Get degree ideas using our A level explorer tool

Psychology with Professional Placement

Entry requirements


A level

A,A,B

Access to HE Diploma

D:33,M:12

Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal

D3,D3,M2

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE Maths C (or 4), English Language or English Literature C (or 4) and Science C (or 4).

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

34

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H2,H2,H2,H3,H3

OCR Cambridge Technical Diploma

DD

The Cambridge Technical Diploma is only accepted when taken alongside one other acceptable level 3 qualification such as an A level or Cambridge Technical Introductory Diploma.

OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Certificate

D,D,D

The Cambridge Technical Extended Certificate can also be accepted when taken alongside two other acceptable level 3 qualifications e.g. two A levels or a Cambridge Technical Diploma.

OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma

DDD

OCR Cambridge Technical Introductory Diploma

D,D,D

The Cambridge Technical Introductory Diploma can also be accepted when taken alongside two other acceptable level 3 qualifications e.g. two A levels or a Cambridge Technical Diploma.

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

DD

The Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma is only accepted when taken alongside one other acceptable level 3 qualification such as an A level or BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate.

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

D,D,D

The Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate can also be accepted when taken alongside other acceptable level 3 qualifications e.g. two A levels or a BTEC National Diploma.

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

DDD

Scottish Advanced Higher

A,A,B

Scottish Higher

A,A,A,B,B

T Level

D

Minimum grade C in the Core Component.

Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (first teaching September 2015)

A-B

The Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Skills Challenge Certificate will be accepted in lieu of one A Level at the grade achieved.

UCAS Tariff

136-160

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

4years

Sandwich | 2024

Subject

Psychology

Gain valuable clinical experience with BSc Psychology with Professional Placement, a course that can be tailored to meet your interests.

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and enables you to choose to take further training to become a professional psychologist. It incorporates a year-long placement that will enable you to develop valuable professional skills.

The degree will give you a thorough grounding in key areas of psychology and allows you to choose modules that suit your specific interests, including a range of modules from other subjects. Should you wish to study abroad, you can spend a semester of your final year at one of our overseas partner institutions.

As a psychology student you can take advantage of research laboratories, neuroimaging facilities and resources for observing participant behaviour. Additionally, we have various in-house NHS clinics, including our Anxiety and Depression and Speech and Language Therapy clinics, the Centre for Autism, as well as the world-renowned Charlie Waller Institute for evidence-based psychological treatments on site.

The first year of the course will introduce you to the concepts required for BPS qualification, including cognition, neuroscience, development, perception and research methods. You will then cover these and other subjects in far greater depth during the second year. In the final year of the degree you can develop your knowledge by exploring the areas that interest you most. The vast majority of modules in this year are optional and are regularly revised in order to incorporate the latest developments in psychology. Recent modules have included subjects such as autistic spectrum conditions, behavioural economics, nutritional psychology, and emotion, empathy and their disorders.

Throughout the course you will gain practical experience, and learn how to devise and run your own experiments. During the final year you will carry out an original piece of research on a topic of your choice. In the past these have included the effects of emotion on cognition, the effects of Huntington's Disease on quality of life, and using puppets to test children's IQ. You may even have the opportunity to present your work at conferences, and a number of past projects have won awards from the BPS and British Neuroscience Association.

For more information, please visit the School of Psychology website.

**Placement**
You can gain experience of working with professional psychologists by spending a year working within an NHS clinic, research lab or organisation.

You may have the opportunity to carry out this placement at one of our in-house organisations. These include the Anxiety and Depression in Young People clinic, Speech and Language Therapy clinic, the Charlie Waller Institute, Centre for Autism, and the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health.

**Placement year fees**
During your placement year you will pay 15% of the full course fee.

Modules

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Core modules for this course:
Applied and Professional Psychology
Debates in Mental Health
Introduction to Psychological Research
Learning about Learning
The Person and the Brain
Cognitive and Biological Psychology
Development Across the Lifespan
Professional and Clinical Practice
Research Methods in Psychology
Social Psychology and Individual Differences
Professional Placement
Project
Communicating Current Psychology

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£27,650
per year
International
£27,650
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:

University of Reading

Department:

School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences

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.

67%
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

71%
Staff make the subject interesting
73%
Staff are good at explaining things
65%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
59%
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

69%
Library resources
70%
IT resources
76%
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?

89%
UK students
11%
International students
18%
Male students
82%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
10%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
B

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.

£18,200
med
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
66%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

12%
Therapy professionals
12%
Childcare and related personal services
9%
Health 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.

£22k

£22k

£24k

£24k

£31k

£31k

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...

Higher entry requirements
University of Nottingham | Nottingham
Psychology
BSc (Hons) 3 Years Sandwich 2024
UCAS Points: 112-168
Lower entry requirements
University of Hertfordshire | Hatfield
Sports Studies with Psychology
BSc (Hons) 3 Years Sandwich 2024
UCAS Points: 104-112
Nearby University
Brunel University London | Uxbridge
Psychology with Placement
BSc (Hons) 4 Years Sandwich 2024
UCAS Points: 120-144

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