Work/career uses for psychology Et al
Discussion
Just been having a conversation with my girlfriend, the type where you discuss things you would do differently in life if oh could.
One thing that came up is that I would go to college/uni and study psychology and sociology if I did things differently. Now the good lady thinks it should be something I think about and potentially apply for come September.
What I'm curious to know is what kind of career prospects and job opportunities would be presented to someone who has officially studied such things, even in this later than normal stage????
One thing that came up is that I would go to college/uni and study psychology and sociology if I did things differently. Now the good lady thinks it should be something I think about and potentially apply for come September.
What I'm curious to know is what kind of career prospects and job opportunities would be presented to someone who has officially studied such things, even in this later than normal stage????
I would avoid it these days. So many people seem to do this from my time at university. I know between 2nd and 3rd year (in Scotland) the pass to get into the next year for most subjects was normally 12/20, but was at minimum 15/20 for psychology, to reduce the number of people in the class.
The Beaver King said:
Jag-D said:
The Beaver King said:
Busking...
You should be on stage...Sweeping the b
d 
Scott - don't bother!
A - you need to be applying NOW and your maybe too late already if you wanted to start this Autumn.
B - next year you are likely to have to pay upto £9000 A YEAR if you do go.
C- If you want to go to Uni - do something that leads directly into a specific job - the ones that you MUST study in order to do this job.
So basically MechEng, Healtchcare(Doctors and Nurses) and things like Accounting etc.
Trust me!
A - you need to be applying NOW and your maybe too late already if you wanted to start this Autumn.
B - next year you are likely to have to pay upto £9000 A YEAR if you do go.
C- If you want to go to Uni - do something that leads directly into a specific job - the ones that you MUST study in order to do this job.
So basically MechEng, Healtchcare(Doctors and Nurses) and things like Accounting etc.
Trust me!
Jag-D said:
What I'm curious to know is what kind of career prospects and job opportunities would be presented to someone who has officially studied such things, even in this later than normal stage????
All sorts. But in my honest opinion, not as much as all the interesting things you could do if you spent the next 4 years working your arse off, and educating yourself/becoming qualified/gaining experience in many other ways.
snotrag said:
Scott - don't bother!
A - you need to be applying NOW and your maybe too late already if you wanted to start this Autumn.
B - next year you are likely to have to pay upto £9000 A YEAR if you do go.
C- If you want to go to Uni - do something that leads directly into a specific job - the ones that you MUST study in order to do this job.
So basically MechEng, Healtchcare(Doctors and Nurses) and things like Accounting etc.
Trust me!
But don't do accounting or business or whatever because they are sA - you need to be applying NOW and your maybe too late already if you wanted to start this Autumn.
B - next year you are likely to have to pay upto £9000 A YEAR if you do go.
C- If you want to go to Uni - do something that leads directly into a specific job - the ones that you MUST study in order to do this job.
So basically MechEng, Healtchcare(Doctors and Nurses) and things like Accounting etc.
Trust me!
te subjects for a degree. Interesting, my wife (45yrs) has just started with OU as the kids are on the cusp of moving on to big school. She does some voluntary child stuff within the Scottish legal system (Childrens Panel, I don't think they have it in England) and it took here fancy to do a psychology degree and then go into something child related in maybe 5 yrs. She's bright enough and is much better at time management than me and works hard at it plus she enjoys it - both the learning aspects and the personal fulfilment side too.
I imagine her as a Dr Malfey character in 5-8 years while I hang up my boots and become a house-husband just as the door slams on the kids arses as they leave...(well.....not quite, but you know what I mean)
Any thoughts on whether someone at her age should fuggedaboutit or are there benefits that come with age? Indeed, would she be better spending her time learning other skills like stage sweeping?
I imagine her as a Dr Malfey character in 5-8 years while I hang up my boots and become a house-husband just as the door slams on the kids arses as they leave...(well.....not quite, but you know what I mean)
Any thoughts on whether someone at her age should fuggedaboutit or are there benefits that come with age? Indeed, would she be better spending her time learning other skills like stage sweeping?
People seem to forget that as well as what you study it's where you study that's vital. A degree from a Russell Group Uni is worth something, a degree from a tinpot College rebranded as a Uni is worth very little and potential employers know this.
Thanks to Labour selling a generation of kids down the river, there are tens of thousands of "graduates" with mediocre degrees in mediocre subjects from mediocre "Universities" who are now queueing for the same checkout jobs as the GCSE students. The only difference is the "graduates" (from an employability perspective) have effectively wasted 3 years of their lives and got huge debts.
There is plenty of material available that shows how different Universities and their various courses are rated from an employers and employability perspective - use it and choose wisely.
Getting more kids into Uni was a commendable idea. Achieving it by dumbing down exams, allowing Colleges to rebrand themselves as Uni's and creating spurious degree courses to fill the places was all about politics. Increasing the educational standards of our kids and then letting them progress to Uni on merit was just too difficult, would take too long and like every other Labour policy the spin mattered more than getting the best result for both graduates and employers.
Thanks to Labour selling a generation of kids down the river, there are tens of thousands of "graduates" with mediocre degrees in mediocre subjects from mediocre "Universities" who are now queueing for the same checkout jobs as the GCSE students. The only difference is the "graduates" (from an employability perspective) have effectively wasted 3 years of their lives and got huge debts.
There is plenty of material available that shows how different Universities and their various courses are rated from an employers and employability perspective - use it and choose wisely.
Getting more kids into Uni was a commendable idea. Achieving it by dumbing down exams, allowing Colleges to rebrand themselves as Uni's and creating spurious degree courses to fill the places was all about politics. Increasing the educational standards of our kids and then letting them progress to Uni on merit was just too difficult, would take too long and like every other Labour policy the spin mattered more than getting the best result for both graduates and employers.
Edited by Egbert Nobacon on Monday 4th April 14:12
The Beaver King said:
ewenm said:
My sister specialised in Psychology in her final year at Cambridge, got a 1st and works as a teacher in a decent private school.
I've highlighted the points that make this a special case.Cheers
As someone else said, get a good grade from a decent Uni and it helps open doors. I wouldn't be surprised if teaching is a fairly common career route for psychology graduates though.
i did BSc psychology and only narrowly missed getting a 1st in 1999. I was deluded into thinking employers outside of research, health might think it was a useful degree, and at the time I was applying for sales jobs. I couldn't have been more wrong and no-one cared, no matter how I tried to spin it. So, in my experience, it would only appear to be useful for going directly into a relevant career. Occupational psychology, ergonomics etc are all very interesting and well paid, but very niche. Clinical psychology is the natural progression, but is so over-subscribed that the amount of 'ground work' you have to put in to even get on a PhD course (oh yes, that's another thing - you will need one) was ridiculous back then, and getting worse. Basically you have to volunteer for over a year, maybe 2, and then accept very stly paid jobs in the area before you can even commence your 3 year plus doctorate. So what does that leave? Bit of fun really, if that's what floats your boat. I still read about it even now, and do actually harbour the interest in doing a doctorate in maybe social psychology one day just for my own personal achievement. Career first right now though. Oh that's why I didn't go for clinical too, i basically have no interest in helping people, and would tire of saying "pull yourself together. NEXT!"
tly paid jobs in the area before you can even commence your 3 year plus doctorate. So what does that leave? Bit of fun really, if that's what floats your boat. I still read about it even now, and do actually harbour the interest in doing a doctorate in maybe social psychology one day just for my own personal achievement. Career first right now though. Oh that's why I didn't go for clinical too, i basically have no interest in helping people, and would tire of saying "pull yourself together. NEXT!"Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff