Progressing from BSc Psychology to PhD (Research)

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Basically i'm just looking for any input or advice for or againts into a Undergraduate student contemplating progressing from their BSc to a PhD. Obviously depending on the classification of degree received any all the rest, but does anyone have any thoughts as to whether it would be a good/bad idea?

I am going to be completing my final year thesis on Spatial Navigation and to be completely honest, the only area of psychology I have really loved is the general area of behavioural neuroscience and particularly spatial navigation.

The supervisor I will be choosing has completed his research around this area and therefore I will be contacting him with regards to pursuing further study in this field.

So, i'm just wondering does anyone have any hints/advice or general input into this? Is it a bad idea, is it too much of an elevation in workload?

cheesefiend

Hi Pictureframe,
I don't think many people who would have completed an undergraduate in Psychology would have gone straight to Phd level. This is probably due to the fact that most Phds in Psychology require a masters first. But since your area of interest is neuroscience this might be different. Maybe you could try asking in the Postgraduates forum as there may be more people there who have gone straight to Phd!

Faith

I know several people who've done a PhD straight after UG. My UG supervisor advised me to skip a Masters and go straight to PhD level, in fact (unfortunately, I didn't take his advice and wasted a lot of time and money on a Masters I hated).

My only reservation is that 21/22 is quite young to start a PhD. I know a girl in dementia research at PhD level and she hasn't got the maturity for it at all. But given you're interested in a more neuroscience field, rather than working with vulnerable groups, then I can't see many reasons why you shouldn't go for it.

There's a fair workload in a PhD, but if you work well from the start, then it's entirely manageable.

(Aside: Masters are AWFUL. Tonnes of work piled on, was less support provided than either UG or PhD level.)

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Faith wrote: »

I know several people who've done a PhD straight after UG. My UG supervisor advised me to skip a Masters and go straight to PhD level, in fact (unfortunately, I didn't take his advice and wasted a lot of time and money on a Masters I hated).

My only reservation is that 21/22 is quite young to start a PhD. I know a girl in dementia research at PhD level and she hasn't got the maturity for it at all. But given you're interested in a more neuroscience field, rather than working with vulnerable groups, then I can't see many reasons why you shouldn't go for it.

There's a fair workload in a PhD, but if you work well from the start, then it's entirely manageable.

(Aside: Masters are AWFUL. Tonnes of work piled on, was less support provided than either UG or PhD level.)

Thanks so much for your reply! Do you mind me asking what Masters did you complete?

I am a bit worried about the age aspect of it, as I will have only turned 21 the month the PhD would be starting.

I haven't had had an indepth conversation with my Supervisor yet, but AFAIK he is always looking for students to take on, I don't know how comfortable i'd feel starting the PhD straight from the Undergrad.

Is it common that they'd take on a student with a 2:1? I don't think a 1:1 is attainable for me, but I wouldn't rule it out!

The only Masters I was considering was the MSc Applied Psych in TCD or the M.Psych.Sci in UCD, primarily because both are quite broad and are scheduled to allow students to work part time (not sure how feasible this is though)

But all in all, i'm still not 100% sure, I have to decide pretty soon what my plans are and I don't want to make a mistake over something i'm going to spend the next 3-4 years of my life doing you know

If anyone has any more advice i'd love to hear it

The Black Oil

I can't speak to this directly as I've not gone down that road. Most of the PhD students we had when I was studying psych were late ish 20s at their youngest. Some of my best lecturers (imo) were those with 2.1s on their CVs, but perhaps things have changed since their younger days. I would presume your sense of discipline and rigour would count more than your age. Perhaps if you're uncertain about a PhD you could see about doing some research assistant type work (perhaps not easy to come by) after your UG. That way, you're doing something real world ish, but without being bound by the limits reaching for your degree.

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The Black Oil wrote: »

I can't speak to this directly as I've not gone down that road. Most of the PhD students we had when I was studying psych were late ish 20s at their youngest. Some of my best lecturers (imo) were those with 2.1s on their CVs, but perhaps things have changed since their younger days. I would presume your sense of discipline and rigour would count more than your age. Perhaps if you're uncertain about a PhD you could see about doing some research assistant type work (perhaps not easy to come by) after your UG. That way, you're doing something real world ish, but without being bound by the limits reaching for your degree.

Yeah a lot of the people I would know who are doing PhD's are 24-25 when they started, it just seems to be an aspect of Psychology that not many are interested/good in. The lecturer seemed quite impressed by my knowledge and interest in Spatial Navigation so I don't think he is too worried about my age. I'm just worried that 21 too young to make a decision to take on such an expensive and long commitment

Good point about getting some research work TBO, problem is a lot of people who seem to obtain this work have completed MSc's. On paper i'm quite good academically, however experience is something I very much lack.

It's going to be a difficult decision, wish someone else could make it for me! (Oh youth and their first world problems eh?)

The Black Oil

Have you spoken to anyone doing a PhD at the moment?

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The Black Oil wrote: »

Have you spoken to anyone doing a PhD at the moment?

I have yes, i've spoken to a number of Psychology PhD's and a couple of Education PhD's. I realise the level of work that is involved in obtaining such a qualification, but i'm not willing to waste on average, what will cost me 11/12K+ to do a Masters if I can proceed directly onto PhD level.

It's just a matter of biting the bullet and getting on with things I think. Yet again, I think it's the youth (20) causing the indecision.

The Black Oil

What I was going to say was did you raise the issue of your age in those conversations, to get feedback?

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The Black Oil wrote: »

What I was going to say was did you raise the issue of your age in those conversations, to get feedback?

In a certain respect I did, they seemed to think I was joking when I first asked, but when I told them I was being genuine they seemed to think if the Supervisor thought I was able to handle the jump, to not hesitate and grab it with both hands. However I did notice that all of those who I consulted with had done their UG, went and done a Masters in the UK and returned back home to the college they did they UG in to take on their PhD.

Faith

PictureFrame wrote: »

Thanks so much for your reply! Do you mind me asking what Masters did you complete?

I am a bit worried about the age aspect of it, as I will have only turned 21 the month the PhD would be starting.

I haven't had had an indepth conversation with my Supervisor yet, but AFAIK he is always looking for students to take on, I don't know how comfortable i'd feel starting the PhD straight from the Undergrad.

Is it common that they'd take on a student with a 2:1? I don't think a 1:1 is attainable for me, but I wouldn't rule it out!

The only Masters I was considering was the MSc Applied Psych in TCD or the M.Psych.Sci in UCD, primarily because both are quite broad and are scheduled to allow students to work part time (not sure how feasible this is though)

But all in all, i'm still not 100% sure, I have to decide pretty soon what my plans are and I don't want to make a mistake over something i'm going to spend the next 3-4 years of my life doing you know

If anyone has any more advice i'd love to hear it

Sorry, I forgot about this thread.

I did a Masters in Clinical Psychology in Bangor, Wales. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

Yes, you can absolutely do a PhD with a 2:1.

Is the PhD funded or not? If your supervisor is so easy about taking on students, then I'd be thinking it's not funded? That's something else to take into consideration. Postgraduate studies are essentially full time jobs so could you support yourself if it wasn't funded?

I actually studied neuroscience first, before psychology, and I've a friend who was quite young who went straight from BSc to PhD. He finished up last year, I think. He definitely struggled in the first year or two, but stuck it out and made it through.

Valmont

I would recommend assisting with some lab work initially and perhaps helping the people you want to work with either design an experiment, analyse the data, or write it up. I did all of the above and speedily realised that research was definitely and completely not what I was looking for nor ever wanted to do again if possible!