Top tips for (potential) psychology students: getting the most out of your degree

So, which path you choose depends on where you are in your academic life.
Is this your first degree? Or are you a graduate?

In the UK, if this is going to be your first degree you are best to choose a psychology course that is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), to give yourself maximum options from the outset. You can find out which courses are accredited via the BPS website or look out for confirmation on university course pages.

Accreditation by the BPS is essentially about ensuring a high benchmark of provided psychology courses. It ensures that the courses meet requirements that support student achievement and learning outcomes (e.g. covering core modules), which offers a level of continuity across courses. It also signals to employers and further training providers that the course and the learning represents value and quality.

Completing an accredited programme enables you to apply for BPS Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), which is an entry requirement for many Society accredited postgraduate training courses. It is a requirement for entry to all accredited Stage 2 and Doctoral programmes as part of the route to becoming a chartered psychologist. This is granted after successfully applying for graduate membership through the BPS website.

If you didn’t study an accredited programme, or your undergraduate degree was in a different subject area, do not fear! You can still become eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) by undertaking a relevant conversion course, such as a BPS-accredited MSc in Psychology.

Undergraduate degrees in Psychology usually last around 3 – 4 years (depending on whether the master’s is incorporated into the degree or not). A master’s course usually lasts around 1 year full time, or 2 years’ part time.

As an undergraduate you can apply to become a student member of the BPS (some universities will pay for your membership for the duration of your course, and most should provide you with the form to apply).

Becoming a member of the Society means you have access to the majority of the BPS website and you will receive the Society’s Psychologist magazine as well as the student magazine, PsychTalk (for free!). It will also get you discount on some textbooks, journals and events as well as some other bits and bobs. Additionally, becoming a graduate member allows you to get the GBC (mentioned above) which is essential when applying for assistant psychologist jobs for example.

Also – and what I consider to be one of the best parts of membership – is that you can join member networks for divisions and sections you are interested in (e.g. Forensic, Sexualities, Psychology of Women – there’s loads!). You do have to pay for membership to these, anywhere from £5 to around £20 annually, but it means you can get more specialised updates, research and event alerts. I would say the member networks are a great extra to join as an undergraduate, and a necessity when you are a graduate. As by that point you may have more of an idea of your area of focus and I feel it allows you to be more engaged with developments within fields of interest. If you’re not ready to commit to membership for those, it’s worth following them on social media such as Twitter, to get a feel for them anyway.

Yes, it’s expensive and yes it’s 3 (or four) years of your life submerged in statistics, biopsychology and interview techniques, but the truth of the matter is that nowadays it’s not going to be enough to stay afloat of the thousands of psychology graduates each year with an undergraduate degree alone. You need to be able to show you are competent, forward thinking and committed when applying to competitive job vacancies or postgraduate courses.

Now, I’m not trying to scare or put you off – but surely, you’d rather jump in fully prepared, arm bands and all – than get to the end of your degree and think you could have utilised some of those years a bit more productively? Especially when finishing your hard-earned degree is met with “when are you going to get a real job…in the real world?” Sigh.

Essentially, earning your degree is a high achievement you should be proud of, but also be open to new experiences and opportunities which can give you that extra sparkle (and trust me, you will be grateful for the life-experiences they afford). A few of these are: –

• Attend conferences:  Yes, they can be a bit expensive, but student members of the BPS usually get a discount. Perhaps talk to someone in your psychology department and see if there are any bursaries available there to cover the cost – or if multiple tickets are purchased it might be cheaper. All in all, though they’re worth going to, even if it’s just one. For general psychology and with a diversity of topics I’d recommend the Annual BPS Student Conference. Usually the speakers are so good and renowned that all of those pesky qualified psychologists attend the student stream too!
• Present at conferences: I know what you’re thinking, let’s not run before we can walk, and I’d advise at least attending a conference before you apply to present – but it is actively encouraged at the BPS Student conference, where you can create your scientific poster and talk to interested parties (or anyone who will listen…) about your work. This could be a dissertation project, or research you’ve worked on with lecturers for example. You do of course need to apply and be accepted, rather than just turning up with a megaphone, but it’s a process you should become familiar with.
• Write for the BPS student magazine, PsychTalk: This is a great opportunity to reach other students and write about something you’re interested in. PsychTalk accompanies the Psychologist magazine, quarterly, and is delivered free to your home if you’re a member of the BPS. The team behind it are the BPS student committee whose editorial team are super friendly, and can give you pointers if need be on your work. I’d say if you’re feeling nervous about submitting, that’s more reason! Practice makes perfect an it’s a great addition to your CV. Find out more here: https://www.bps.org.uk/publications/psych-talk
• Engage with the BPS: Become a course representative, a BPS rep for your course (you may have an academic liaison within your department but if not tweet @BPSStudent and see how you can get involved), join committees at your uni or the BPS Student Committee, join the European Federation of Psychology Students’ Association and attend their events – think a week abroad attending psychology talks and meeting students from all over Europe!
• Engage with your university, engage with your department: At NTU there are often lots of opportunities advertised to psychology students. Whether this is a Scholarship Project for Undergraduate Researchers (SPUR), work-experience through a module or placement year, or volunteering to help on an open day – there is plenty you can get stuck into. Also consider wider opportunities, such as those within other departments (particularly if you’re doing a joint degree).  Not only will you gain valuable experience, but you’ll also meet other students (who may one day become good contacts for you) as well as cultivating professional relationships with staff – so you might end up hearing about other opportunities in the future.
• Gain experience…↓

I cannot stress this point enough and when I was a first-year undergraduate this was without a doubt the best advice I got. This could be in the form of:

• Volunteering
• Paid internships / work experience
• Employment
• Mentoring
• Shadowing (e.g. clinical staff; lecturers)

If you can, I’d set about getting experience straight from the get go. This might sound overkill when you’re still recovering from fresher’s week, but honestly, the sooner you start this process the better – rather than waiting until your last year of university only to realise you have zero experience in the field (but don’t despair if you do, you can still look for opportunities, and good experience is always useful).

As much as this is about CV building, please don’t let that be the main reason you pursue experience, not only is it a passion killer, but it detracts from the most important point; gaining experience is about you finding out what you don’t like as much as finding out what you do.

Whilst this may seem counter-intuitive, you are potentially going to be in this career forever, you want to know the areas you’re not fond of and those you get excited about (and both of those come from being immersed in experiences that you might not have even considered before). I’ve come across both students and lecturers who thought clinical psychology was the route for them, love’s young dream, only to work in a clinical setting and realise it’s not for them. And that’s ok (more about dealing with shattered dreams a bit further down).

One of the most comforting things I heard from a speaker at a conference undertaking her PhD, is that her journey to that point wasn’t a straight one (and this is something strongly echoed in a recent article on the career paths of our own academics). It’s ok to go off on tangents, but the most relevant part is that there are almost no tangents (bear with me). What I’ve noticed is that when applying for jobs (that I consider relevant to my career path anyway) you are largely dictated by what’s available at the time. Ok so you want to become an assistant psychologist (AP) or a research assistant (RA), but had you considered in which area specifically? Is it an AP with children or in a high secure unit, or is the RA post in dementia research or how individuals engage with social media? The point is, and what I find, is that I’m interested in loads of areas, and whilst there are a few that I can say to a good level of certainty that I may pursue, your dream area could be out there, yet to be recognised by you. So why not just take a chance and see where that year’s contract takes you. You could end up hating it (but like the point above, finding out what you don’t want to pursue is just as valuable); what’s more, you could end up loving it.

“Approach experiences in terms of the skills you can practice and the knowledge you can gain”

Either way, take the time to learn from the experiences you are having and reflect. Don’t think that every job you take, or every voluntary opportunity you pursue has to be 100% directly relevant. I mean if your time and resources are limited perhaps don’t go wildly off tangent, but what I mean is, often our perceptions of what careers are available is rather limited to roles we’ve actually heard of – which can limit your view of what will actually be useful to you in the future. For example, I was employed as a mentor for school children, and whilst I’d never considered becoming a teacher, it was good to be able to know for sure if that was or wasn’t a route I wanted to take. But what I did gain was session planning, building rapport with young people, enabling them to build confidence and gain skills, time management and delivering person-centred sessions (and of course supporting a young person at a crucial time of their life) – all of which come in really handy in other areas of life and when applying for other jobs.
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Basically, a side note for points 4 and 5, and in the spirit of dealing with broken dreams, it’s ok to consider the possibility that the end-point you had in your mind for so long, doesn’t work for you. For example, if you were set on pursuing clinical psychology, but realised you weren’t comfortable with certain environments, that’s ok, and there are other options. An area you previously hadn’t thought you would have liked may equally surprise you, so follow your gut. Don’t feel as if you’ve failed because you weren’t cut out for a certain area or client population, because others may feel the same about your niche, and again that’s ok.

Oh, and if after all that you don’t want to pursue with psychology, that’s ok too! And of course, being a chartered psychologist isn’t the be all and end all, there are l-o-a-d-s of jobs where you can work in the same environments in different roles, and you may find that the job responsibilities are better suited to you.

Ultimately working and studying in this discipline is a lifelong progression and acquirement of knowledge. Of course, we all want that stability of a long-term job in the end, in an area we love, so that’s why it’s important to see each opportunity for the skills and experiences it affords, which can then allow you to get to the next thing on your journey to that elusive dream job – far from contradicting my earlier point of not seeing career progression as a tick box – the message here is to enjoy what you are doing. Some roles will be challenging, and they often are in this discipline, but don’t be stuck in a position you hate just for the sake of it, because chances are if you feel that way being in a position of more responsibility in the same area might not be any better! Be honest with yourself and persevere for as long as you can, but be mindful of your own well-being and preferences too.