American College Dubin - Psychology course

Santa Claus

Has anyone done this course or know of anyone who did ?
I'm looking at going back as a mature student to study psychology but only decided this after cao applications had closed as wasn't aware mature students had to go through CAO.

The one thing that put me off slightly about the course was that the course takes 70 odd students whereas I know trinty only take like 30 or so.

(Just in case anyone wants to suggest Open University, I tried a distance learning course before and it just doesn't suit me....I need a classroom learning experience)

John

As far as I know the American College course isn't accredited by the BPS and in general just isn't that great. I'd suggest waiting a year and applying next year to a better course. Of course, things could have changed in the four years since I got my info.

Valmont

John2 wrote:

As far as I know the American College course isn't accredited by the BPS and in general just isn't that great. I'd suggest waiting a year and applying next year to a better course. Of course, things could have changed in the four years since I got my info.

I must admit, I am getting quite annoyed with the negative attention the American College seems to attract. A lot of the opinions seem to be solely based on hearsay and conjecture *see above*.

It is however, accredited by hetac, PSI and the american equivalent of the PSI. That is just a personal preference, would you like to go to america or
england?

The standards are also very high. How can private institutions such as AMCD and DBS etc... expect to compete with trinity and UCD without stringent examination procedures and the likes? Anyone with a good degree in the American College has worked just as hard as anyone in the public universities.

I have just finished my first year there and although it was a stab in the dark when I registered, it has proven a prudent decision. Despite the high intake, class numbers are very small as they are split up and the teaching is on a very casual level. The lecturers are willing to explain things to someone who is confused or to listen to comments after the lecture. I found I was confused with some of the statistics and experimental design at the beginning and I would have been lost were it not for the concerned attention of my lecturer!

The lecturers are also of the highest credentials and are highly trained in their respective fields. Their experience in the various fields of psychology lends invaluable information for any student.

It may also be wise to note that the current president of the psychological society of Ireland, Ronan Yore, is the head of the psychology programme at the American College.

Considering the money I'm paying out of my own pocket for this course, I would settle for nothing short of a quality education, which is what I have received so far at the American college. (despite its funny name):D

John

In fairness, I'm not going on hearsay and conjecture, I'm basing it on four year old information.

Valmont

John2 wrote:

In fairness, I'm not going on hearsay and conjecture, I'm basing it on four year old information.

Apologies.

When I had applied to the college, a lot of people I knew said things like "oh i heard that wasn't the best" and "are you sure, it doesn't sound great". I still get funny looks when I tell people I am a student there.

Unfortunately, I was not aware of the conditions in the american college four years ago, but my experience of them this year has so far been a pleasant one.

Did you know a former student?

p.pete

A lot of the Universities in the UK I've looked at have an intake of 100 and upwards, so a figure of 70 wouldn't be that off-putting. For lectures (not for AMCD, Valmont has already given specifics for them ) you can expect to be lumped in like a sardine with everyone but after that you'll be split into smaller tutorial groups or project groups where appropriate.

As an alternative to AMCD if you'd be you were interested in studying in the UK there could be possibilities there as it's not quite as narrow as the Irish system. Some Uni's will have places available through clearing systems (I'm not too well up on that system, sorry) for places that weren't taken up already. Also I've seen examples where mature students have spoken directly to a Uni at an open day and gotten a place - that may have been somewhere else on this forum so I'll have a dig.

John

Valmont wrote:

Did you know a former student?

My girlfriend had made a few enquiries about there when she was looking to do a psychology degree. At the time, it had a pretty bad rep and wasn't accredited by the BPS* and I'm not sure about PSI at the time. She rang them up and talked to a couple of people who went there and they didn't come across as being very good. But I'm glad to hear things have changed.




*Although ironically she ended up going to Maynooth and the year she was in was not BPS accredited as the college was between accreditations at the time :rolleyes:

Valmont

I don't think it is accredited by the BPS even now, but it doesn't phase me too much. It is accredited by the PSI which is the most important one. And the american counterpart, which is pretty good if thats where someone might want to go.

I found out that beginning three years ago, the college started phasing out some less viable courses that they were offering including sociology, liberal arts and maybe one or two I'm not too sure of. Since then they have been able to focus more attention and funds on the three courses they are currently offering. Maybe that was the turn around.

But then again, while I'm sure most students had a positive experience, they are bound to be a few unhappy people.

hefalump

i got my degree from there. the lecturers were pretty good, knew their stuff and were able to take time to explain things outside of class on a one-to-one basis.

on another note: the guy running the psych department is ronan yore, who is frequently president of the PSI (a rotating position). far as i could see he put a ton of work getting the programme well up to scratch.

also: i've not come across anyone who went there having difficulty when it came to jobs or postgrad applications just because their degree said AMCD on it.