Getting into second year psychology through arts

fizzyorange

Hey everyone.
I was just wondering if it is extremely difficult to get into psychology through arts? On the website it says 30 people from arts go into denominated psychology, and was also wondering whether this is a definite figure or are more sometimes let in? Also, my last question is what books do you need for first year psych?
Thanks.

rainsage

Hey In answer to your question on how difficult it is to get a place in Psychology through Arts, it very much depends on how your head works and how much work you put in. I've just finished first year Psych at NUIM and I would say that if you've got a head for numbers and you're not scared of sciencey things then you're off to a good start. Science underlies a lot of the course and there's a full module on statistics (I found it to be fairly ok apart from being really really boring, but it did melt a few heads).

Aside from those two hurdles, the other really important thing to keep in mind is the fact that you'll need to put a reasonable effort into the course as it goes along. It's not so much that the content is particularly challenging, it's just that when it comes to exams the lecturers don't give any hints or tips on what to revise, and the papers themselves offer very little choice. In short, if you really want to do well then you'll need a decent grasp of pretty much everything.

They don't offer anymore than 30 places each year, and sometimes they don't even offer that many. It depends on how good the grades are overall as the cut-off mark for a shot at 2nd year is 60%, i.e. if only 20 people get 60% or higher then only 20 people will get through. It's do-able though and apparently most people lose interest in competing quite early in the year. It's impossible to say what to aim for though, the cut-off grade varies from year to year.

Also, if you do go for it then the best way to get to grips with the course is to speak to the lecturers during their consultation hours. This is an opportunity to clarify anything you're unsure of and also a way to ask questions about the writing style they look for (very scientific compared to other Arts subjects). It's important to get to grips with these things early on, and they're always happy to help clear things up. Developing good habits at the start would really stand to you as the course progresses.

As for the books, these are the ones they recommended last year anyway:

• The Developing Child (Bee and Boyd)
• Biopsychology (Pinel)
• Social Psychology (Kassin, Fein and Markus)
• Cognitive Psychology (Eysenk and Keane)
• Research and Statistics in Psychology (Haslam and McGarty)

There are another couple on the history of psychological research but I had completely lost interest at that stage so not sure which are the most important.


Hope that's been some help anyway!

fizzyorange

That was great help, thank you very much! I quite enjoy maths and science and am willing to put in the hard work, so I am feeling like getting into denominated psychology is more of a possibility.

rainsage

No bother, best of luck with it