• Question: how did you go from school to your current job? e.g. did you go to uni and if so, what courses did you take?

    Asked by anon-295760 on 16 Jul 2021.
    • Photo: Lisa Newson

      Lisa Newson answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      I did my a’levels and was supposed to go to uni to study accountancy. I had a wobble and told my parents I didn’t want to go to uni and they persuaded me to go and I went through clearing and chose psychology last minute because I had enjoyed it at a’level. It was the best devision as psychology has such broad topic areas. Whilst at uni I found out about health psychology and clinical psychology and thought yes I could do this. Clinical psychology Is primarily mental health. Health Psychology is the psych of health, so when I did lectures on Cardiovascular disease, how people think, manage and live with this I was yes I want to work with these patients

      After my undergrad, I worked as a research assistant at uni and completed my masters in health psychology. Stage 1 professional training (1yr). Then once I got a job in the nhs/uni I registered for a professional doctorate (professional doc) stage 2 – 2yrs-ish. My job acted as my training placement and I completed this to become a Health Psych.
      Jobs are linear… so getting a career isn’t a straight line, I have had jobs in between as part of my training.
      Part of my job now in academia is running the msc health psych and I also supervise prof doc students so I love welcoming them into my profession.

    • Photo: Gabriela Morris

      Gabriela Morris answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      I finished school and already knew I wanted to study Psychology. I did my undergraduate degree and, at the time, had my sights set on becoming a clinical psychologist. I then did some volunteer work at a psychology clinic, assisting people with head traumas. After my first afternoon helping out at this clinic, I got home and cried. It was so emotionally stressful for me, and that’s when I realised that working directly with people wasn’t what I was cut out to do. I spent the next few days trying to figure out where I wanted to go (although I already knew I was going to do my PhD – I’d known since I was a kid). After looking at what I most enjoyed about studying, I figured out that research and data were where I was most happy. And so I set my sights on becoming a research psychologist. I then went on to do my master’s in child forensic psychology, and once that was done I had worked out my great interest in studying psychopaths. So I got in touch with a university for my PhD, presented my proposal idea to my now-supervisor, and here I am.

      All while doing this, I was working so I could pay for my degrees. It was a bit of a winding road, but it’s worked out well for me.

    • Photo: Naomi Heffer

      Naomi Heffer answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      By the time I finished school I knew that I wanted to study the science underlying how people work, but I was way more interested in biology than psychology or neuroscience. I started a course in biomedical sciences at uni and was so focused on biology and biochemistry, that I was almost annoyed that the course also included psychology. However, during my degree I found that my interests changed and I started to take more and more optional units in psychology and neuroscience, and less in physiology and biochemistry. In the last year of my degree I specialised in neuroscience and graduated with a degree in neuroscience! By this time I was fully converted from biochemist to psychologist and so applied to do my PhD in psychology, which is where I am now.

    • Photo: Natalie Neal

      Natalie Neal answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      I did a range of A levels because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do so did psychology, biology, film studies and geography to make sure I had at least 2 sciences if I wanted to go down a science route at Uni and film studies because it looked interesting.
      After a levels I wanted to be a counsellor so went to uni and did a psychology degree and worked for some helplines at the same time. I also volunteered at a special school for one day a week and that’s where I changed my mind and wanted to be a teacher!
      So I did my teacher training course and taught psychology to gcse and a level students for 8 years before deciding I missed psychology and became an assistant educational psychologist!
      I think my experiences all helped me in my job as it gives me lots of different perspectives to draw on in my role and I have lived experience of being a teacher which is really helpful when supporting other teachers.

    • Photo: Jessica Rea

      Jessica Rea answered on 16 Jun 2021: last edited 16 Jun 2021 11:12 am

      I started working straight after school and only went to uni when I was 23. The plus side of that was that I got to travel and learned more about the types of work that I enjoyed and didn’t enjoy. I also noticed that I spent a lot of my free time reading psychology related books and decided that if I was going to do all that reading anyway, I may as well get a qualification out of it. I continued to work full-time and completed a distance learning degree for my undergrad. I had to complete an access course as the subjects I took at the end of school (all art) did not meet the requirements for psychology.

      When I took a year out of work to do my MSc, I realised that the downside of starting uni later is that you tend to be a bit older than your classmates and don’t get as much out of the social aspects than if you go straight from school.

      Psychology has been a useful degree in a number of different careers that I have had, including sales and marketing (consumer psychology), human resources (organisational psychology), and now teaching and research.

    • Photo: Samantha Harrison

      Samantha Harrison answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      Whilst studying for my GCSEs, I decided that I wanted to try something new for my A levels, so I took Psychology and Sociology (and Maths and English Combined as I knew I’d enjoy those). Whilst I didn’t end up enjoying sociology that much, I fell in love with psychology and decided to study it at university.

      Different universities have different psychology courses – some are science-based, some are arts-based, some are specialised (eg forensic psychology) and some are broad. I decided I wanted to take a broad psychology science-based degree so that I could experience many different types of psychology and research. The University of Lincoln had the course that sounded best for me, so I went there. I fell in love with brain imaging research during my second year of uni (I actually hated it in my first year – isn’t it funny how things change?), and ended up taking Psychological Research Methods as a masters degree. From there, I knew I wanted to stay in research, so I began looking for PhDs/Doctorate degrees.

      I found my dream PhD position at The University of Nottingham, and I haven’t left since!

    • Photo: John J Shaw

      John J Shaw answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      After finishing high school I had no intention of going to college/sixth form, never mind University as it just wasn’t really a thing in my family. On results day I succumbed to peer pressure and ended up enrolling in Sixth form taking English Language, Psychology, and Biology at A level, getting a B, B, C across them which was lower than I could have achieved looking back. At this point, I was more thinking of achieving any job with decent pay and I enjoyed the psychology aspect so I applied for Management and Psychology (called Organisation Studies and Psychology back then) at Lancaster University. Entry requirements were A, B, B but I somehow scraped in.

      That really was the point where I started to truly enjoy what would be my later career. I hated the management side of it with a passion but began to fall in love with research and the theories of Psychology. When it came to the end of my undergrad I started an MSc in Psychological Research Methods and worked with my dissertation supervisor from Undergrad. At the same time we worked on a PhD proposal and I was awarded funding to complete it. I knew from that point on I wanted to stay in academia.

    • Photo: Jennifer Deane

      Jennifer Deane answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      When I was at school I was determined I was going to be an actress and win an Oscar! So I didn’t put much effort in at A Level. I passed them, just about. I got 3 E’s and then I moved to London and went to drama school, after Drama school I worked as an actress for a few years and loved it, but it was hard, badly paid and there were often times when I wasn’t working. I did lot’s of part time jobs and one of them was working in hospital admin, I worked at a private hospital and really liked the environment. My mum and dad were both nurses and lots of my aunties and uncles (I have a big family) worked in healthcare; nurses, radiographers, physiotherapists, pharmacists etc so I always said I didn’t want to follow in their footsteps! Once I decided that acting wasn’t working out for me I got a full time job in charge of a physio and sports medicine clinic and loved it, sadly my bosses were not the best and refused to give me a pay rise as I didn’t have a degree so I decided to go and get one. I went to an open evening at London Met and was offered a place on their psychology undergrad, I’d gone to ask about that and was also looking at a nursing degree. So I went for it. I had in my head that I was going to do Clinical Psychology but that was mainly because that was the only career I knew of in psychology. Once I was doing my undergrad I realised there was loads of options. I loved social psychology and then I discovered Health Psychology and something just clicked with me. I really liked the sound of it and it seemed to suit what I was interested in. So I applied to do a masters in Health Psychology (I took a year out between Undergrad and masters as my first daughter was born on my last day of the undergrad – I had my legs crossed in that last exam!). I did my masters part time and got a job as a research assistant one day a week at a different uni which I loved. It was in a health psychology department and really helped me. After my masters I wasn’t sure what the best route to take next was so I got a job as a researcher on a project looking at how to help cancer survivors and I loved it. It was at this time that my husband and I decided to leave London, I saw a PhD job in Newcastle and went to the interview and got it so we all moved to the north east and here I am… I hasn’t been a straight journey by any stretch but I have learnt so much form my other work that has helped me hugely and I wouldn’t change it (although I still wish I’d got that Oscar!)

    • Photo: Megan Whitehorn

      Megan Whitehorn answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      I was always very sure that I was interested in human nature and the functions of the human brain, so I pursued this topic from school; however, I have worked and studied in a number of places along this path! I studies Psychology at Bsc, then studied a Masters in Functional and Clinical Neuroscience and an MRes in Neuroimaging; however, in between these periods of study (and in order to fund my studies/living expenses) I have worked at the insurance company Allstate, the cosmetics company Lush, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists on their dementia care department! Furthermore, these “non-studying” periods have contributed to my career in unexpected ways; for example, I learned the basics of computer coding (which I use to create my experiments now) in Allstate!

    • Photo: Sophie Bettles

      Sophie Bettles answered on 16 Jun 2021:

      I was lucky in knowing that I wanted to study a Psychology degree from about the age of 15/16 (my mum is a Relate counsellor so I had the inside scoop on what giving therapy was like!).
      My sixth form didn’t offer Psychology A Level so instead I went with what interested me: Art, Business Studies and Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics).
      I applied for psychology degree courses at a few universities and many said that I needed Biology and/or Chemistry A Level so I started to panic a bit!! However, both Birmingham and Manchester universities did not have this essential requirement and so I went to visit both and eventually chose Birmingham. This was partly because they offered a Postgraduate course in Forensic Psychology (which I was interested in) and partly because I loved the campus!
      I knew that I would need psychology experience for my Uni application so I worked for several years as a Disability Support Worker at the YMCA and as a Care Assistant for a private nursing company. There was plenty to be learnt in both jobs about caring for people and different issues that people may face (e.g. Autism, Dementia etc.).

      After my undergraduate degree I applied for the Postgraduate course (combined Masters and Doctorate) in Forensic Psychology Practice. I didn’t get on the first time I applied and they advised me to get more work experience. So I did a whole load of volunteering for various services (including a university and prison in Australia) and then reapplied the next year and got on!

      The Doctorate course gives you the qualification to practice as a Psychologist so I applied for jobs as I was finishing my final year.

    • Photo: Brittney Chere

      Brittney Chere answered on 17 Jun 2021:

      After I finished school I went straight to uni and studied psychology and human development. At first I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do with it but then throughout I fell in love with research and so decided to pursue that. I then got a job as a research assistant in a lab, which is basically where you’re an admin person helping a professor and his/her students run all of their studies and get participants in for the studies, and then help with outreach work (it varies from lab to lab but this is generally what it involves). I then applied for funding to do a master’s and PhD in London but didn’t get it, so I decided to just move to London and do the master’s and then reapply for funding for the PhD. I did in the end manage to get funding for that and I’m now in the final few months of my PhD- which is scary but exciting!! 🙂

      Overall I’d say that the break in my education between my undergraduate degree and my master’s was good as I got to save up money for my master’s and also it gave me the time to really think about what I wanted to do and realise that getting my PhD was definitely something that I wanted to pursue. I also got to learn a lot about running a lab and the ins and outs of research, so it really helped me feel more confident in my ability to do good and strong research once I started my postgraduate degrees.

    • Photo: Nora Vyas

      Nora Vyas answered on 17 Jun 2021:

      It’s been a long journey and I have learnt a lot of lessons along the way. I completed three A-levels (Economics, English Language and Psychology) at school. I was initially interested in economics, but then came across mental health and schizophrenia was one of the psychiatric disorders we were taught about. I found this fascinated, and decided to apply for a degree in psychology. I went onto doing a BSc (Hons) in psychology. In the second year of my course, I got an opportunity to work over the summer as a research worker (voluntary). After the summer, I was asked whether I could stay on, and I agreed. I attended my lectures at university and then headed straight to the research institute. After completing my degree, I was offered to do a PhD (3 years). I then went onto working abroad for 2 years (research fellowships) and returned joining the university which I am currently working at as a lecturer where I taught the symptoms, causes, and treatments of specific mental health conditions, health psychology (stress, cardiovascular disease, old age).

Comments