by NTU Psychology
We will shortly be welcoming thousands of new and returning students to our wonderful campus, so we know it’s an extremely busy time, with all the preparations of moving and getting to grips with new subjects, friends, and finding where you are supposed to be for your lectures (hint: NTU’s MazeMap will come in very handy for that). There might also be some understandable natural nerves mixed in with all the excitement. But you will soon settle in and there’s a huge amount of support and advice to help you with that too, as part of our inductions, as well as from your personal tutors. But each year, we like to summarise some of the most relevant blog articles that might help you get the most from your time here, and to get a sense of just some of the experiences and opportunities that await…
It’s perfectly natural to wonder how you’ll get on ahead of making a big change, like starting university; for some there might be worries about meeting new people, making friends, and for others there might be concerns about the step up from college to university-level studying (or returning to education after a long break). Well, hopefully the article below will reassure you. It summarises some helpful research on the psychology of first-impressions, as well as providing some assurances and advice about university study with us. And there’s lots of more specific support available for so many different questions and issues here at the NTU Student Hub too.
Many of our students have joined us because they have ambitions to become psychologists in the future. However, because psychology is such an amazingly versatile degree, where you learn and develop so many highly valued transferable skills, it is not only for budding psychologists. Psychology graduates can add value in so many ways and so many industries, and you can learn a little more about that here.
And some of these valuable skills will be demonstrated as you develop and complete your final-year research project; your ability to understand, summarise, and evaluate complex information in order to identify an important research question; not to mention, that you’ll be designing your study to answer that question, to analyse your data, and to draw conclusions. It can sound daunting, but by the time you reach your final year, you will have all the skills you need, and you’ll be supported by your project supervisor too. Read Amie’s excellent article about her project experience and how it changed her original assumptions and provided some fantastic insights.
From research to practice: Zarah’s article shares her experience of a more applied project. In our final-year students on our Professional Practice in Psychology module, work together in teams on a real-world project, developing your ability to not only understand the important theory and research they’ve learned over their first few years, but how to actually use it to solve problems or recommend improvements. All highly valued abilities whichever career path you might have in mind.
Self-awareness and being able to reflect on our experiences also complements all these other skills we develop. If we can’t reflect on how we approached or performed in the many different situations we might find ourselves in, it’s much more difficult to learn from them. And if we aren’t aware or don’t learn from our mistakes….
However, although reflection isn’t necessarily something that comes naturally to us it is an important part of learning, which we integrate within a number of our modules to help develop your ability. And one of our experts in reflection, Iain Wilson, has provided this handy beginners guide if you are new to reflection.
You are not alone: support and advice is always available
A new academic year is a hugely exciting time with so much to take in. But if you do find life of studies become overwhelming at any point during your time with us, please do remember you are not alone. You have a personal tutor who is there to support you, and who can put you in touch with other sources of advice and help if needed. And you can check the Student Hub to see the range of different services, support, and opportunities too.
We are also very fortunate here at NTU Psychology, with a very large department we have many wonderful colleagues with a diverse range of research expertise. For example, last year, Lucy Betts wrote for us about new Cyberbullying research, while Georgina Mclocklin’s article focused on the sharing of nudes, including helpful insights, sources of support and advice for those who may have experienced these issues.
And here’s our summary of articles from last year, if you are interested in seeing what else we have on offer. There’s some particularly useful advice from former students for getting the most from your studies, as well as ideas to help with your career plans.
Psychology at Nottingham Trent University 