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Psychology in UL

Phoenix Wright

I'm thinking that this is the right course for me, and I've made it my first choice on the CAO form.

But, I've heard that's it's hit or miss with to regards to whether or not I'll like it. Having said that, I know that a psychology degree is versatile and I genuinely feel I will enjoy the course.

Is there any possible way I can get a better idea of the course material? Can anyone here doing the course discuss their experiences? Is the course stressful?

Thanks in advance :cool:

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Lyra Fangs

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

I'm thinking that this is the right course for me, and I've made it my first choice on the CAO form.

But, I've heard that's it's hit or miss with to regards to whether or not I'll like it. Having said that, I know that a psychology degree is versatile and I genuinely feel I will enjoy the course.

Is there any possible way I can get a better idea of the course material? Can anyone here doing the course discuss their experiences? Is the course stressful?

Thanks in advance :cool:

I'm a 4th year psychology student and I'm just going to be straight with you. If you think it's going to be all about mental health disorders and learning how to diagnose people then I'm sad to say it's not. UL is apparently the dominant player in social psychological research in Ireland so you'll spend a lot of time learning about social psychological theories.

If that's not what you think, then feel free to ask me any question. I could email you some of my first year lecture slides to give you an idea of content.

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

I'm a 4th year psychology student and I'm just going to be straight with you. If you think it's going to be all about mental health disorders and learning how to diagnose people then I'm sad to say it's not. UL is apparently the dominant player in social psychological research in Ireland so you'll spend a lot of time learning about social psychological theories.

If that's not what you think, then feel free to ask me any question. I could email you some of my first year lecture slides to give you an idea of content.

Thanks very much for your reply

Oh, I knew that the course wasn't going to be all about curing mental disorders, but I'm still very much interested in it

I've a lot of questions though, before I'm fully 100% sure that this is the right course for me :cool:

Q1: One of the main reasons I'm going for psychology is because there are so many different routes you can take after you do your first four years. Do you know what you want to do after you finish this year? Clinical psychology seems like a good option for me personally, but are there any particular fields that have interested you during your first three years in UL?

Q2: Is having such a small amount of people in a course, a good thing or a bad thing? This year I think UL took on 30 new students for the course, which is a lot smaller than the likes of say business which takes well over 200 students a year.

Q3: Do you enjoy the course? Overall, I'm sure it's not overly-stressful and enjoyable all the same, right?

Q4: Is there much Maths in the course? While I like Maths, and I'm fairly good at it in school, I wouldn't like to do a course that is predominantly based around Maths.

Q5: Are the hours stressful?

Q6: Is there an emphasis on personal research via the Internet, or is the course done page by page with a syllabus (similar to secondary school subjects)?

First-year slides? That would be fantastic and really helpful! The lecturer presenting the open day and my career guidance teacher have given a description of the material, but there would be nothing better than physically seeing what the course contains for myself. I hope it's not too much hassle

Thanks in advance

Lyra Fangs

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

Thanks very much for your reply

Oh, I knew that the course wasn't going to be all about curing mental disorders, but I'm still very much interested in it I've a lot of questions though, before I'm fully 100% sure that this is the right course for me :cool:

Q1: One of the main reasons I'm going for psychology is because there are so many different routes you can take after you do your first four years. Do you know what you want to do after you finish this year? Clinical psychology seems like a good option for me personally, but are there any particular fields that have interested you during your first three years in UL?

Q2: Is having such a small amount of people in a course, a good thing or a bad thing? This year I think UL took on 30 new students for the course, which is a lot smaller than the likes of say business which takes well over 200 students a year.

Q3: Do you enjoy the course? Overall, I'm sure it's not overly-stressful and enjoyable all the same, right?

Q4: Is there much Maths in the course? While I like Maths, and I'm fairly good at it in school, I wouldn't like to do a course that is predominantly based around Maths.

Q5: Are the hours stressful?

Q6: Is there an emphasis on personal research via the Internet, or is the course done page by page with a syllabus (similar to secondary school subjects)?

First-year slides? That would be fantastic and really helpful! The lecturer presenting the open day and my career guidance teacher have given a description of the material, but there would be nothing better than physically seeing what the course contains for myself. I hope it's not too much hassle

Thanks in advance

Q1. It's true there are many many routes you can take after finishing a degree in psychology. Clinical is the path I have chosen to take (at some point but I'll get back to that) but there is also health psych, child psych, developmental psych, experimental psych, personality psych, organisational psych etc and of course working within research and academia. BUT many if not most of these routes are LONG, I'm talking 10 yrs minimum (inc. 4 yrs undergrad). In addition it is an expensive career choice, you can do very little in psychology with just a degree so you need to do a phd. However most phds unofficially require a masters (the competition for places if fierce) which can cost upwards of 6-8 grand just for fees. Many masters require you to have a car and license as you'll be doing some on site placements which may not be near the college. Also as with most Phds and masters you'll have to support yourself on very little (grant wise) so that's another thing you must remember.

Clinical has always appealed to me from the beginning which is why I was so disappointed that the majority of the course content was not relate to clinical. This will be a major annoyance that you will discover not long into the course. Despite psychology have so many sub-fields the course in UL ignores half of them and breezes through others in a handful of meaningful, context-less lectures.

Q2. I like that we only have a small course. You feel more like an individual to the lecturer and of course they have a lot more time to help you. However it is a little more difficult to make friends if some of the students live together/know each other from before college. Cliques are a bit of a problem in my course.

Q3. At times I enjoy the course and at other times I wish I'd never heard of a psychology. When I'm doing something interesting that I think has meaning in the world (such as talking about mental health disorders) I'm happy. But when we start getting into the wishy washy theory which seems so pointless I want to run out of the lecture :P. The course is stressful, you'll find you have a lot more assignments than most and deadlines can often group together at the worst of times. They also expect high quality assignments from day 1 and there is a certain lack of apathy from the lecturers with regards to helping you out. Compared to other courses who get clear and concise guidelines on assignments and tutorials to help them out, in psychology, you can often get unclear and vague guidelines which can be interpreted multiple ways and there are no tutorials..ever.

Q4. For first year if you do the pure psych course (and not psych and sociology) you can choose two of your five modules. I choose biology and maths. The biology is very similar to LC biology and is an easy mark in the exams. Maths though not quite the same as LC is still straightforward and a refreshing break from the uncertainty in psychology. In maths there is always a right answer and a wrong answer. If you don't like maths or bio you can choose sociology modules but they can make first yr that little bit harder and you don't need them later on. There is a lot of statistics in psych but so long as you give it enough time and you don't go in with this pre-conceived attitude of 'uh i hate maths; statistics is boring' (which some ppl in my course have and it has held them back) then you'll be fine. I actually love the statistics part.

Q5. The hours stressful? LOL. I'm in my last semester and I have 6 hours/week. They really really want you to learn by yourself and spend a lot of time on assignments thus very few college hours. Although nearly every other course will have more hours than you and you'll definitely be tempted to doss you'll spend many unofficial hours reading, researching, writing and panicking (a little :P).

Q6. There is a syllabus but it is extremely basic and 60% of what you'll need will come from outside sources like books and the internet. You could rely on your lecture notes for first yr but after that it's best to do a little outside reading so that you can speak more in depth about the topics covered in the course. Now you're not expected to know everything about say personality psychology just know the main topics well and have a few extra bits of info that wasn't covered so you can show the lecturer you've done your reading and you know your stuff.

PS. Psychology is something you need to sure about, it requires a lot of dedication and hard work if you're to make it long term. You need to be passionate about it.

I don't mean to put you off I just want to be honest :P

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to ask. Also pm me your email address so I can send you the lecture slides from 1st yr

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

Q1. It's true there are many many routes you can take after finishing a degree in psychology. Clinical is the path I have chosen to take (at some point but I'll get back to that) but there is also health psych, child psych, developmental psych, experimental psych, personality psych, organisational psych etc and of course working within research and academia. BUT many if not most of these routes are LONG, I'm talking 10 yrs minimum (inc. 4 yrs undergrad). In addition it is an expensive career choice, you can do very little in psychology with just a degree so you need to do a phd. However most phds unofficially require a masters (the competition for places if fierce) which can cost upwards of 6-8 grand just for fees. Many masters require you to have a car and license as you'll be doing some on site placements which may not be near the college. Also as with most Phds and masters you'll have to support yourself on very little (grant wise) so that's another thing you must remember.

Clinical has always appealed to me from the beginning which is why I was so disappointed that the majority of the course content was not relate to clinical. This will be a major annoyance that you will discover not long into the course. Despite psychology have so many sub-fields the course in UL ignores half of them and breezes through others in a handful of meaningful, context-less lectures.

Q2. I like that we only have a small course. You feel more like an individual to the lecturer and of course they have a lot more time to help you. However it is a little more difficult to make friends if some of the students live together/know each other from before college. Cliques are a bit of a problem in my course.

Q3. At times I enjoy the course and at other times I wish I'd never heard of a psychology. When I'm doing something interesting that I think has meaning in the world (such as talking about mental health disorders) I'm happy. But when we start getting into the wishy washy theory which seems so pointless I want to run out of the lecture :P. The course is stressful, you'll find you have a lot more assignments than most and deadlines can often group together at the worst of times. They also expect high quality assignments from day 1 and there is a certain lack of apathy from the lecturers with regards to helping you out. Compared to other courses who get clear and concise guidelines on assignments and tutorials to help them out, in psychology, you can often get unclear and vague guidelines which can be interpreted multiple ways and there are no tutorials..ever.

Q4. For first year if you do the pure psych course (and not psych and sociology) you can choose two of your five modules. I choose biology and maths. The biology is very similar to LC biology and is an easy mark in the exams. Maths though not quite the same as LC is still straightforward and a refreshing break from the uncertainty in psychology. In maths there is always a right answer and a wrong answer. If you don't like maths or bio you can choose sociology modules but they can make first yr that little bit harder and you don't need them later on. There is a lot of statistics in psych but so long as you give it enough time and you don't go in with this pre-conceived attitude of 'uh i hate maths; statistics is boring' (which some ppl in my course have and it has held them back) then you'll be fine. I actually love the statistics part.

Q5. The hours stressful? LOL. I'm in my last semester and I have 6 hours/week. They really really want you to learn by yourself and spend a lot of time on assignments thus very few college hours. Although nearly every other course will have more hours than you and you'll definitely be tempted to doss you'll spend many unofficial hours reading, researching, writing and panicking (a little :P).

Q6. There is a syllabus but it is extremely basic and 60% of what you'll need will come from outside sources like books and the internet. You could rely on your lecture notes for first yr but after that it's best to do a little outside reading so that you can speak more in depth about the topics covered in the course. Now you're not expected to know everything about say personality psychology just know the main topics well and have a few extra bits of info that wasn't covered so you can show the lecturer you've done your reading and you know your stuff.

PS. Psychology is something you need to sure about, it requires a lot of dedication and hard work if you're to make it long term. You need to be passionate about it.

I don't mean to put you off I just want to be honest :P

Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to ask. Also pm me your email address so I can send you the lecture slides from 1st yr

Thanks again

This is a really tough decision haha

I would HATE to be in college for ten years, and I don't think I//my parents could afford it either lol. How about you? You will get your undergraduate degree at the end of this year, so do you know how long the Masters' programme for clinical psychology is going to take you? Is it another three years and THEN you get your pHD and can finally be employed?

I would have an interest in clinical psychology myself, or even criminal psychology so I love the fact that the course is so versatile. But I'd be in education until I'm around 29 if it takes ten years to become fully qualified, which doesn't sound too fun lol.

Luckily enough for me, there's a friend from my year who's going for the same course. It would perfect if I knew somebody going into the course :P presuming we both get the high points of course :pac:

Well, statistics for the Leaving Cert isn't actually too bad I must say. It's differentiation and integration that really scare me :eek: Please tell me there's none of that there

?

6 hours a week? WOW :cool: that sounds unbelievable. I wouldn't know what to do with such an amount of time

But all in all, you don't regret doing psychology, do you? Your hard-work will be worth it in the end, right? I really don't like the thought of doing psychology and then realising, "This isn't for me, lets draw the dole instead" :pac:

Oh yeah, sure thing I'll send you a pm

And again, thanks very much. You've been really helpful

Lyra Fangs

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

Thanks again

This is a really tough decision haha I would HATE to be in college for ten years, and I don't think I//my parents could afford it either lol. How about you? You will get your undergraduate degree at the end of this year, so do you know how long the Masters' programme for clinical psychology is going to take you? Is it another three years and THEN you get your pHD and can finally be employed?

I would have an interest in clinical psychology myself, or even criminal psychology so I love the fact that the course is so versatile. But I'd be in education until I'm around 29 if it takes ten years to become fully qualified, which doesn't sound too fun lol.

Luckily enough for me, there's a friend from my year who's going for the same course. It would perfect if I knew somebody going into the course :P presuming we both get the high points of course :pac:

Well, statistics for the Leaving Cert isn't actually too bad I must say. It's differentiation and integration that really scare me :eek: Please tell me there's none of that there ?

6 hours a week? WOW :cool: that sounds unbelievable. I wouldn't know what to do with such an amount of time

But all in all, you don't regret doing psychology, do you? Your hard-work will be worth it in the end, right? I really don't like the thought of doing psychology and then realising, "This isn't for me, lets draw the dole instead" :pac:

Oh yeah, sure thing I'll send you a pm And again, thanks very much. You've been really helpful

Ah masters for clinical psych? That's not how it works in Ireland unfortunately. After doing your undergrad you'd have to do a 1/2 yr masters in say psych science or research methods then once you've finished that you apply for a phd/doctorate in clinical psych and if you're really lucky that'll take 4/5 yrs BUT phds often require you have relevant experience so that'll take another 2/3 yrs before you meet the requirements of the phd.

There's only one college in belfast that does criminal psych and you won't get a job in that field in Ireland anyway. The course in UL is not really versatile the psych courses in cork/galway are a lot better.

The optional maths module has differentiation if I recall correctly but it's fun and easy because a lot of students wouldn't have done honours maths or havent done maths in many years (mature students) and there is a really awesome maths learning centre if you're stuck.

The stats in psych is nothing like the stats in LC. It focuses on analyzing data you have collected so you can test hypotheses. So for example you wanted to test whether stress relates to exam performance you'd gather a group of participants measure their stress on a scale of 1-10 and then record their exam results. Then using a stats program which you will learn about during the course you can evaluate whether there is a relationship between the two. i.e. As stress increases exam performance drops.

Regret psychology? TBH yeah I do, if I'd known how long it would take and how competitive it is I would have chosen differently. Instead i get to watch my friends (in other courses) line up jobs for when they graduate and get offered phds because other disciplines don't put so much emphasis on having a masters to make you stand out. I will graduate in august and I honestly don't know what I'm doing, I want to do clinical but there are so many barriers I must pass first and I'm not sure I can do it. Most of my course are going to dubai next year or teaching in asia or changing fields because they've realised how committed you need to be to succeed in psychology. AND how it's a course/discipline for the rich.

You said you'd be qualified by 29, that's not taking into account the years you'll spend volunteering/working part time to get psych exp or the years you'll spend raising the money for your fees/accommodation/food/bills/other expenses while you do your masters/phd.

Again I know I'm a downer but I'm just being realistic :P

If you have any other questions just let me know. I think the best thing you could do is come along to some 1st year lectures or 4th yr if you want to jump into the deep end

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

Ah masters for clinical psych? That's not how it works in Ireland unfortunately. After doing your undergrad you'd have to do a 1/2 yr masters in say psych science or research methods then once you've finished that you apply for a phd/doctorate in clinical psych and if you're really lucky that'll take 4/5 yrs BUT phds often require you have relevant experience so that'll take another 2/3 yrs before you meet the requirements of the phd.

There's only one college in belfast that does criminal psych and you won't get a job in that field in Ireland anyway. The course in UL is not really versatile the psych courses in cork/galway are a lot better.

The optional maths module has differentiation if I recall correctly but it's fun and easy because a lot of students wouldn't have done honours maths or havent done maths in many years (mature students) and there is a really awesome maths learning centre if you're stuck.

The stats in psych is nothing like the stats in LC. It focuses on analyzing data you have collected so you can test hypotheses. So for example you wanted to test whether stress relates to exam performance you'd gather a group of participants measure their stress on a scale of 1-10 and then record their exam results. Then using a stats program which you will learn about during the course you can evaluate whether there is a relationship between the two. i.e. As stress increases exam performance drops.

Regret psychology? TBH yeah I do, if I'd known how long it would take and how competitive it is I would have chosen differently. Instead i get to watch my friends (in other courses) line up jobs for when they graduate and get offered phds because other disciplines don't put so much emphasis on having a masters to make you stand out. I will graduate in august and I honestly don't know what I'm doing, I want to do clinical but there are so many barriers I must pass first and I'm not sure I can do it. Most of my course are going to dubai next year or teaching in asia or changing fields because they've realised how committed you need to be to succeed in psychology. AND how it's a course/discipline for the rich.

You said you'd be qualified by 29, that's not taking into account the years you'll spend volunteering/working part time to get psych exp or the years you'll spend raising the money for your fees/accommodation/food/bills/other expenses while you do your masters/phd.

Again I know I'm a downer but I'm just being realistic :P

If you have any other questions just let me know. I think the best thing you could do is come along to some 1st year lectures or 4th yr if you want to jump into the deep end

You're not being a downer haha. I'm glad you're being honest, because I much prefer being told how it is as opposed to being misled

Oh well, there goes criminal psychology haha :P

The thought of Maths becoming fun again sounds brilliant

I haven't really enjoyed it for Leaving Cert but the statistics side of things does sound interesting.

It seems like psychology is going to take an unreal amount of time. I hope there's light (and money

) at the end of this long tunnel haha :pac: It's alot of years in education :eek: and I definitely wouldn't like to be stopped after achieving an undergraduate degree and find that the competition is too much to continue. I really hope things work out for you after four years of hard work (so far).

Is the course (and UL in general really) that expensive? I would be going for medicine if my parents had the money, but sadly the nearest place from here is UCC

UL is literally ten minutes from my house, so I'm basically forced to go there or MI. I guess I'm going to have to read those prospectuses from back to front and see what catches my eye before I make any definite decisions

Luckily there's the "change your mind" facility from the CAO after the Leaving Cert so time is still on my side.

I'm going to take a look at the slides you sent me and get a better picture of the material :P I'll get back to you tomorrow and let you know what I think

Maybe going to a lecture would give me a better picture :P I guess I'll have to keep everything in consideration at the moment, because it's such a tough choice.

Again, I can't thank you enough. You've really helped me

sigmund.jung

The road to clinical psychologist from the leaving cert is a long arduous process. Really only a tiny minority of psychology students go on to become a clinical psychologist. The course in UL is very skewed towards social and sociology in general, while i feel the TCD course is more cognitive behaviour, biological basis and neuroscience. I think the course in TCD would be better but the course in Maynooth is only 3 years. I think UL's course is getting PSI accreditation this year and TCD and NUIM already have accreditation.

Lyra Fangs

sigmund.jung wrote: »

The road to clinical psychologist from the leaving cert is a long arduous process. Really only a tiny minority of psychology students go on to become a clinical psychologist. The course in UL is very skewed towards social and sociology in general, while i feel the TCD course is more cognitive behaviour, biological basis and neuroscience. I think the course in TCD would be better but the course in Maynooth is only 3 years. I think UL's course is getting PSI accreditation this year and TCD and NUIM already have accreditation.

The course in UL has been accredited but I agree that it is horribly skewed towards social psych and sociology. I feel like I have only a very one sided view of psychology.

Phoenix Wright

Sorry for the late response

I've been sick since Sunday

Has the same flu hit UL by any chance :P?

Okay, I took a look through the slides and first impressions: a lot of big words! :pac: Like you predicted, they were a bit overwhelming particularly the cognitive psychology slides

Fairly interesting all the same though :P

Are the lectures really helpful in understanding all this?

Lyra Fangs

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

Sorry for the late response I've been sick since Sunday Has the same flu hit UL by any chance :P?

Okay, I took a look through the slides and first impressions: a lot of big words! :pac: Like you predicted, they were a bit overwhelming particularly the cognitive psychology slides Fairly interesting all the same though :P

Are the lectures really helpful in understanding all this?

UL is rampant with the flu during January and February :P

And yeah psychology is very overwhelming at the beginning, I'm not sure how long it takes to become just..well..whelming. Don't let the slides put you off cognitive psychology is one of the more interesting modules.

I'd definitely recommend going to some lectures it'll really give you a good idea if psychology is for you or not.

Are the lecturers helpful? to some extent, there is this problem in my course where the lecturers often forget we're just undergrads and they forget to explain things or simplify things. Also the lecture notes can sometimes make things more confusing because they're poorly laid out or lack information or points are not expanded upon enough and seem senseless when you look back on them weeks later. But that's why I say psychology requires so much outside reading, you need to almost teach yourself in a way.

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

UL is rampant with the flu during January and February :P

And yeah psychology is very overwhelming at the beginning, I'm not sure how long it takes to become just..well..whelming. Don't let the slides put you off cognitive psychology is one of the more interesting modules.

I'd definitely recommend going to some lectures it'll really give you a good idea if psychology is for you or not.

Are the lecturers helpful? to some extent, there is this problem in my course where the lecturers often forget we're just undergrads and they forget to explain things or simplify things. Also the lecture notes can sometimes make things more confusing because they're poorly laid out or lack information or points are not expanded upon enough and seem senseless when you look back on them weeks later. But that's why I say psychology requires so much outside reading, you need to almost teach yourself in a way.

I figured as much haha :P

I definitely think I'm going to do that, because it's very difficult to be 100% wure. At the moment I'm looking at my other potential options because I don't want to put all my eggs in the one basket. But as it stands, this course is definitely my first choice.

Do you think this could potentially be a good course?
: http://www.mic.ul.ie/education/Pages/bedpsych.aspx

Getting two degrees sounds fantastic, but I wouldn't like to be limited from a psychological point of view. I think the course is being restructured to a three year degree with summer modules. Primary Teaching at 470 points is my current third choice behind psych and psychology and sociology.

I guess it's true when they everything changes when you go to college in that case :P There's no putting your hand up and asking a question if you have a problem, so I've been told :pac:

Lyra Fangs

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

I figured as much haha :P

I definitely think I'm going to do that, because it's very difficult to be 100% wure. At the moment I'm looking at my other potential options because I don't want to put all my eggs in the one basket. But as it stands, this course is definitely my first choice.

Do you think this could potentially be a good course?
: http://www.mic.ul.ie/education/Pages/bedpsych.aspx

Getting two degrees sounds fantastic, but I wouldn't like to be limited from a psychological point of view. I think the course is being restructured to a three year degree with summer modules. Primary Teaching at 470 points is my current third choice behind psych and psychology and sociology.

I guess it's true when they everything changes when you go to college in that case :P There's no putting your hand up and asking a question if you have a problem, so I've been told :pac:

That course sounds amazing!! I don't think you'd get two degrees though you'd just have two majors that you had achieved a degree in (like the psych and soc course in UL). I'd definitely look into it as it seems very interesting and more importantly you wouldn't be narrowed to just psychology. If you liked the idea of primary teaching then it's a course to consider.

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

That course sounds amazing!! I don't think you'd get two degrees though you'd just have two majors that you had achieved a degree in (like the psych and soc course in UL). I'd definitely look into it as it seems very interesting and more importantly you wouldn't be narrowed to just psychology. If you liked the idea of primary teaching then it's a course to consider.

Well, it's definitely something to look into among others

Actually I was wondering, is English one of the modules you can take as a first year?

Lyra Fangs

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

Well, it's definitely something to look into among others Actually I was wondering, is English one of the modules you can take as a first year?

No you can't take English. You can only choose between maths, biology and several sociology modules.

But I suppose since Bio and Maths add no value to your degree you could ask if it were possible to take an English module instead, there's no harm in asking anyway even if they say no.

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

No you can't take English. You can only choose between maths, biology and several sociology modules.

But I suppose since Bio and Maths add no value to your degree you could ask if it were possible to take an English module instead, there's no harm in asking anyway even if they say no.

Yeah, it's my favourite subject in school so it would be nice to continue with it

It's somewhere down the line on my CAO application :P

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

No you can't take English. You can only choose between maths, biology and several sociology modules.

But I suppose since Bio and Maths add no value to your degree you could ask if it were possible to take an English module instead, there's no harm in asking anyway even if they say no.

Hi Lyra, thanks again for your help when I was filling out the CAO form. I actually ended up doing the BA in Psych and Soc but I've got a couple of questions for you once again

I was wondering, do you think it would be worthwhile to switch from the BA to the BSc? To be honest, I don't have a huge interest (nor does anyone in my course from what I can tell) in sociology as of yet, and I'm a little bit worried that doing the BA will have a negative impact on my career prospects in the future. I'm unsure if this is even possible of course, but the core modules in first year are the same between the two courses.

My other question is regarding co-op. This is actually a more pressing concern because my co-op placement is scheduled for January and I'm terrified that I'll get an unfavorable placement. I can't afford to go abroad or too far outside of Limerick unfortunately, but I would love to work in the Department for co-op and I have been told that they take on a few students each year. How would I go about applying for this? I'm unsure whether or not you had the same Co-op officer as me but he basically told me to feck off when I asked him about it :pac: And one last thing, is a student's QCA from first year taken into account when attempting to get co-op/erasmus places?

Thanks in advance, I hope you can help me!

Lyra Fangs

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

Hi Lyra, thanks again for your help when I was filling out the CAO form. I actually ended up doing the BA in Psych and Soc but I've got a couple of questions for you once again

I was wondering, do you think it would be worthwhile to switch from the BA to the BSc? To be honest, I don't have a huge interest (nor does anyone in my course from what I can tell) in sociology as of yet, and I'm a little bit worried that doing the BA will have a negative impact on my career prospects in the future. I'm unsure if this is even possible of course, but the core modules in first year are the same between the two courses.

My other question is regarding co-op. This is actually a more pressing concern because my co-op placement is scheduled for January and I'm terrified that I'll get an unfavorable placement. I can't afford to go abroad or too far outside of Limerick unfortunately, but I would love to work in the Department for co-op and I have been told that they take on a few students each year. How would I go about applying for this? I'm unsure whether or not you had the same Co-op officer as me but he basically told me to feck off when I asked him about it :pac: And one last thing, is a student's QCA from first year taken into account when attempting to get co-op/erasmus places?

Thanks in advance, I hope you can help me!

First, congrats on getting onto the course!

I'm not sure if it's as simple as switching from the BA into the BSc, I believe you would need to have gotten the points for the BSc to switch. For instance, a friend of mine began an open choice arts degree in first year, then realising he wanted to do psychology switched to the BA. Of course he would have liked to switch to the BSc as he had little interest in sociology, but he didn't have enough points in the LC.

Whether a switch is a good idea is a tougher question. If you don't like sociology I would recommend the switch as you'll do far fewer sociology modules throughout the remaining years (I think there are two) and more psychology modules (though they repeat a little; I did social psych 1 and 2 arguably identical modules and then another similar module in final year). I think a BSc does look better on your CV than a BA (I know some people will disagree with that though) and I think a primary degree in psych is more attractive when applying for post grad courses than a joint major.

With regards co-op it would be best to contact the department admin officer and ask them how you would go about applying for coop in the psych department. I think it's a little early yet but there's no harm in trying. I will say though that it seems to be a popular option so make sure you prep for the interview and have an idea of which lecturer you'd like to pair with and what you can 'bring to the table' (not that you get much of a choice in who you work for but it looks good to be knowledgeable about their area of research). And yes your 1st year QCA is taken into consideration somewhat, it's all the employer will really have to judge your character besides the interview and it's particularly relevant for those who do coop at the end of second year rather than the start of third year.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Phoenix Wright

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

First, congrats on getting onto the course!

I'm not sure if it's as simple as switching from the BA into the BSc, I believe you would need to have gotten the points for the BSc to switch. For instance, a friend of mine began an open choice arts degree in first year, then realising he wanted to do psychology switched to the BA. Of course he would have liked to switch to the BSc as he had little interest in sociology, but he didn't have enough points in the LC.

Whether a switch is a good idea is a tougher question. If you don't like sociology I would recommend the switch as you'll do far fewer sociology modules throughout the remaining years (I think there are two) and more psychology modules (though they repeat a little; I did social psych 1 and 2 arguably identical modules and then another similar module in final year). I think a BSc does look better on your CV than a BA (I know some people will disagree with that though) and I think a primary degree in psych is more attractive when applying for post grad courses than a joint major.

With regards co-op it would be best to contact the department admin officer and ask them how you would go about applying for coop in the psych department. I think it's a little early yet but there's no harm in trying. I will say though that it seems to be a popular option so make sure you prep for the interview and have an idea of which lecturer you'd like to pair with and what you can 'bring to the table' (not that you get much of a choice in who you work for but it looks good to be knowledgeable about their area of research). And yes your 1st year QCA is taken into consideration somewhat, it's all the employer will really have to judge your character besides the interview and it's particularly relevant for those who do coop at the end of second year rather than the start of third year.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Thanks very much! I've enjoyed it for the most part so far even if all the assignment deadlines are very close to each other :pac:

That could be a problem in that case because I missed the BSc by five points (partially thanks to an external examiner that reviewed and downgraded my English paper

). Of course at the time I thought it was a disaster, but I now know that the BA is very similar except it has the possible burden of sociology and is a BA degree. There's a lot to consider, but I've also heard from multiple people that having a BSc degree would be more favourable than a BA degree. I did quite well in sociology without having any real interest in it and it didn't affect my QCA negatively so I'm going to take a better look at the modules I'm scheduled to do next semester and see from there! As for the QCA situation, I ended up with 3.40 between the two semesters so I'm hoping it'll give me more favourable options for co-op come Janurary!

Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it! If I think of anything else I'll let you know