Daughter wants to be a criminal psychologist (this may change,) and for her A level options she has errred on maths, French, chemistry and then, possibly, psychology.
She currently wants to study psychology at uni but all this could change and we have pointed out to her that if she specialised in A level psychology then she is stuck with that qualification but if she swapped psychology for , say, biology, then she could still get to uni in psychology with two good sciences.
Flip side, if she does a level psychology and hates it then she can still bail out and do something differant at uni.
One of her teachers has suggested she keep it broad and aims to get two good grades in chemistry and biology.
Not sure which camp I sit in so can’t really advise her any more than telling her to bear it in mind.
Any teachers, or psychologists even, that can provide pointers or thoughts to add to our thoughts?

What are the uni’s saying with regards entrance qualifications?

No specific uni yet, she’s looking long term,
York, where she fancies, want two sciences, of which psychology is classed as a science.

There are far more people with criminal psychology degrees than there are jobs in this field. A similar glut of forensic scientist grads hit the market a few years ago as everyone wanted to be silent witness/CSI. Most of the folk I see with psychology degrees either end up in human resources or social workers or general business roles. Maths, chemistry and biology are the same A-levels my daughter is starting this year (currently mid GCSE revision!), and as subjects they offer a massive choice of study options at Uni.
Get out to see some Uni open days. My own daughter was interested in psychology until she visited the faculty and realised what was involved. Now she wants to do medicine.

Just seen your post. Son is at York doing MMath (first year). Loves it and loves the Uni. He also did three sciences, plus maths plus further maths. York offer interviews. If you get offered one take it. My son got offered a much lower conditional offer after going there for interview (ABB).

CHB, we are mindful that a significant number of her peers do seem to want to do this and this could make for difficult career progression.
We’d not thought of uni open days yet as i presumed it would be a tad premature, with only just doing the gcse this summer.

Having advised students on precisely such questions for many years, I would say that psychology is of little to no use to someone who actually wants to study psychology at university.

Far better for your daughter, providing she has the academic wherewithal, to study chemistry, biology, maths, and/or French, than to do psychology now. If she is interested, extracurricular reading should satisfy her and make her more prepared for the rigours of a good psychology degree.

If you want more info, please feel free to email me. Address in profile.

Cheers Saxon, your candidness is appreciated,

Psychology is a diverse subject and I understand to be hard fought career wise. I did a 1st year uni level evening class in it, it was pretty demanding. No idea what the A level is like. It was really interesting.

My guess would be keep the A level. Do maths too because it’s awesome (my degree). Seriously it shows intelligence (I’m told).

French will also look good.

I think biology is the other one or keep unless she wants to do something with chemistry.

If she does it in combination with Maths, Biology and Chemistry – yes. It would open up all sorts of interesting courses, like neuroscience or cognitive neuroscience and then more specialised masters courses like computational neuroscience – and if she’s not interested in studying a neuro/psychology based degree at the end of it, she’d be in a good place to go into something like Bioinformatics – or even banking by going down the maths route.

I’m assuming she’d be able to get onto those courses anyway with the three main A-Levels – but if she can handle doing Psychology as well – why not, it would help (I think).

SaxonRider is very much likely to be right though – it really might not be worth it.

I can double check with my wife who’s a careers advisor when she gets back from her run.

But I think you have you answer above from SR.

Worth double checking that the uni course is BPS approved (chartered?) as she’ll not get on a clinical Psych course with a degree from a non approved course. A lot of the dual uni courses aren’t for example. This includes some of the psychology/criminology degrees.

She would tend to err on chemistry as her first choice science.
I’m a bit of an advocate of learning a language, simply from a perhaps selfish point that I didn’t and regret it and it might open the door to going a job of choice in a foreign language. So French would be one I wouldn’t want her to drop and she does enjoy it.
Maths is one to keep too.
So it really seems to be down to biology or psychology as the fourth.

Very good mate is a forensic psychiatrist (a professor no less) – he went to uni just doing medicine and then specialised.

Nothing much to add given above good advice. Opt for flexibility and subjects she is good at. High grades and classic subjects equals most choice. A levels are a stepping stone.

Best of luck to her.

Thanks all, good to hear the various views.
Ian, if your wife can throw something else into the mix I’d be keen to hear her thoughts.

The level you do in a a level of a non core subject is not worth it. If you go do a course involving psychology you will cover the same material in no time.

Most uni’s would give places to students without psychology A-level, because it’s not a subject smaller schools will always offer. However, they might question why someone who went somewhere offering it didn’t take it.

I’d advise talking to the staff at wherever she looking to do A-level, and ignore advice from mates and family members and forum people unless you know that they have up-to-date knowledge.

My advice would be that she should do the three subjects that she’ll enjoy the most and get the best grades for.

Every year I get students studying physics because their dad’s mate said it would open more doors than English/ICT/history/whatever and they turn out to be not particularly suited to, or interested in, studying physics.

Now all (as of September) A levels are linear again very few institutions encourage 4 A levels. It’s back to the old days. 3 quality grades and further academic reading/study/experience outside the curriculum (or maybe an extended project) to make the personal statement and reference more interesting for universities. Only exception to this is maybe further maths as a 4th instead of a third subject.

Yeah we have pretty much all students doing three subjects, other than those doing further maths and/or exceptional students.

Ditto Convert and Miketually. 90% of our A-level students starting in this Sept will be doing 3 with almost all of those doing 4 taking further maths.

The challenge that gives is you can no longer drop the one you like least (or hate the most!) at the end of Y12 so choosing now is (even) more important. I’d therefore say stay general and do things that get you into a wide range of subjects (with that in mind lots of students find this helpful).

Righto, the GalaRunner returns.

Her input:

In general psychology a level not so respected. Even by admissions teams for psychology degrees. Maths, Biology or a science is more valuable (and transferable)

Just 2% of psychology grads work directly as psychologists.

She said she’ll often try to dissuade all but the best students from bothering with a psychology degree as it’ll be wasted. And really as a career a Russell group uni is the most valuable option if you actually want to work as one. Think very carefully about bothering with anything else.

I’d add from my own perspective that in a vaguely related field mental health nursing is well worth a look. There will always be work, and there is a fairly decent career path if you want to ‘get on’

Also, what work experience has she done? Does she know what Is involved? I’m a specialist nurse and have done some forensic work. It’s pretty full on. And somewhat eye-opening to work with people who’ve done some horrendous things.

And if she wants to look st career options with various degrees – https://www.prospects.ac.uk

And guidance of what the ‘better’ unis advise about A level choices – https://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/media/5272/informedchoices-print.pdf

My wife is psychologist (occupational) and didn’t do A-Level…. well it would be Highers here. The British Psychological Society (BPS) should be able to give advice on what’s needed. BPS

I think study to masters level, then chartership, is required to be a psychologist of any type.

Thanks for the link Ian.
It looks like psychology A level really has no benefit in the bigger picture and not doing it would have less impact on her options than not doing, for example, biology.
The commitment to four A levels also appears questionable too but she is on a scheme at school for “high achievers” where they are pushing them to go for a Russell group uni and they are saying she should be able to get good grades in four.
Maybe better grades in three would be more useful?
Lots to mull over here and further reading and conversations to be had.

My totally and utterly ignorant advice is to play it safe – but do enough to get into a Russell, unless your school thinks she’s properly gifted Oxbridge material or something. Showing off is for the later stages of your undergraduate or masters, if you intend to pursue a PhD.

Perhaps someone like SaxonRider could give you some further thoughts in regards to your question.

I hope all goes well for you and your daughter though, Rockhopper – I’m glad that I’m not in my teens studying my A-levels. Ughh.

I’m late to the party but +1 for psychology not being that useful an A-level- we wouldn’t hold it against her but it’d also not advantage her. But what it would do, is disadvantage her if she has any change of direction. (I think our ideal would be biology, maths, english tbh but at that point I’d be handing her off to a psychology admissions tutor so take that with a grain of salt)

It’s not all about university entry requirements of course. It’s often the case that a course isn’t “useful” inasmuch as it doesn’t provide an admissions benefit or a big head start on the course, but it can still be useful for the student, in helping them focus, and increasing their understanding of what it all really means. But I have to say this stuff all comes a distant second to admissions requirements, the a-level system just doesn’t accomodate that sort of “course for growth” approach well.

When I was at uni every man and his dog did psychology in first year then dropped it when they realised it wasn’t going to neatly and immediately reveal the mysteries of the human mind.

Not saying your daughter is in this camp but it is worth considering. The suggestion of some personal reading on the subject is a good one. If her interest survives that then it’s probably the real McCoy.

There are decent reasons for not doing a psychology A level. Given that courses will start from scratch because most entrants won’t have the A level, there will be an element of re-learning or worse, un-learning in the first year which could be frustrating.

As above, speak to a few uni departments about their expectations. I would have thought two of Chemistry/Biology/Maths + a language would be an excellent grounding In case she wants to switch courses or find employment outside psychology when she leaves.

I was advised by a university admissions officer that Maths & 2 science’s will get you on the biggest range of university courses.

I have a Psychology degree and PhD, and worked in different University Psychology Departments as a Research Fellow or Lecturer.

A-level Psychology is not an entrance requirement because few schools offer the subject. Biology or Maths would be more suitable. And the subject matter is so narrow and watered down at A-level to be very different to what is taught in the degree. Psychology is a wide field.

True, very, very, very few graduates actually work as a Clinical Psychologist or similar.

If the degree has a science rather than social science slant, graduates will learn a reasonable amount of statistics and research methods, which is my experience of what they will tend to use in graduate jobs. I left academia to work in analytical/statistical positions in NHS, public sector and now Government

I find it quite intriguing that the reputation of A-level Psychology hasn’t changed in the 20+ years since I chose my A-levels.

Phone some uni’s find out what they think. Everything else is speculation.

Department of Psychology
University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Tel: work 01904 323190 | Fax: fax 01904 323181 | psychology-enquiries@york.ac.uk

“Every year I get students studying physics because their dad’s mate said it would open more doors than English/ICT/history/whatever and they turn out to be not particularly suited to, or interested in, studying physics.“

I did Physics, because at school I enjoyed playing with ticker tape and springs and pulleys. I went to Uni and turned out to be not particularly suited to, or interested in, studying physics.

I should have done Mech Eng. Oh well.

Back OT, My cousin’s wife is a counselling psychologist, she’s quite dismissive about the number of people who do psychology degrees, let alone A Levels. So my +1 is to skip the psychology A level. If her grades are good she’ll have no trouble getting a Uni place to do psychology, or if she fancies something else, she’s not hobbled her options.

wwpaddler – Member

I find it quite intriguing that the reputation of A-level Psychology hasn’t changed in the 20+ years since I chose my A-levels.

It’s not so much the a-level itself, which is a perfectly good course- it’s the a-level system as a whole, with most students doing 3 subjects you lose most of the luxuries of choice and specialisation. It’s a shame but it does produce effectively focused high school graduates for the degree factory.

Counterexample is the scottish highers system- typically you do 4 or 5 highers in the first sitting then some more (or some advanced highers) in the second sitting so you have a broader spread of subjects. But of course less specialisation, so the scottish degree system defaults to 4 years instead of 3.

People can argue for days about which is best, tbh I don’t think either has the balance quite right tbh.

I think you’ve already got all the advice you need, but my 2p nonetheless:

If she already wants to do psychology at uni then studying psychology a-level isn’t going to help her decide. Studying other subjects that leave the psychology option open will expose her to more things that she may decide she prefers.

Also, if she does end up only doing 3 subjects then the one she should drop is French. I studied French to GCSE and then didn’t look at it again until I was in work, when I was offered a job move to France. A-level French would not have made moving to France and learning “proper” French required to do a technical job any easier IMO. Only worth it now if she’s pretty sure she wants to study abroad on the Erasmus scheme (or leave open the option of studying modern languages), and even then she can probably study enough language as options at uni without doing it at A-level to be able to study abroad.

I’m a professor of psychology at a russell group university. I did maths, physics and chemistry at A-Level. The advice you’re getting from everyone here is sound. Psychology A-level isn’t a requirement, or even a preferred A-level choice for us. I’d honestly recommend NOT doing it, and getting a solid scientific background instead (it’s very important to be numerate and have a decent grasp of biology for many areas of psychology). We end up reteaching some of the content of the A level, but do it differently (i.e. more up to date, more research focused). This can give some A level students a false sense of security when it comes to their own knowledge.

Well this is a first. An STW thread that’s unanimous.

I’ll give a slightly different perspective but the same conclusion.
Both my kids started 4 A levels inc psychology.
Both dropped psychology at the end of the first year.
As well as the realisation that it wasn’t going to do them as much good as “proper” sciences and maths, they also both rapidly fell out of love with the nature of the course. Presenting arguments for and against just wasn’t “their thing”. They both rapidly became frustrated with it.

Well, first off, can I thank you all for taking the time to respond and the advice. It has, undoubtedly, if not clarified then certainly provided food for thought.
I will likely show this thread to my daughter and see if any thoughts change.
The consensus seems certainly to be not to study A level psychology.

An update, for completeness.
She is studying Maths, Chemistry and French.
Now, a few weeks in, she isn’t that enthused about psychology and is now thinking of Chemical Engineering.
She’s even reading my IMechE magazine!

Now, a few weeks in, she isn’t that enthused about psychology and is now thinking of Chemical Engineering.

A proper career no less 😉