Requirements for post grad?

Valmont

I've only just finished first year but I was wondering about how colleges consider prospective students for post grad courses when they have their final degree? Do certain post grads look for good grades in certain subjects? Are they after consistency or is it solely based on whether you get a 2.1 or above?

I don't even know what a 2.1 is and I'm completely in dark here, so it would be nice to have a clear idea of a goal to work towards.

John

I don't know about where you're studying as different colleges seem to have different grading systems but at TCD a 2.1 is a mark between 60 and 69 inclusive with a first being 70+. To get in a post grad course it depends on what you want to do. It's generally your degree as a whole they look at. The higher the mark you get, obviously the easier it will be. For things like clinical and educational psychology you'd want to have at least a first to be in with any chance of being accepted. Also, if you want to do a post grad in the UK, you will probably need to be a graduate member of the BPS as regulations are much tighter in the UK. PSI membership will do you in Ireland but not in the UK but PSI membership may aid you in getting BPS accreditation if your course isn't already BPS accredited. After that, post grad selection is also based on interviews once they have picked a few candidates with the right qualifications. A real help will also be if you do your undergrad research project in the area you want to do your post grad in, especially if you can get it published.

Have you any specific areas in mind yet or are you still getting a feel for what you want to do?

Valmont

John2 wrote:

Have you any specific areas in mind yet or are you still getting a feel for what you want to do?

Well I've only finished first year so I am definitely still getting a feel for things, I'm sure I'll prefer some subjects more than others but it's too early to tell.

And it will be very difficult to get the required grades as I know all the post Grads are quite competitive, but it is good to know where it could possibly lead.

I don't concern myself with it too much as I feel it is a bit conceited to assume I'll be doing a post grad, but it's good to have specific goals rather than vague ones!

Thanks for the info, seems like they take a lot into consideration!

Gibs

Not sure if its clinical psychology you want to do, or whether its a more academic/research direction you are interested in. This book is a good place to start, for clinical psychology courses in the UK at least.

The BPS aso has some good info here:


and there are a lot of other places that offer good advice, e.g. this one .

Typically, to do a masters by research, which might lead to an academic teaching role, you need to get at least a 2:1 in your undergrad. A 2:2 (i.e. below 62 or 60 depending on where you go to college) will probably disqualify you from consideration for many of the colleges. The marks are a bit misleading though. A first is technically when you get an average of above 70%. This seems very low compared to leaving cert marks, but anyone in Uni who scores above 70 is really towards the top of the class. Many postgrad programmes don't differentiate very much between 2:1 and a first, due to the policy in some colleges of severely limiting the number of firsts goven in any one year. As long as you get a good 2:1, you should be able to satisfy the grades aspect of getting onto a masters programme or a another type of postgrad.

For clinical courses, or PhD courses, there are usually other components that are taken into consideration, like an interview selection process or any research that you might have done previously. I would suggest that you should try to identify areas of interest for yourself (at least something that intersts you now), then identify a lecturer in your current college who knows about/researches in that area. You could then approach them and ask about how you could pursue a psychology career in that kind of area. Read some of the other posts here as there are a lot of people on the forum who have already gone through the process you are contemplating. Best of luck with it all

Valmont

Great, thanks for the info. I'm positive it's a lot of hard work but it's really exciting to know that a degree in psychology can lead in many directions.:D

p.pete

Valmont wrote:

I don't concern myself with it too much as I feel it is a bit conceited to assume I'll be doing a post grad, but it's good to have specific goals rather than vague ones!

It's not conceited at all to start planning towards a post-grad. A lot of careers within psychology are going to demand that you've gone that far so your doing the right thing by thinking about it now.

It's a big investment of your time, after you'll possibly already feel like you've invested enough years of your life to get to the degree level. So spending time looking at the avenues available and hopefully getting a good idea of what you're suited to and what you need to do to get what you want is an excellent idea.

Don't put people doing post-grads on a pedestal, you're not being conceited to think that you may be doing one yourself.