Psychology (including foundation year)
Entry requirements
GCSE/National 4/National 5
You will be required to have English Language and Mathematics GCSE's at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent).
UCAS Tariff
About this course
**Why study this course?**
Our Psychology (including foundation year) BSc (Hons) is an alternative route into higher education if you don’t meet the necessary requirements to enter the three-year undergraduate degree.
The foundation year will equip you with the vital study skills to progress on to more rigorous study at undergraduate level, including skills in research, data analysis, essay writing and critical thinking.
**More about this course**
On our bachelor’s psychology (including foundation year) degree you’ll develop an in-depth understanding of core areas of psychology, while gaining a range of academic and transferable skills that are vital for postgraduate training, study or future career.
The foundation year will prepare you for more rigorous study at Level 4 by equipping you with fundamental knowledge of scientific methods relevant to the study of psychology. You’ll also gain skills to research, critically analyse and present your findings.
Part of your foundation year will include study of interdisciplinary disciplines, you’ll also be joined by students from other foundation year degree courses. This will allow you to expand your network beyond your course and discuss the topics you study with students that have different academic perspectives.
Further to your lecturers and seminars, you’ll be able to access further support to improve your academic ability through various workshops that will help you practise your study skills. Your academic tutor will also lead one-to-one sessions, where you’ll discuss your progress and talk about your work.
In the subsequent three years of your studies, you’ll join students on our Psychology BSc (Hons) course, learning the same content and having the same choice of modules. You’ll also graduate with the same award and title as those students.
If, at the end of your foundation year, you decide that you’d like to change your specialism, there will be flexibility to allow you to do this.
Modules
Example Year 0 modules include: Key Studies that Shaped Psychology (core, 30 credits); Being a Psychologist: Scientist and Practitioner (core, 30 credits); The Psychology of Everyday Life (core, 30 credits); Foundations of Research in Psychology (core, 30 credits).
Example Year 1 modules include: Introduction to Research in Psychology (core, 30 credits); Study Skills for Psychology (core, 15 credits); Child Development and Behaviour (core, 15 credits); Personality (core, 15 credits); Biological Bases of Behaviour (core, 15 credits); Social Influences on Thinking and Behaviour (core, 15 credits); Cognition and Behaviour (core, 15 credits).
Example Year 2 modules include: Research Design and Data Analysis in Psychology (core, 30 credits); Psychology and Employment (core, 15 credits); Social and Cultural Understanding of Us and Others (core, 15 credits); Development Across the Lifespan (core, 15 credits); Psychobiology (core, 15 credits); Cognition (core, 15 credits).
Example Year 3 modules include: Psychology Project (core, 30 credits); Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology (option, 15 credits); Cognition and Emotion (option, 15 credits); Counselling Psychology (option, 15 credits); Cyberpsychology (option, 15 credits); Coding in Psychology (option, 15 credits); Clinical Psychology (option, 15 credits); Work Psychology (option, 15 credits); Forensic Psychology (option, 15 credits); Specific Learning Differences (option, 15 credits); Special Topics in Personality and Social Psychology (option, 15 credits); Clinical Neuroscience (option, 15 credits); Health Psychology (option, 15 credits); Drug and Alcohol Counselling (option, 15 credits); Sex and Sexuality (option, 15 credits).
Assessment methods
Your assessments will consist of seen and unseen exams, essays, research reports, projects, presentations and reflective exercises.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Holloway
School of Social Sciences and Professions
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Psychology (non-specific)
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Psychology (non-specific)
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
20 years ago, this was a specialist degree for would-be psychologists but now it is the model of a modern, flexible degree subject. One of the UK's fastest-growing subject at degree level, and the second most popular subject overall (it recently overtook business studies), one in 23 of all graduates last year had psychology degrees. As you'd expect with figures like that, jobs in psychology itself are incredibly competitive, so to stand a chance of securing one, you need to get a postgraduate qualification (probably a doctorate in most fields, especially clinical psychology) and some relevant work experience. But even though there are so many psychology graduates — far more than there are jobs in psychology, and over 13,800 in total last year — this degree has a lower unemployment rate than average because its grads are so flexible and well-regarded by business and other industries across the economy. Everywhere there are good jobs in the UK economy, you'll find psychology graduates - and it's hardly surprising as the course helps you gain a mix of good people skills and excellent number and data handling skills. A psychology degree ticks most employers' boxes — but we'd suggest you don't drop your maths modules.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Psychology (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£14k
£22k
£25k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Explore these similar courses...
This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here