Best University to study Psychology at? (1 Viewer)

[blitz0]

Hi guys,

I'm currently lining myself up to study Bach. Science (Psychology) and i was wondering if fellow members would be able to inform me of the best university to study through.

I'm currently tossing up between ANU or UNSW, and if you guys could help my decision further, that would be great.

Im not only interested in the prestige of the end degree, but also the quality of the course, avaliable resources, and how enjoyable/well taught the course is.

I'm also very interested in Honors and also eventually Masters, however, Masters is probably a fair ways into the future for me to be worrying about it now.

I am also contemplating a double degree (Bach Arts/Bach Science (Psychology), my second major either being Film Studies or Philosophy, so if that should also affect my decision, let me know. But my primary concern is my Psychology.

Looking forward to your feedback.

PS. I'm also going to post this in UNSW forum, Admin, if you feel its is a bit too spammy, feel free to close one, but im quite desperate for feedback.

Thanks,
Blake.

 

[Survivor39]

UNSW offers a number of specialties within the School of Psychology, including

- Advanced Perceptual/Cognitive Psychology
- Advanced Biological Psychology
- Advanced Social Psychology

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/plans/2008/PSYCA13970.html

You may wish to study other areas of pyschology which is not offered by UNSW. In that case, it would be good to check out the ANU website and see what they offer.

 

[blitz0]

Thanks for pointing that out.

Furthermore, upon looking at the difference between the actual subjects offered by both ANU and UNSW, i noticed that ANU offers subjects like "Social Psychology" and "Developmental Psychology" as 2 seperate subjects, each spanning a semester, where as UNSW offers the subject "Social and Developmental Psychology" as a single subject, spanning as one semester. Both seem to have equal face-to-face lecture hours etc, so my question is this;

Does UNSW pack more into each of their subjects, hence enabling them to cover two areas within the one subject, or do they simply give a more of an overview of the key areas, OR are the ANU subjects more in-depth, and hence, allow you to be come more specialized in particular areas, but unable to cover as much raw material as UNSW?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Blake.

 

[drmix]

are you looking at 2nd or 3rd year subjects?

 

[blitz0]

Both were 2nd year subjects.

I think i might book at time to speak with the dean at each of the universities, and have a chat about each of the courses. I think that would be the best way to determine how they do it.

Thanks guys.

 

[wrong_turn]

just think of it this way. if it is cores, then ignore whether they span two subjects or is combined into one. if the subjects are options then it does give proper specialisation if you were looking into those two areas.

 

[Survivor39]

Both were 2nd year subjects.

I think i might book at time to speak with the dean at each of the universities, and have a chat about each of the courses. I think that would be the best way to determine how they do it.

Thanks guys.

Yes. In 1st and 2nd year at UNSW they are trying to cover all possible areas of psychology to give students the chance to explore different areas of study. In 3rd year you will find that each speciality is taught in individual courses. For example, Social Psychology has its own course called "PSYC3121 Social Psychology (6 UOC)" in the Advanced Social stream.

 

[Survivor39]

And I forgot to mention that there are a range of other elective psychology subjects that you can take besides the three major stream of psychology (Advanced Perceptual/Cognitive Psychology, Advanced Biological Psychology, Advanced Social Psychology). These are listed here if you are interested.


PSYC1001 Psychology 1A
PSYC1011 Psychology 1B
PSYC1021 Introduction to Psychological Applications
PSYC2001 Research Methods 2
PSYC2061 Social and Developmental Psychology
PSYC2071 Perception and Cognition
PSYC2081 Learning and Physiological Psychology
PSYC2101 Assessment and Personality
PSYC3001 Research Methods 3A
PSYC3011 Research Methods 3B
PSYC3051 Physiological Psychology
PSYC3121 Social Psychology
PSYC3141 Behaviour in Organisations
PSYC3201 Psychopathology
PSYC3211 Cognitive Science
PSYC3221 Vision and Brain
PSYC3241 Psychobiology of Memory and Motivation
PSYC3271 Personality and Individual Differences
PSYC3301 Psychology and Law
PSYC3311 The Psychology of Language
PSYC3331 Health Psychology
PSYC3341 Developmental Psychology
PSYC3516 Psychology for Optometry
PSYC4053 Psychology 4A
PSYC4063 Psychology 4B

 

[Lord Ac]

Hi Blake,

It's nearly impossible for anyone to answer your questions without bias unless they have studied psych at both ANU and UNSW. I completed my degree at UNSW, so what I will say is my biased opinion and you should try to compare it with the biased opinion of someone from ANU.

On paper, UNSW has more "prestige" associated with it. No question.

Quality of the courses: this one varies, as I expect it would at most institutions. As mentioned previously, UNSW tried to cover most aspects of psych in first year, and then again, but slightly more indepth in second year. This means that there is a lot of content and that you dont spend too much time digging into the nitty-grittty. The lecturers are all of great research quality, and the majority can teach their stuff pretty interestingly as well. There are a couple of less-impressive lecturers but, not to name names, several of these have left the school in recent years.

Avaliable resources: we have a couple of computer labs you can have access to most of the time. The library is a maze, but lukily you dont have to often go there. Later on in 4th year+ you will need to have access to labs to conduct research. We have recently revamped behavioural neuroscience labs as well as good perception labs. I work in cognition, where all you need is a computer, so nice and easy. Not so much on the more applied endevours though.

Enjoyable/well taught the course is: This is extremely subjective, and the enjoyability of the course really has a lot more to do with your social network rather than the difficulty of the assignments. My advice, whever you do end up going, is to go to camps, join groups, make new friends, etc. Overall, I really enjoyed my years at UNSW undergrad, and have fond memories of sitting through boring stats classes with my friends, passing jokes in developmental tutes, as well as just learning about the amazing levels of knowledge we possess in so many areas of psychology.

Honours: no quota, you just need to marks and you shall be granted a research year in psychology. From my observations, psychology is one of the easiest degrees to achieve consistently decent marks that should carry you towards Honours.

Masters: definately one of the most competitive to get into. If you are determined to get into clinical psychology, then your undergrad years will be nearly as competitive as your HSC, because places are extremely limited (15 total). Other streams of specialization are more easy to get into, but you do need to do consistently well in years 2-4 (esp. 4).

Overall, I would recomend psychology to someone interested in learning about science, specifically, the science of the mind. Examing theories and testing them empirically is what we are all about. Helping other's is not even a footnote in undergrad psych. In terms of UNSW vs. other uni's ... had I my choice again, I would chose UNSW, and that's about as unbiased as I can say it.

Goodluck,
Adrian

 

[Bobness]

Hi Blake,

It's nearly impossible for anyone to answer your questions without bias unless they have studied psych at both ANU and UNSW. I completed my degree at UNSW, so what I will say is my biased opinion and you should try to compare it with the biased opinion of someone from ANU.

On paper, UNSW has more "prestige" associated with it. No question.

Quality of the courses: this one varies, as I expect it would at most institutions. As mentioned previously, UNSW tried to cover most aspects of psych in first year, and then again, but slightly more indepth in second year. This means that there is a lot of content and that you dont spend too much time digging into the nitty-grittty. The lecturers are all of great research quality, and the majority can teach their stuff pretty interestingly as well. There are a couple of less-impressive lecturers but, not to name names, several of these have left the school in recent years.

Avaliable resources: we have a couple of computer labs you can have access to most of the time. The library is a maze, but lukily you dont have to often go there. Later on in 4th year+ you will need to have access to labs to conduct research. We have recently revamped behavioural neuroscience labs as well as good perception labs. I work in cognition, where all you need is a computer, so nice and easy. Not so much on the more applied endevours though.

Enjoyable/well taught the course is: This is extremely subjective, and the enjoyability of the course really has a lot more to do with your social network rather than the difficulty of the assignments. My advice, whever you do end up going, is to go to camps, join groups, make new friends, etc. Overall, I really enjoyed my years at UNSW undergrad, and have fond memories of sitting through boring stats classes with my friends, passing jokes in developmental tutes, as well as just learning about the amazing levels of knowledge we possess in so many areas of psychology.

Honours: no quota, you just need to marks and you shall be granted a research year in psychology. From my observations, psychology is one of the easiest degrees to achieve consistently decent marks that should carry you towards Honours.

Masters: definately one of the most competitive to get into. If you are determined to get into clinical psychology, then your undergrad years will be nearly as competitive as your HSC, because places are extremely limited (15 total). Other streams of specialization are more easy to get into, but you do need to do consistently well in years 2-4 (esp. 4).

Overall, I would recomend psychology to someone interested in learning about science, specifically, the science of the mind. Examing theories and testing them empirically is what we are all about. Helping other's is not even a footnote in undergrad psych. In terms of UNSW vs. other uni's ... had I my choice again, I would chose UNSW, and that's about as unbiased as I can say it.

Goodluck,
Adrian

.

In terms of research i've also been told by practising psychologists in the western sydney catchment (had to do research into this for an english 'thesis' in year 12) that UNSW is insurpassable.

I cannot comment about ANU, but the hierarchy in Sydney (again from first hand hearsay) is meant to be UNSW > Macquarie (they have a surprisingly strong faculty) > USYD/UWS.

Sydney university relies at lot on its reputation these days but i have a friend in 4th year now who has told me about the lack of organisation and coherence in the teaching of their courses. She is generally dissatisfied with her experience at the sandstone university.

Probably also speak to / PM townie on these forums, because he might have a more balanced view of USYD psychology (he studies it).

 

[wori]

hey adrian, do you still have the course outlines for psyc3241,3271,3211,3221?

 

[Lord Ac]

Ive got a couple (see attached). Im not sure how the courses have changed, but they all have to some extent with the shorter teaching weeks.

Cheers,
Adrian

 

[fat_penguin]

Honours: no quota, you just need to marks and you shall be granted a research year in psychology. From my observations, psychology is one of the easiest degrees to achieve consistently decent marks that should carry you towards Honours.

This is actually something really important - I know at USyd, they don't have this guarantee so they're already competing for honours positions. I've been told that realistically, a student there would have to get about 75 + to have a good chance of getting into honours. And even if you have those marks, your position isn't guaranteed.

At UNSW, the B. Psych degree has an honours year tacked onto it as long as you maintain an average over 65 (although I think it's increased now to 70?) Get those marks and you're in And that's heaps important in getting into Masters and PhDs because your fourth year will be weighted more heavily than any other year.

I don't know about honours in ANU though, so you should probably look at how they do it.

Personally, I think the majority of the lecturers are pretty good - a lot of them are really, really good (but we've lost a few of the most enjoyable to USyd and UQld in the past couple of years which really sucks) but there are a couple in there that can be quite a pain. I guess it's like any faculty really - but let's say that in comparison to the accounting department, psychology lecturers AND especially tutors are top notch