PSYCHOLOGY: Psyched for the future

A growing number of RGS psychology students are choosing to study this increasingly popular A-level subject at university. Head of psychology MIRANDA DODD explores why degree applications are on the rise

EVERY year around 25 per cent of our psychology A-level students progress to undergraduate courses in psychology at top universities around the country. This year more than 35 per cent - 14 students out of a cohort of 39 - are applying to study the subject at degree level.

Psychology is a popular choice as it utilises a love of both humanities and science. The subject enables students to understand the scientific method, use maths to analyse data and evaluate theories and concepts in essay-based responses. This means it applies to a broad range of careers including law, medicine and business, alongside psychology-focussed careers in a vast range of fields such as sport, education and health.

Emma Sowden and Samantha King have secured offers from the University of York, on the 11th best course in the UK. Here they will be taught psychology as an experimental biological science by researchers of international repute, including Alan Baddeley, renowned for his research on memory, who features heavily in the A-level course.

Emma says the wide variety of content attracted her to the course: “You get to study new topics in psychology not covered in the A-level course, as well as some familiar topics, before specialising in your third year.”

She completed a psychological investigation for her extended project qualification (EPQ): “Now I can’t wait to do more at university.”

Maddy Penny and Tehya Sutton will attend the tenth best course according to the league tables, at Newcastle University, specialising in visual and cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology and disorders of development.

Tehya plans to enter the highly competitive clinical psychology doctorate programme once she graduates, to help develop much needed new treatments for mental health conditions, having been inspired by A-level modules on schizophrenia, depression and OCD.

Both Annabel Brown and Maddy Penny are also taking an altruistic path and have been inspired by their studies of attachment to focus their degree on childhood psychology, with the goal of becoming educational psychologists, diagnosing and supporting children with developmental and learning disorders.

Psychology is also popular as a combined degree, such as psychology with sociology which Emma Bone will be studying at Nottingham Trent University as she is particularly interested in how psychological research can impact real policies and processes in institutions such as within policing and education.

Maisie Ayers, Will Howe and Macy Brett loved the forensic psychology topic so much at A-level that they are planning to study criminology and psychology at Northumbria University, specifically in order to further consider explanations of crime and how these affect potential rehabilitation.

Lizzie Duxbury and Ewan Gilmore have opted for psychology degrees based on their enjoyment of A-level and due to the fact that the focus on human experience will allow them to access a wide variety of graduate jobs and potential opportunities for further study.

As the study of human behaviour, psychology is relevant to all our experiences, and skills in critical analysis and the ability to consider explanations of behaviour have applications in many fields. Ewan in particular enjoyed the more social and philosophical elements of psychology and pondering big questions such as, ‘Do we have free will?’.

Caitlin Gill and Georgie Borchard, who are both excellent sportswomen, have benefitted from applying their psychological knowledge to physical education A-level. Both will attend Durham University - number eight in the psychology degree league tables - where Georgie plans to continue her studies of both psychology and sports science, while Caitlin will follow a pure psychology route.

Caitlin, who has completed significant work experience at a mental health hospital where she was able to put her A-level knowledge to excellent use, says: “I have loved learning about how so many different variables can influence us. I’m excited to learn about current research into improving human behaviour.”

Many of these students have benefitted from the school Psychology Society, where we regularly host speakers from professional settings and top universities. Several have conducted impressive EPQs, exploring psychological issues, including eating disorders and the impacts of personality types. All agree they have benefitted from enjoying such a varied, interesting and well-organised A-level psychology course run by subject specialists at RGS.

Back row (l-r): Emma Sowden Tehya Sutton, Ewan Gilmore, Annabel Brown, Caitlin Gill, Samantha King

Front row (l-r): Maisie Ayers, Maddy Penny, Lizzie Duxbury, Macy Brett, Georgie Borchard