Why You Should Consider Studying Psychology at Warwick!

Those of you who know me, know that I have struggled with some aspect of life at university, BUT one thing that I can say for sure is that I am SO happy to be able to say that I am a student of the Department of Psychology at Warwick.

Seriously - It is great (I think!) and here are some reasons why:

• The Lecturers and Academics

  In all honesty, I don't what to say besides the fact that they are brilliant.
  There are times when I am so mesmerised by the amount of enthusiasm some of the academics bring to their lectures that sometimes it's like watching a performance! It blows my mind... Every. Single. Time.
  
  On top of that they are constantly encouraging to visit their offices if we need any assistance, or even for a general chat about their specialised area. In fact, they really enjoy discussing their expertise, and we have no problems asking them if need be. They are genuinely some of the loveliest and most approachable people I have ever met, and other students in the department say the same.
  
  If I can go into my future career and have as much enthusiasm and dedication as they do, I will call that a massive success!




• Wellbeing Support

  

  Jeremy Thomas | Unsplash

  
  

  This is something I had mentioned in my first post: there is such a great emphasis on wellbeing in the department. This wasn't just mentioned on day one then put aside, but it's something they continuously make us aware of.
  
  Our personal tutors, lecturers, and admin staff are ALWAYS reminding us that if we have any concerns whatsoever, regardless of how small we think they are, they will be there to support us. Whether it's scheduling regular meetings just to catch up, or giving some helpful advice, and signposting us to resources around campus and within the department. They really do care about their students' wellbeing and it is something I am so grateful for.
  
  You don't get that kind of support everywhere and it makes such a big difference.
  

• Research

  There is constantly so much new research going on and publications being released! Psychology isn't just about clinical psychology (mental, emotional and behavioural disorders) like many people may think. Psychology covers a whole range of matters (more on this later). I will link the 3 broad research groups of the department below so that you can check them out if you're interested.
  
  As the academics research in various specialities within these broad research groups there will always be something intriguing for everyone. Psychology can be found in pretty much every context - consumerism, sales, social media, law, education, sports... you name it!
  
  

  Lifespan Health and Wellbeing

  Behavioural Science

  Language and Learning

  
  




•  PhD and Master Students

  In our first-year so far, we have been lucky enough to interact with various postgrad students within the department. Some of them assist us during seminars/ practicals and have supervised us in our first-year projects. What's great about this is that they have all been through the university experience of being an undergraduate (mostly psychology) student, so they know the ins and outs of it all.
  
  The PhD student who taught in my seminar group for a module looking into 'Academic Skills for Psychologists' was always providing us with helpful tips and recommendations. Furthermore, it's always really interesting to hear about their research topics! Every single one of them are so different and specifically focused and this also opens you up to areas of psychology which you wouldn't have necessarily thought of.
  
  
  
  
• Facilities
  
  I'm only a first year undergraduate so we haven't had the chance to explore the laboratories much just yet, but as part of our course we are required to complete 15 hours of 'research experience'. This essentially means to take part in 15 hours of assigned experiments. There are also additional experiments run by postgraduate psychology students and opportunities to assist with research studies outside of this. Many of these will require us to explore some of the technologies used in research.
  
  If you come and visit the department during an open day, you will be toured round the baby lab (essentially a mini nursery), car stimulator, and the sleep and pain lab (which looks like a hotel room).
  
  Academics and postgraduate students are always telling us how they use the labs to conduct their own research and it's so interesting to hear about how it all works!
  
  
  
• Resources
  It's expected that you will be provided with the basics of recommended readings, access to books from the library, journal subscriptions, and computer software that will be required, so I'm not going to go into all of that. Resources are much more than physical study materials! I won't repeat the ones I have already mentioned above, so here are some others:
  
  
  • Guest speakers (external and internal) are always coming in to give talks which all students can sign up to. Recently a few of the staff arranged a 'Psychology Careers Conference' where workers from a range of psychology careers, (such as: HR, clinical, educational, forensics and research) came in and delivered talks on what they do as part of their jobs and gave advice on career progression towards their particular fields.
    
    
  • Careers advice - this links onto the point above, but the department also has Careers Consultant, who you can book a meeting with to discuss all things careers!
    
    
  • Every student is assigned to a personal tutor (as in most universities).
    One thing I have noticed having spoken to my friends from back at home is that none of them have seen their personal tutors since the start of the academic year.
    Here, we are required to meet our tutors every other week in small groups during first year. This is less in the subsequent years, but more on a one-to-one basis as we all develop different interests into more specific disciplines within psychology. That way, we get to know each other and it makes it easier for them to write valid references for us if and when they are required, and you are able to raise any concerns with someone who you will feel comfortable talking to.
    
    
  • Every academic and administrator has 'office hours'. This means that there is an assigned time where they will be in their office and students can freely visit them and ask questions about material which they didn't understand from lectures or discuss any other academic or course related matters. Of course, there are other times to meet with lecturers to and I've never had a problem with emailing them to do so.
  
  
  
• Course Content
  You will have covered so much breadth of psychology that by the time you get to 3rd year you are spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing optional modules or taking up different  specialities.
  
  

  

  rawpixel.com | Pexels

  Let's be real - you're not going to love every single module/ topic within your course, no matter how much you enjoy the course as a whole. Nevertheless, it's still great to be exposed to areas that you wouldn't necessarily have considered yourself if it wasn't a core module. Especially with psychology, there are plenty of content within individidual areas of psychology that you wouldn't expect to come across and it's quite fascinating! Despite my interests lying in developmental and educational psychology, and language/ linguistics, I think it's great that we are required to explore a diversity of disciplines during the first 2 years.
  
  We also cover a lot of research skills and academic psychology skills in first year to. Therefore, when it comes to 2nd and 3rd year (when all our assignments weight toward our degree grade), we are familiar with the expectations of academic writing, how to conduct experiments appropriately, write reports on them, and complete and analyse statistics. There's nothing worse than completing an important assignment (i.e: your desertion!) without any previous experience in designing and implementing fundamental research skills.
  
  Once first year is over, I plan to give a rundown of what I have studied during 1st year and plans for 2nd year to give you an brief summary of the content I have covered so far.
  
  
  Update: so can find this post here.
  
  
  
  
• Assessments and Assignments
  You're probably wondering: 'Assessments?! That shouldn't be on the good list!'. Unfortunately, we can't run away from them. They are an inevitable part of student life!
  
  What I really love is that I'm not just constantly writing essays. There's so much more to academia than being able to write essays and it's not the only way in which knowledge, and the application of knowledge, can be showcased.
  
  So far, (besides the usual essays) I have:
  • Conducted several set studies/ experiments using different methods and have written mini research reports on them (each student collected participants and we all pooled our data to form a larger sample);
  • Written a short critical review on a chosen journal article;
  • Completed a group project creating a blog post (or a vlog) on a chosen topic revolving around 'Transition into University';
  •  On-line and class tests (some of which are MCQs);
    
  • A few statistics assignments; 
  • Currently, I'm working on a larger research report as part of a group on a chosen replication study and there's a presentation next term to.
  
  I have used the word 'chosen' a few times and that's because our lecturers understand that we all have different interests, so a few times (task dependent) they have select some options covering a range of fields and have allowed us to choose our preferences!
  
  Of course there are exams to, but you probably get the gist of all of that.
  
  
  
• Feedback
  You know when you're asked to get feedback and it never gets acted upon?
  
  Well, feedback is taken very seriously in the Psychology Department and it is actively acted upon. We know this people the feedback we provide is reported back to us at the end of each module (or section within a module) depending on how it's arranged, and this goes on to impact how modules are run in the following academic year.
  
  Feedback includes: the pace of the lecture, reading recommendations, helpfulness of seminar/ practical groups, approachability of the lecturer; efficiency of PowerPoint's and on-line resources. There's also an open comment section at the end, where you can write down any concerns or give credit to certain parts of the module. All of this is completely anonymous.
  
  We can also provide any feedback to our Student-Staff Liaison Committee members who then bring them up in meetings can come up with action points towards them if necessary. Again, all of this is reported back to us and we can view the minutes of these through an online portal.
  
  Feedback sessions help to clear out any misunderstandings and any concerns brought up within the feedback that students provide is reported back and discussed in more detail. This sort of runs like a question and answers sessions. It's great to see that what you say it actually taken into account.

So, if any of you are planning on studying psychology, I would highly recommend coming to visit the Department of Psychology at Warwick during one of the upcoming open days!

 #psychologyrocks at Warwick! (if any of you reading happen to be Warwick psychology students!)

Here's a video from YouTube of a few Psychology students explaining their highlights: