Cambridge PBS student advice needed

2

HELLO, I am in desperate need of hearing any advice from someone who studies/has studied Psychological and Behavioural sciences (PBS) at Cambridge. I received an offer to the course from King’s college, as well as an offer to study psychology at Durham, and am completely torn on what to put as my firm choice. I have a gut feeling that I would enjoy Durham far more due to fewer contact hours/essays etc, but know that it does not hold the same status and opportunities as Cambridge. There is not much information about the workload of a PBS student at Cambridge online and really need to know what a typical week looks like - I have found A-levels incredibly difficult and have had little social life or enjoyment for the past couple of years, so would be very grateful to know whether 3 years at Cambridge would just be a repeat of this. I just don’t want to make the mistake of rejecting my offer from Cambridge on the premise that I will be wishing the years away just to get the qualification, if this is just something I have fabricated in my head and it’s not as vigorous as I think.
Any advice would be really helpful, thank you! 🙏

Reply 1

DurhamRep Rosie

Official Rep

10

Original post

by Christinechou

HELLO, I am in desperate need of hearing any advice from someone who studies/has studied Psychological and Behavioural sciences (PBS) at Cambridge. I received an offer to the course from King’s college, as well as an offer to study psychology at Durham, and am completely torn on what to put as my firm choice. I have a gut feeling that I would enjoy Durham far more due to fewer contact hours/essays etc, but know that it does not hold the same status and opportunities as Cambridge. There is not much information about the workload of a PBS student at Cambridge online and really need to know what a typical week looks like - I have found A-levels incredibly difficult and have had little social life or enjoyment for the past couple of years, so would be very grateful to know whether 3 years at Cambridge would just be a repeat of this. I just don’t want to make the mistake of rejecting my offer from Cambridge on the premise that I will be wishing the years away just to get the qualification, if this is just something I have fabricated in my head and it’s not as vigorous as I think.
Any advice would be really helpful, thank you! 🙏

Hi there!

I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with this decision. I study Psychology at Durham and I absolutely love it; if you have any questions or would like to know anything, just let me know!

I can't tell you what the right choice is, but I would advise that your happiness and enjoyment at university should be priority. ☺️ Pick the university which you think you'll enjoy and have the best time at, because it's so much more than just a place to learn.

All the best,
-Rosie (DU Representative)

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Hi the hard thing is that no one can tell you how you, personally, are going to find it. With studying PBS at Cambridge, while there are more contact hours than other universities, there are still a couple of quieter days in the week with maybe 2-4 hours of contact time on those days and 5-6 on busy days. The amount of contact time you have can also be influenced by the optional paper(s) you choose, some have more contact hours than others. At Kings you are close to the Psychology Department on Downing site so travelling won’t take up a lot of time. It’s a special place to study, as is Durham. You have great choices, there isn’t a right or wrong answer, just different ones.

Cambridge PBS student advice needed

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