Mature student wants to study psychology

bestpud

I agree, psychology covers many areas and the type of things you are interested in may not be covered much. I enjoyed it until I started uni (GCSE and Access course first) and then decided it wasn't the subject for me at all!

If you like looking at what influences different behavours and gender differences - that kind of thing - have you considered sociology? It has some overlap with social psychology, which it seems you would enjoy and is less 'scientific' than psychology.

If you like tearing things apart and having your say on what happens in the world and how people find their way through life, then sociology may work for you. I love it, if you hadn't guessed already!

Just a thought!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do,

Bestpud

Oh, and I can highly recommend access courses too! If you want to go on and do a psychology degree (or any degree at some unis), then the tutor will probably suggest doing GCSE maths alongside the course as you will need it for many unis. You're better off having it, I would say.

melancholly

http://www1.uea.ac.uk/cm/home/schools/ssf/contedu/About%2BUs

that's the page from the university of east anglia for the continuing education courses - nothing specifically psychology-based though, but may be interesting.

it's a bit further away, but cambridge runs some counselling and psychology courses (which may be more along the lines of what you're interested in). no dates for next year yet, but this is the website:

http://www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk/

can't find anything at anglia ruskin, but this degree course might be right up your street:
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/prospectus/undergrad2007/ba_psychosocial.html

ANNIEHAHA

Thanks for all your replies ,having read them and looked further into what you have recommended I find psychosocial studies is what I am leaning towards ,however I do not want to waste time/money on access course then degree so I was thinking of doing the introduction to counselling as this covers key areas and should give me a taste to see if it is definatley the way for me to go any thoughts?

ANNIEHAHA

Also would I get any help as we are low private income (£15,000 a year all in )
we dont work but dont claim benefits ,we only get child benefit and child tax credit

Psychobot

An Introduction to Counselling course doesn't usually carry accreditation in my experience - it's designed to allow you to progress onto a more intermediate counselling skills course that may carry recognition.

Thi site explains what the entry requirements for someone who wants to train as a counsellor are:

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Explore_types_of_jobs/Types_of_Job/p!eipaL;jsessionid=a630daef3487525b5c03?state=showocc&idno=77&pageno=3

If you are studying the counselling course at a college of further education and you are on a low income you may be able have a fee reduction- it's very college specific, so you'll have to ask.

An access course is a great way of bridging the gap between GCSEs and University for those who don't have the 'correct' A' Level qualifications. It is recognised by many universities. Do you have any work experience in the field of social work (people-oriented work basically!), if you do that could stand you in good stead if you wanted to apply to university. You may not even need any further qualifications as universities often understand that mature students carry life experience, and this certainly counts for something!

student_advisor

ANNIEHAHA wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies ,having read them and looked further into what you have recommended I find psychosocial studies is what I am leaning towards ,however I do not want to waste time/money on access course then degree so I was thinking of doing the introduction to counselling as this covers key areas and should give me a taste to see if it is definatley the way for me to go any thoughts?

Can't comment on wasting time, but there should be financial support for an Access course. If your income is below £15,050 and you get WTC, your local college should offer fee remission for the course.

If you do not currently hold a Level 3 qualification (2 A-Levels or equivalent), you could also qualify for something called the Adult Learning Grant. This is £10-£30 per week - you would get £30 based on your income - just for turning up.

bestpud

An introduction to counselling course will be geared towards basic counselling skills and knowledge. It will cover things like confidentiality, ethics etc more than looking at how and why people behave like they do.

It will go a little bit into body language but is more about getting students to recognise and reflect upon how they may affect or be perceived by others iykwim.

It's a very interesting course (well I think so) but I'm not convinced it is going to offer what you want?

Does your local college have any open days/evenings coming up as it may be useful to go along and have a chat with different tutors. Likewise with unis - open days are usually very informal and give you a chance to ask questions and get more info about different topics and entry requirements.

anewman

Psychology is not necessarily mathematically based. For a BPS accredited Psychology course you do have to deal with a certain amount of mathematics, but when it comes to where you have a choice in what you do you can always take a qualitative approach and do things like interviewing etc, so you can put up with the maths for a short time and do without it. Read here for a little insight into what qualitative psychology involves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_psychological_research and if this sparks your interest for a more in depth look at the area I would recommend "introducing qualitative research in psychology" by carla willig. It was the recommended text on my degree course but is still readable and accessible. I think the amount of mathematics involvement depends on the University itself largely.

In psychology most, if not all, of the maths is done on the computer anyway. You just need to know which test to apply to the data and how to carry it out. Lots of other people feel lost too when it comes to this aspect of psychology so you wouldn't be the first so I wouldn't worry too much about it. On my course at huddersfield on one occasion the test results were handed to us without being expected to do them, but you still had to understand what was going on in the test results and what that meant in terms of what was being investigated and be able to put that across in the assessed essay. On the whole though we were expected to understand what was going on and go through the whole process ourselves and produce a written report at the end based on those results.

As already said psychology is wide ranging and at least in my course I feel I had some opportunity to develop interests and eventually focus on some of those rather than follow a pre-determined curriculum all the way through.

Murtle

Depending on your level and abilities, Exploring Psychology was fantastic...I'm on my last year (hopefully) of the OU Psych course. Although Exploring Psych was tough to start, by the end of the course it really did all come together. I know they have changed the course slightly to utilise the info more and apparently it's even better.

There are set course you will need to do within the OU for BPS recognition and indeed for the psych course, plan them well so you don't leave the worst till last....makes life much harder and less enjoyable

I did DD100 - I didn't like it, I know many people did. It wasn't me however. You will need more points then the required courses will give you, so you can choose something to get you into the swing of things...just make sure it can be counted towards the psyc egree.

Finally some of the courses have a residential week...one of them is an additional cost to the course. Try and attend them, they are brilliant fun and much better then the online version.

Last finally, if you do join the OU, attend the OUPS revision weekends for hints and tips, they truely are fantastic!!!!

All the best, and PM me if you have any questions on the OU and psyc

x

Stats: yes they are there, but you get the software to process the stats, and a great book to teach you what you need to know about them. Help is at hand, and lots of people on the conference will help if you get stuck!

crank_girl

bestpud wrote: »

f you like looking at what influences different behavours and gender differences - that kind of thing - have you considered sociology? It has some overlap with social psychology, which it seems you would enjoy and is less 'scientific' than psychology.

Or broaden your interest to social sciences. This covers psychology, linguistics, philosophy, history, geography and a whole load of other stuff I can't remember.

I did my first degree in psychology and an MA in Social Sciences (with the OU). I much preferred the latter as it looked at all, or at least more, of the things that influence who we are and how we behave, which obviously includes psychology.

Unless you plan on becoming a psychologist or some other chartered profession you should study what interests you. The OU is great for this as you can pick and choose whatever you like from a very broad range of subjects. You could study towards a combined degree, say social sciences and economics (put your money-saving techniques into practice ) or just study whatever and get a general degree.

I loved the OU - it's by far the best institution I have studied with and I have a bit of experience now I'm on my 3rd degree. You get all the course materials you need to obtain a first so no need to visit the library or buy loads of books, and the variety of materials is fantastic - cd-roms, journal articles, videos etc. You also have online support via their forums and access to a massive online library so if you did want to do some extra reading for interest you don't need to leave the house.

Some people regard the OU as a mickey mouse institution but my partner's experiences suggest that opinions are changing. She managed to get a place on a course at the Tavistock Clinic (one of the best psychology establishments in the world) on the strength of her OU psychology degree. They advertised the fact that they welcomed applicants with OU qualifications.

One other thing to note (apologies if it's been mentioned already) is that you can use your OU modules towards other qualifications. For instance, I needed 180 units for my MA. After I'd studied 60 units worth I was able to use them to gain a graduate diploma. It's great if you are applying for jobs as you don't have to wait until you've completed the whole degree for your CV to benefit.

Good luck with your studies whatever you decide to do. Studying for fun is the most liberating and empowering thing a person can do IMHO.