Majoring in Psychology?

[Emperor Lobster]

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Can you use a Bachelor of Arts with a major in psychology to pursue a career in psychology or do you have to do BPsych? Is anyone here doing that (BArts with psych major)? Which uni? What HSC subjects did you do, and how did you do in them?

[kevinx2]

You don't do as many psychology units as a straight out B.Psychology or whatever. I'm unUniversity so that's all i can say.

Edit: http://community.boredofstudies.org/...sychology+arts

[Emperor Lobster]

Ah, cheers! A second question - how hard is it to do honours in this major? How many people are allowed to, usually?

[spence]

I think honours is pretty competitive. I think for USyd you need a distinction average for 2nd and 3rd year psyc

[apologue]

Hi. A straight BA with a major in psychology is basically the same deal, but if you're turned off by the science electives in the BPsych, you might want to take a look at the BA (Psych) that a few unis offer. There aren't any HSC subjects that relate directly to psychology, so I'd take whatever you like. I didn't do maths or science and I haven't had any problems.

At usyd there are 85 to 90 honours places, but most are taken up by the BPsych students (45 of them) and BA (Psych) students (25 of them). You'll definitely need over 70 and probably a distinction average in your 2nd and 3rd year.

[fat_penguin]

You may want to consider though, that if you want to become a psychologist, doing psych through arts isn't the best idea (at UNSW anyway). I don't know about other unis, but at UNSW, I'm pretty sure you can't do psych honours through an arts degree. You don't have to do B.Psych though - if you do psych through a science degree, you can do honours but you'll have to maintain a higher average.

[ambermorn]

I'm doing a BA majoring in psych and plan to do honours (Minimum GPA of 5 required at UWS) and post grad to be able to practice clinically. So you can do a BA (psych) at UWS and Mac to my knowledge and apply for honours (keeping in mind it is very competitive). I think UNCLE discontinued their BA and BSc psych programs and just have BPsych now.

The good thing with a BA is that you can combine your studies in psych with other areas of interest, like I'm doing with sociology.

[morganjane]

Any other suggestions about anything to combine a B Arts (Psych) with? is it advised to add another major when studying psych?

[spence]

Originally Posted by morganjane

Any other suggestions about anything to combine a B Arts (Psych) with? is it advised to add another major when studying psych?

for most unis i think you need another major if you're doing a BA. it wouldn't really matter what you do, just pick something you're interested in. i think philosophy and sociology are fairly commonly combined with psyc. i'll probably be combining psyc with either ancient history or political economy

[ambermorn]

^Yep, agreed. I am also majoring in sociology

[chyeah]

At Mac, there is the BPsych, BA-Psych and B Science-Psych.

They are all the same degrees, up until the end of 3rd year. Where, the BPsych continues on the 4th year (if you have got a credit average). You can transfer into the 4th year if you have a credit average if you were doing BA-Psych and BSci-Psych.

So, really everyone is in together. But it's very competitive. There is no predetermined number that get into 4th year. If you get a credit average, in all psych subjects + statistics, you will get in.

[mr_robato]

Just some advise, no discouragement intended:

1. Psychology is an unconventional field hence you'll need to get what ever experience to survive in this field, this is simply because experience matters a whole lot more. My English tutor works at a "community center" where those born with the "downesyndrome" (no idea about spelling) attend for whatever treatment. It's very hands on work, but you need it. (note: they won't hire you straight away, after a month's volunteer work, maybe a little bit more, they WILL hire you, oh and good news: IT'S GOOD MONEY! like $25 an hour is the BARE MINIMUM)...so your good for the long run in terms of money (now leading into my second point).

2. BA aint the most amazing degree. However not weightless. Do well at it and you will do well in your career, make dam sure it's what you want because you will (most probably) need further study (probably masters, unlike the asian studies major you can combine law).




Robato

[Ben1220]

It probably depends on the University. You can major in Psychology with a BA or a BSc at Melbourne Uni.
You need to do honours in order to be fully registered as a psychologist though I think. I'm not sure about other unis.

[jonspeaks22]

From my experience, different unis offer different programs. grad schools know this and take whatever.

[meilz92]

at mac, if you major in psych in the BA degree, do u have to do units from other areas too? or can you just do ur psychology units?
how about if u combine it with another degree (eg. B commerce)