Get degree ideas using our A level explorer tool

Forensic Psychology

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C

112 UCAS Tariff points

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

DMM

112 UCAS Tariff points

UCAS Tariff

112

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Psychology

Why do people offend? Can we predict the victim? One of the most fascinating applications of psychology is in examining and tackling criminal behaviour. Our BPS-accredited course brings to life this relatively new and exciting field of psychology, exploring the criminal mind, practical forensics and legal areas such as police investigation and jury behaviour.

The degree focuses on the techniques and issues at the forefront of practice in criminal, investigative and forensic psychology as well as key areas of the law such as police investigation, false confessions, expert witnesses and jury behaviour. You will study the foundations of psychology and how it applies to criminal behaviour before exploring different psychological approaches; the role of an individual’s culture and society; and practical forensic psychology.

The course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and completing it confers eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), provided you meet the minimum standard of a second-class honours degree. To become a fully-fledged chartered forensic psychologist, you will have to continue your studies at postgraduate level and undertake supervised practice.

**Why choose this course?**
- Understand the professional skills used by forensic psychologists

- Work on research projects such as offender profiling and crime analysis, criminal thinking styles, and lie detection

- Study with an academic team currently involved in research or practice, with their expertise feeding back into your teaching

- Learn valuable research and analysis skills that transfer into other career fields

Modules

Areas of study include:
- Foundations to Psychology
- Introduction to Psychological Research Methods and Data Analysis
- Psychology and Criminal Behaviour
- Psychology in Every Day Life
- Biological and Cognitive Psychology
- Methods of Research in Psychology
- Psychology and Criminal Justice
- Social Processes and Lifespan Development
- Culture and Individual Differences
- Forensic Psychology in Practice
- Forensic Psychology Research Project
- Atypical Child and Adolescent Development: Theories and Applications
- Cognitive Neuropsychology
- Critical Social Psychology
- Occupational and Organisational Psychology
- Problem Solving
- Psychology of Language and Vision
- Psychology of Mental Health

Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website.

Assessment methods

Throughout your degree you will encounter a wide variety of types of assessment collectively designed to suit the variety of individual learning styles. Each assessment will provide the opportunity to offer you feedback to help with your development and inform the completion of your future assessments. There will be an opportunity in each year of your study to develop and refine a number of key academic skills, many of which will be transferable to the workplace.

These include team-working, report writing, oral presentations, constructing coherent written arguments, the ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate complex information from a range of sources, reflective writing as well as personal and professional development planning. Whilst you will be expected to undertake a few examinations, the assessment diet is more heavily weighted in favour of coursework assignments.

The teaching reflects the BPS core curriculum with an emphasis on research and research methods as well as the other core areas of a Psychology curriculum.

Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website:

https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/courses/undergraduate/next-year/forensic-psychology/

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Luton Campus

Department:

School of Psychology

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.

68%
Psychology

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

67%
Staff make the subject interesting
78%
Staff are good at explaining things
76%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
70%
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

72%
Library resources
81%
IT resources
90%
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?

79%
UK students
21%
International students
15%
Male students
85%
Female students
65%
2:1 or above
24%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
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.

£17,000
med
Average annual salary
90%
low
Employed or in further education
47%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

18%
Caring personal services
13%
Childcare and related personal services
10%
Welfare and housing associate professionals

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.

£18k

£18k

£22k

£22k

£23k

£23k

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...

Share this page

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