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Sociology and Psychology

Entry requirements


A level

A,B,B-B,B,B

Access to HE Diploma

D:27,M:15

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE profiles need to include a minimum of five passes at Grade A* - C/9-4 including Welsh or English language and Mathematics.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

33-34

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDD-DMM

May be considered in conjunction with other qualifications

UCAS Tariff

120-128

Welsh Baccalaureate requirements are as for A-Levels where you can substitute the same non-subject specific grade for the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Level Core Grade

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Psychology

Sociology

Studying a BSc in Sociology and Psychology will give you expert scientific training in the relationship between the mind, brain, and behaviour while equipping you with the essential theoretical foundation to understand people's behaviour as social beings.

You will study the psychological and neuro-scientific processes that underpin activities such as thinking, reasoning, memory and language, learn about the effects of brain injury, and explore ways to improve health-related behaviour.

You will also learn how to generate new knowledge and information using a variety of qualitative and quantitative social research tools, from large social surveys interpreted through statistics through to in-depth interviews with individuals and small groups.

You will develop excellent research, written, and critical analysis skills, as well as a high degree of numeracy and ICT ability.

Our approach to teaching, which includes lectures, personal tutorials, academic seminars, workshops, and practical research classes, encourages effective team-working and high-quality oral communication skills.

Swansea's School of Psychology has an outstanding reputation both in the UK and internationally. According to the Research Excellence Framework 2014: we are one of only four psychology departments in the UK to achieve a 100% 4* rating (maximum score possible) for the reach and significance of our work.

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and, providing you achieve at least a 2:2 in your degree, you will be eligible for Graduate Membership of the BPS and for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), the first step to becoming a Chartered Psychologist.

You will join a university that is:

15th in the UK for Course Satisfaction - Guardian University Guide 2023
12th in the UK for Student Satisfaction – NSS 2021
UK Top 25 University - Guardian University Guide 2022
UK Top 25 for Career Prospects - Guardian University Guide 2022

Modules

Year 1
• Statistics and Research Methods
• Cognition - Basic Processes
• Individual and Abnormal Psychology
• Social Inquiry in Practice
• Sociology - Contemporary Controversies
• Social and Developmental Psychology

Year 2
• Social Problems
• Brain and Behaviour
• Research and Experimental Methods
• Cognition - Higher Level Processes
• Education, Policy and Society
• Sociology of Religion, Health or Illness

Year 3
• Humans and other animals
• Investigating Gender
• From Individuals to Society
• Independent Research Project
• Capitalism and Justice
• Development Across the Lifespan

Assessment methods

You will have around 10 hours of scheduled lectures and practical classes each week with additional module related seminars and personal tutorials scheduled throughout each semester.

Independent and self-directed study is an integral part of each module to support your learning and development, you will also learn through lectures, personal tutorials, academic seminars, workshops and practical research classes.

During your final year, you will work collaboratively with psychology staff on an independent research project. Some of our students even go on to publish their independent research projects in academic peer-reviewed journals and present their findings at national and international research conferences.

The Uni


Course location:

Singleton Park Campus

Department:

College of Arts and Humanities

Read full university profile

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.

71%
Psychology
89%
Sociology

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

81%
Staff make the subject interesting
86%
Staff are good at explaining things
73%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
67%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

71%
Library resources
75%
IT resources
75%
Course specific equipment and facilities
53%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

90%
UK students
10%
International students
25%
Male students
75%
Female students
83%
2:1 or above
9%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
B

Sociology

Teaching and learning

83%
Staff make the subject interesting
91%
Staff are good at explaining things
88%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
76%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

74%
Library resources
86%
IT resources
81%
Course specific equipment and facilities
66%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

92%
UK students
8%
International students
26%
Male students
74%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
14%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
D
C

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.

£16,633
low
Average annual salary
100%
high
Employed or in further education
30%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

12%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
11%
Teaching and educational professionals
9%
Childcare and related personal services

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.

Sociology

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.

£17,000
med
Average annual salary
100%
high
Employed or in further education
33%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

19%
Protective service occupations
13%
Business, research and administrative professionals
13%
Other administrative occupations

We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.

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.

£17k

£17k

£22k

£22k

£25k

£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.

Sociology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£17k

£17k

£20k

£20k

£27k

£27k

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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