should I be doing any internships as a undergrad psych student

Hi I finished first year of psych at uni of leicester and I was wondering if I should be doing any internships for psych? I’ve been away most of this holiday for family reasons so i obviously can’t do it this summer but during second year would it be possible? I just don’t know what roles and qualifications I need to apply for/with and if there even are any.

Reply 1

University of Leicester

Official Rep

Original post by eatmya55

Hi @eatmya55

It's great that you're considering gaining experience in psychology. I was in the same situation in my first/second year which is why I chose to do a year in industry.

A year in industry comes after your second year and it allows you to work in a psychology-related role, giving you real-world experience and making you stand out to future employers. The university's Careers service is there to help, they helped prepare me for the interview and supported me with writing up my CV. So I would highly encourage booking a one to one session. They can even help you find part-time jobs whilst you are still studying.

Please let me know if you have any other questions 🙂

Sumayyah
Psychology with Cognitive Neuroscience

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

If you want to pursue a career as a professional psychologist (which necessitates completing a very competitive to get onto graduate course i.e. the DClinPsy, DEdPsy, masters in forensic psych etc), it's probably sensible to pursue as much clinical and related work experience as you can, since you will need it I as I understand for those courses.

If you're not planning to pursue a career as a professional psychologist you absolutely will need to pursue any of the generalist internships any degree student will be applying to, to be competitive with any other grad. The days of a degree getting you a job by itself are long and truly gone - you need to be getting work experience through internships and making yourself employable otherwise.

That said most internships tend to be aimed at second year students as I understand. So it's reasonable to aim for this in second year.

It's probably also sensible to stop thinking about the summer as a "holiday" because really once you leave school that ends pretty much for the rest of your life. During uni it's a time to do internships/placements/research projects/etc (even part time casual work to save money for the following year), and once you're in a full time job as a graduate (whether a graduate role or not) you'll be working year round with the exception of your annual leave (which you may well take a good chunk of during the summer, however it won't be anywhere near "summer holiday off" like in school; a few weeks here and there, and everyone else will be aiming to take some leave in the summer as well usually).