Advice needed on HDip

marie_1986

Hi All,

I am new to boards but am desperately seeking advice!

I have been accepted into a H Dip in Psychology, but I have a few concerns before I take up my place.

Firstly, I am worried because the BA and MA that I have completed are in a different areas (Although both my theses touched on areas of psychology and I have studied Consumer Behaviour which gave me some basic introduction) and both of my theses have been qualitative rather than quantitative.

I understand that there will be an element of science in the course, and I am concerned because of my lack of ability in terms of quantitative research and mathematics; does this represent a huge part of the course or is it a smaller element?

Secondly, I am wondering will this course be worth doing? I have always been very keen on studying psychology, but I am worried that this is more of a romanticised than realistic idea! Can anyone give me some kind of insight into what it will involve?

I would not be so worried only I have a permanent, well paid job in the field I spent 4 years studying to get into, and given the way the job situation is at the moment, am I being foolish to give all this up to pursue this course, or does it come highly recommended?

Thanks in advance, I would be extremely grateful for any bit of advice you can offer me.

The Black Oil

Re the stats, it might depend on how they've structured or organised the course, but yes, it will probably form a reasonable amount of the Dip, as it would with a degree, I think. You'll have lectures, practicals/labs/learning SPSS, probably some seminars and assignments in statistics or that require them in some way. Given that you're also doing it over 2 years rather than 4 you might find a lot is thrown at you. Even if you are worried or disheartened try not to give up or hate the subject. If you're finding it tough going try and stick with it, practice and there's usually someone in your class who'll (hopefully) be willing to go over some things with you. Quantitative methods tend to be fairly dominant so that's what you've to roll with. Congrats on being accepted, btw.

I can't really answer your second question, but I understand your concerns about having a romanticised notion. Maybe you need to be more explicit in asking what it will involve? You'll probably do foundation courses such as development psych, cognition, social psych, perception/neuro, then you're usually expected to do a few advanced ones - mental health, advanced neuro, etc. Have you a reading list or course handbook yet?

A lot of people make sacrifices to do the course, but the opportunity might not arise for you again. I suppose you'll know from your gut. If you've any other questions feel free to ask.

marie_1986

Thanks for that.

I suppose my biggest concern is that I would not understand any mathematical elements.

When I put my mind to it I am fairly capable in terms of alot of things - I have a first class hns degree and a 2.1 masters - but I could barely cope with Ordinary level maths in the leaving cert - I got a C after 2 years of intense one to one grinds and daily study.

I have no problem putting the work in - but if I have such issues with basic maths and formula will this cause problems for me in this course?

Also, in terms of assessment, will it be mainly exams or continual assessment (assignments labs, etc)?

Yeah I'm pretty certain that I won't get the course again if I give up my place this year (they have already allowed me to defer) so I'm taking the decision very seriously! Would it be worth my while going to a seminar or some kind of introductory course to get an idea of what I would be getting myself in for? I don't have a reading list yet, but I know my modules for the first year are:

Memory, Synaptic Plasticity and the Brain, Thinking Judgement and Decision Making, Advanced Individual Differences, Contemporary Symptoms: A psychoanalytic exploration of modern clinical phenomena, Phsychological Disorder, Introduction to Phsychology, Fundementals of Nueroscience and Behaviour, and Cognition.

I suppose what I'm asking is, I am really interested in the theory of psychology, i.e. why people behave in a certain way, but am I being really naive in thinking that it will be mainly theory and not so much biology.

In terms of jobs, I know that I will probably need to do at least an MA on top of this before I could even think about working in the field - but are there jobs in Ireland for people with these types of qualifications?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply, much appreciated.

The Black Oil

Maybe try not to place too much emphasis on the mathematical aspect as such. I think part of it is just getting through the process of learning the actual statistical way of thinking or analysing things - why use method X in this instance and Y in another, what things underlie how certain methods are used, etc. I wasn't the best at maths, either, and still wouldn't have much of a head for stats, but I muddled through in the end. Obviously you have the ability to get on with college work so you'll probably be OK. I don't know about the assessments, this will very much depend on what your lecturer feels is best. We had a mixture of continuous assessment through lab reports and assessments (2 per year). Exams for stats could be partly based on SPSS and partly written.

You could well be looking at a good dose of biology, well, neuroscience, really...it will depend on your department's orientation, what it specialises in the people it has on staff, etc. You might get a sense of this from its website or staff publications. I think the thing is not really to expect many great insights into why people do certain things, not to say you don't touch on them because obviously you do, but you're probably going to be treated like an undergraduate...and you're just getting a 'basic' grounding in the area.

If you felt like looking into some introductory seminars then I don't see the harm in doing so. The internet will probably come in handy here as some colleges put lectures online. This link might give you some perspective. http://academicearth.org/subjects/psychology Jobs in the area is a tricky one, sometimes things aren't that well organised or recognised in this country. Perhaps getting some voluntary work experience in the area would give you a feel for what's out there, to an extent.

Neuro

Hi Marie, and congratulations on getting accepted into the HDip in Psychology.

Regarding the content of your previous qualifications, I wouldn't be too worried - they generally presume no prior knowledge of psychology research methodology or statistics upon entering such a course, and usually start from the beginning. I think approximately 25% of the course content would relate to the more technical aspects of psychology such as research methods, statistics, and psychometrics.

As touched upon by The Black Oil, I too am not entirely sure what you consider a 'romanticised' view of psychology, but I will say this; if you believe you'll develop a deep understanding your own or others' unconscious desires, motivations, psychological makeup, or the precise reasons why people do what they do, I think you'll be disappointed. I've seen others enter HDip courses with these types of expectations, and they end up disliking the course as a result.

Put another way, low-level psychological processes such as perception, attention, short- and long-term memory are studied far more than high-level psychological phenomenon such as love, altruism, or compassion. The simple reason for this is that the former are easier to quantify than the latter, and are therefore more amenable to quantitative analysis. I'm not sure if I've answered your question, but if you have any other queries, please let me know.

Regarding jobs in psychology, they are few and far between, even with an MA or other postgraduate qualification in psychology. Do you have any ideas about what field you'd like to enter into - clinical, counselling, research, occupational, research? As someone who's over-educated and underemployed, I'd advise you to think carefully about giving up a job, which you mention is permanent and well paid, to enter into psychology.

Have you considered the Conversion Diploma in Psychology with the Open University? I know it's quite expensive, but the qualification is highly regarded (it's recognised by the British Psychological Society), you get to keep your job and study at the same time, and you get an insight into psychology without the major career or financial commitments.

The Black Oil

Yeah, there's some truth in what Neuro said there, though hopefully not many end up disliking the course.

JuliusCaesar

Neuro wrote: »

Put another way, low-level psychological processes such as perception, attention, short- and long-term memory are studied far more than high-level psychological phenomenon such as love, altruism, or compassion. The simple reason for this is that the former are easier to quantify than the latter, and are therefore more amenable to quantitative analysis.

Hi Neuro, I don't know that I'd call these 'low-level processes'; I'd be more inclined to call them basic processes, without which the 'higher-level' processes cannot occur. Without understanding the basics, how can we understand the rest?

cupofjoe

By your modules it sounds like your heading to Trinity, if wrong sorry - did the HDip there - everything you will do is at the undergraduate level and your previous degree/master won’t stop you learning anything, they take you as fresh out of school and you’re not expected to know anything psychological/statistical.

I don't mean to be pedantic about meaning but a lot of those modules (cognition, synaptic plasticity, neuroscience, decision making) are physiology orientated, as in the functions of parts of the body (primarily brain/brain stem/nervous systems) not so much biology - basically biology is what's inside us and the physiology is how does it work/function. There is some theory involved e.g. debate about the functioning of our short-term/long term memories, the "binding problem"; things like that but they are not really theory orientated like why people do what they do... In the second year you’ll probably do a little more of that sort of thing in social psychology.

Intro to psychology basically covers the broad spectrum of different areas - textbook. Can't speak for psychoanalytic as I have not done that. Psychological disorder will cover a lot of the basics related to the area of clinical psychology, you'll learn about diagnosis classifications (DSM criteria - I know I should be shot for providing a Wikipedia link as a psychology student but it's just easier at the moment) though you might hear people mentioning that psychologists create a "formulation" and not "diagnosis"; also that the DSM is actually developed by psychiatrists and not psychologists but that’s a whole other topic. Psych disorder will cover schizophrenia, mood/eating disorders, anxiety etc. Textbook link - "Abnormal Psychology"

Statistics can become a problem for people, stats lecturers in Trinity are extremely good, I won't mention names but one particular lecture even went to the trouble to put together separate seminar/labs for people to attend to help them and postgraduate psychology students are available for extra one-to-one stats tuition for about €20/€25 an hour. You will have seminars and labs each week and then have to write up reports after doing an actual experiment in the seminar, the lab is then used to teach you the statistics package SPSS and understand how to run an analysis on collected data. It's a module you should never miss a lecture/lab/seminar in because you can fall behind fast, also it’s the only module they take role in and if you miss more than 2 sem/labs per semester I think you fail it. Stats is a significant enough part, and the exams on it are largely focused on the theory of how and why you use them, it’s not just learning to click buttons on a computer that will give you a statistical result, you’ll have to learn the theory behind why they are used and will involve some level of calculation but it’s actually very manageable and you’re not expected to know anything outside of what is presented and taught in lectures/labs which is a huge benefit. For psychology to be a science we need to know and understand statistics to be able to quantify our research, qualitative methods are used and your knowledge in this area will probably benefit you if you do that module in your second year. Also you’re thesis/final year project can be done using qualitative methods if you so choose and there are staff trained in this area for you to talk with and help you.

It's really hard to talk about the romanticised view because what yours is might be exactly what psychology is! Basically psychology generally involves either research or application of that research (Applied psychology - Clinical), something you should be aware of too is from this course if you want to continue psychology you'll more than likely end up working within areas of disability, you don't work with people who have no psychological/physiological problems, it's no la-dee-da nice stuff where you sit around discussing why some nice person chose a red car to drive, that's something I think a lot of people only realise after getting into it - for example, to gain experience to get onto clinical doctorates a lot of people will work with either children with developmental disabilities (e.g. autism as an Applied Behaviour Analysis tutor) or individuals with brain injury, and this work can be extremely tough for some; you may be involved with children who assault, display challenging behaviours such as self-injury e.g. biting themselves or banging their heads, have toileting problems etc. - brain injury work can involve helping adults integrate into community and/or aiding them in toileting/bathing, it's a big spectrum.

You may choose the research route, which I don’t know a huge deal about at the moment but will involve more years of MA’s and/or PhD’s. Basically a research study would involve – investigating prior research in an area that interests you, finding a limitation to this research or findings something you think hasn’t been researched, creating/formulating a hypothesis about it, researching this theory to ensure it does fit what you think it will, designing a way of actually studying the “thing” you think is true/will happen/people will do, for example, to use some undergrad social psychology, how would you investigate if people act differently in groups? What is it exactly you think people might do differently/ or the same in groups? How would you set it up to test what you think people will/won’t do?; there is a social psychology finding that people are less willing to help someone else if there are more people around called the “bystander effect” or “diffusion of responsibility” where others presume someone else will help or they think because no-one else is helping then they should not either, there is more to it than I have described but you’ll find researchers investigating the in’s and out’s of this one single theory, for example seeing how many people in a group does it take in a situation for people not to act, if the person needing help is a male/female, is the person old/young, are the people in the group friends, do the group know each other, are the group of people being watched by others – one single theory can involve numerous research studies to understand it.

Sorry for such a long response, I hope this has given you some info on it all – I could ramble on but probably best to see if you have any questions from it. The OU course is supposed to be good and would allow you to continue to work, so maybe an option you should look at.

marie_1986

Thanks everyone, really helpful advice. Yeah the course is at Trinity, I considered looking at an OU course but to be honest I wouldnt have the time with work because I do alot of overtime, if I'm going to do it I will have to give up the job.

I think I'm pretty decided that that is what I will do now, although it is very daunting entering into a completely new area, but like Black Oil said I don't think I will get another chance. Does anyone know what the contact hours for the Trinity course is; or what the time table is like? I can't seem to find anything online. I just have some financial concerns and it'd be great if I could work one or two days a week, but if there are alot of contact hours I know that probably wouldnt be possible.

Amusicum

Hello,
I am planning on applying for the HDip Psychology (either in UCD or Trinity). I'm just wondering did you decide to take the plunge and do the HDip Psych in Trinity? If so, what is your experience of it so far?
I'm not quite sure what to do at the moment. I finished a music degree in June this year but know i want to do the psychology HDip, yet part of me wants to go away for a while (6 months to a year) and experience a new culture. I would like to apply for the JET (teaching English in Japan) programme for September 2011, especially as staying in Ireland is looking so bleak at the moment. I have a number of questions to ask you:
(a) You said you were allowed to defer the Trinity course for a year. Is this normal procedure, or were you an exception? I ask this because if I get accepted for the JET programme and decide to go for a year, I want to have my course organised for when i come back, so that I can start straight into it.
(b) For the UCD course, you have to do an interview to gain entry. Do you have to do an interview for the Trinity course? I ask this because obviously if I am in Japan, i won't be coming back for an interview in the middle of March!
(c) If you are doing the course in Trinity, how are you finding it so far?
If you could offer me any words of advice, I would be delighted. I wish I had applied for the JET programme during last year, but to be honest I only heard about it this June. in a way this year feels like a waste, but not totally. I am doing a psychology cert (worth 20 ECTS credits), which would look good for getting a place on the HDip programme. I think if I got the JET programme it would be too enlightening an opportunity to turn down, and I might never get the opportunity again while I am young. Also, it is god to have experience of working with people if you want to get into clinical psychology, which i do.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

marie_1986

Hi sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I have sent you a PM hopefully it answers some of your questions

dot87

Hi Marie,

I am new to boards and I think I may be in a very similar position to that which you were in about a year ago, (well without having got accepted to the course...) I am 3 years out of college and in a permanent, pretty well paid job in a financial services firm but I am certain that it is not what I want to do for the rest of my life! I have always had an interest in psychology, I have never studied it but I am currently trying to do as much research as I can to confirm that it is what I want to do. I am considering applying for the h dip in psychology in TCD and UCD. As you know, it is a very big decision to give up a job (especially for a career such as this which is so competitive) and I would really appreciate any advice you can give me..

Did you start in TCD, how are you finding it? Is it pretty intense or how many contact hours do you have a week?

Have you any tips regarding the application process / did you have any "relevant work experience"/ is this necessary?

How many places are there on the course?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

hotspur

dot87 wrote: »

Hi Marie,

I am new to boards and I think I may be in a very similar position to that which you were in about a year ago, (well without having got accepted to the course...) I am 3 years out of college and in a permanent, pretty well paid job in a financial services firm but I am certain that it is not what I want to do for the rest of my life! I have always had an interest in psychology, I have never studied it but I am currently trying to do as much research as I can to confirm that it is what I want to do. I am considering applying for the h dip in psychology in TCD and UCD. As you know, it is a very big decision to give up a job (especially for a career such as this which is so competitive) and I would really appreciate any advice you can give me..

Did you start in TCD, how are you finding it? Is it pretty intense or how many contact hours do you have a week?

Have you any tips regarding the application process / did you have any "relevant work experience"/ is this necessary?

How many places are there on the course?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

It's perhaps important for someone in your position to realise that you can do the H.Dip at night time in DBS