an A in glasgow)

i’ve also heard some negative things about glasgow’s psych course (it being oversubscribed so the uni pushes people out after second year into a bs degree which is not accredited) , but i need to research more into it. if anyone has any information please let me know! but in the meanwhilst, please give an answer or some input into my question of UCL vs Glasgow without taking this into consideration. i need to look into this more

apologies for all that waffle, i’m genuinely just so lost and stressed. please let me know if any advice or thoughts on this topic!!

Glasgow seems like a good option especially if you think you may be able to get in easier and also it's cheaper to live there haha. However UCL being in London is good for job opportunities, but you can always do summer internships/placement year in London while being at Glasgow. I do also think a psych & cs degree will be good if you want to go into computational psychology (although I am not too familiar with the subject) as honestly cs seems to be more important than psych (I would think) when getting a job in the field. It also seems more research-y of a career so you may need a PhD, which cs and psych leaves a lot of options open in your masters and future research (as you will be skilled in both cs and psych aka the core parts of computational psych and even AI).

Also, Glasgow is 100% a well-respected uni globally. There are so many international students that go there and it's also a big city with a lot of opportunities that people across the world have heard of. It is also a Russell Group, which employers across the world value :smile:

Also psych is not at all a 'Mickey Mouse' degree. A lot of people/websites say that anything that isn't STEM is a 'Mickey Mouse' degree- which just isn't true. Psych is actually one of the most employable degrees if people actually think about it, as it has both a science-side and also a humanities/social science side that means you are interdisciplinary and therefore can use it in many different job sectors. Also marketing is not a bad-paid job, I don't know why you think that?

'i’ve also heard some negative things about glasgow’s psych course (it being oversubscribed so the uni pushes people out after second year into a bs degree which is not accredited)'- unis can't do that lol, you do the degree you applied for unless you formally change. If it is oversubscribed, that is Glasgow's problem for not proportionally giving out offers. I feel like the oversubscribed thing might be because of covid or just a one-time thing.

Hope this helped, and best of luck! x
COURSE.

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending