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How hard is it to get a professional placement for psych

I'm doing a 3 year course for psych and behavioural science at Durham uni, i've gotten the contextual offer and all but i'm wondering what the criteria for the placement are, in addition to how competitive and/or hard it is to get in?

Also still not 100% on which college i'm gonna attend, but hopefully gonna be resolved when I go to the offer holder day.

Thanks for any help ^_^

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Original post by RobbleRar

I'm doing a 3 year course for psych and behavioural science at Durham uni, i've gotten the contextual offer and all but i'm wondering what the criteria for the placement are, in addition to how competitive and/or hard it is to get in?
Also still not 100% on which college i'm gonna attend, but hopefully gonna be resolved when I go to the offer holder day.
Thanks for any help ^_^

I’m currently doing the psych course and whilst I’m not doing a placement, based on what information we’ve been given it may be tricky if you want something directly like clinical psychology or forensic psychology (due to the complex rules around these areas) but I’m sure there are lots of areas around psychology that you can get involved in that will still be good experience. In terms of criteria, I believe it’s just you have to get above a certain grade in first or second year (i can’t remember which). The way you ‘get in’ to placement year is by applying to placements and getting one, you need to be self motivated to find these and be prepared to apply to many if you want a placement.

Reply 2

Durham Rep Ghala

Official Rep

Original post by RobbleRar

I'm doing a 3 year course for psych and behavioural science at Durham uni, i've gotten the contextual offer and all but i'm wondering what the criteria for the placement are, in addition to how competitive and/or hard it is to get in?
Also still not 100% on which college i'm gonna attend, but hopefully gonna be resolved when I go to the offer holder day.
Thanks for any help ^_^

Hi there

If you're referring to a placement year, there's no criteria that the uni sets. You have to apply for placements as you would do for a graduate job and many of these would require good academic grades depending on the organisation. I'm not doing psychology so don't know what the rules are around these specific placements but I know that students in the past have been on placement to Evelina London Children's Hospital, HM Prison & Probation Service, National Crime Agency etc.

Also, there is a dedicated Science Faculty Placement Manager who you can contact at [email protected] to ask for more info on this. Once you come to Durham, you can book 1-1 appointments with them to discuss your opportunities and seek support throughout the application process. You can also sign up for weekly newsletters full of placement opportunities and resources to guide you in your placement search, join the LinkedIn group and keep an eye for content on the socials- TikTok , Instagram

Hope this helps :smile: