Study social Psychology

Simple_man

Hi all. I have been confused about this for some time now And really didnt know much about it. I am very interested and keen for a career in Social Psychology. My problem is that i have only just discovered, in the last few months, my love of psychology. I am 20 years old and didnt pass my leaving cert. Not because of learn difficults but due to absentism from school and ignorance as a teenager, Instead i woked and travelled the world for a year.
Is there any chance of doing a college course for psychology even though i failed the leaving cert?
or will i have to wait til i am 23 years old to apply as a mature student? and if that is the case than would it be wise to spend money doing online courses before going to college. I need to take the first step. But i know i cant go to college til im 23. Does anyone have any advice?

eth0_

Yes; www.open.ac.uk/courses

You can study for their BSc Psychology without any prior qualifications like the leaving cert. Considering your failed your LC you should probably start off with a 10-15 point social science course to adjust to 3rd level study and writing. It is "self study" but there are tutorials around once a month and the online student community is a great help too.

I'm in my final year of this degree and it's great...have been working full-time throughout which has been quite tough at times but there's no way I could have gone back to being a skint (full-time) student!

Valmont

Social psychology will only be a small part of any degree in psychology. You will have to cover courses in subjects like cognitive psychology, biological psychology, research methods and statistics. Although if you like social psychology you will probably like the other subjects too. You should have a read of Opening Skinner's Box: Greatest Psychological Experiments of the 20th century by Lauren Slater. It's easy reading and a great introduction to psychology that isn't strictly a 'pop' psych book.

Myksyk

Yes, there is no professional career available in 'social psychology' although you might specialise in that area within academic psychology if that was your primary research interest. The field is very wide but outside academia the main psychology professions are Clinical, Educational, Organisational, Counselling and Health with some available opportunties in other professional branches like Sports, Forensic and Neuropsychology.

BeanieBaby

There are some part-time/evening psychology courses that do not require a leaving certificate and could give you an overview of the field without actually committing to a full-time or distance ed course.

HSI Limerick Business School do a Diploma in Psychology which includes social psychology. They also have two Certificates in Practical Psychology which also cover some social psychology.

Dublin Business School (DBS) also do a Diploma in Psychology that can lead to a degree in psychology.

I would suggest you consider doing a short introductory course in psychology first.

ntlbell

BeanieBaby wrote: »

I would suggest you consider doing a short introductory course in psychology first.

You don't happen to know places that offer introductory courses?

The diploma in DBS looks good but I would like to do an introductory course before I committed

BeanieBaby

Are you based in the Leinster region?

I'm based in the Limerick area so know more about courses here. Griffith College do an ICM Certificate in Psychology over a year which has social psychology as a module. I've checked the Griffith College Dublin campus and they only do a short counselling and psychotherapy course.

HSI Limerick Business School do two shorter courses of 10 weeks or so each entitled Practical Psychology 1 and 2 (I think they are college accredited) and these include elements of social psychology.

I don't know how much reading you've done but David Myers has an excellent book that is used in University social psychology courses. Its called Social Psychology by David Myers. Its an excellent book.

But remember, regardless of where you go, in most places you are going to have to study other elements of psychology in addition to social psychology. The only exception I know of is the UL degree in Social Psychology and Sociology (and I think they do some basic general stuff in first year as well).

ntlbell

BeanieBaby wrote: »

Are you based in the Leinster region?

I'm based in the Limerick area so know more about courses here. Griffith College do an ICM Certificate in Psychology over a year which has social psychology as a module. I've checked the Griffith College Dublin campus and they only do a short counselling and psychotherapy course.

HSI Limerick Business School do two shorter courses of 10 weeks or so each entitled Practical Psychology 1 and 2 (I think they are college accredited) and these include elements of social psychology.

I don't know how much reading you've done but David Myers has an excellent book that is used in University social psychology courses. Its called Social Psychology by David Myers. Its an excellent book.

But remember, regardless of where you go, in most places you are going to have to study other elements of psychology in addition to social psychology. The only exception I know of is the UL degree in Social Psychology and Sociology (and I think they do some basic general stuff in first year as well).

Thanks I'm in Dublin.

I was hoping to find an overall introduction with different aspects of psychology so I can get a feel for which one would interest me most.

eth0_

ntlbell - TCD do some good short evening courses in psychology.

taztastic

Myksyk wrote: »

Yes, there is no professional career available in 'social psychology' although you might specialise in that area within academic psychology if that was your primary research interest. The field is very wide but outside academia the main psychology professions are Clinical, Educational, Organisational, Counselling and Health with some available opportunties in other professional branches like Sports, Forensic and Neuropsychology.

I have had several lectures on topics such as facilitation and consultation within my own course from organisational psychologists and they seem relatively pure social psychology. Very lucrative employment as I understand it.

Myksyk

Notwithstanding the fact that various academic and professional psychologists might, unsurprisingly, refernence and use social psychology within their work, it remains the case that there is no profession of 'Social Psychologist' recognised in this country.

tolteq

kilroy's college

eth0_

tolteq wrote: »

kilroy's college

Kilroy's are a joke! Their courses aren't even accredited so the certificate you get at the end is not worth the paper it's printed on.