cutie23 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Has anyone got a BA (Hons) in psychology and sociology and thought it was a waste of time. I find that those who go to uni to study a vocational course study have applied skills. I find that social sciences require further studying at postgrad level in order to get a decent paying job. I am finding that jobs like admin and HR could have been done without going to uni. Career orientated degrees I.e. skill specific careers lead to specific careers. Social science degrees such as mine give you an introductory understanding of a subject while building career skills such as research, writing, critical thinking, and interpretation and analysis of information. I find that you can learn all those skills from the vocational degrees. The advantage is that vocational degrees give you the skills needed to perform a service and make contribute to an industry. What jobs have people got from psychology and sociology degrees without further studying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkymiss Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I got a BSc Hons in Psychology - I'm a teacher now. I would have loved a career in psychology but would've needed to study for a further three years! Didn't want to spend most of my 20s studying. I spent the first year of my degree having to take half the credits in pointless unrelated subjects. They should fit more stuff into the degree so that people could actually use it professionally or gain some work experience! It was all just theory, nothing practical so I did voluntary work alongside it. It wasn't a waste of time, just could have been a lot better. (And this was meant to be at one of the top universities in the country for psychology). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suebeedoo Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Whatever happened to studying a subject because you enjoy learning about it? Although I am probably not a good example as I went on to do a PhD after my Psychology Bsc and now I lecture, but the grounding you get from an UG degree in psychology can lead to a wide range of careers. If you study for a vocational degree aren't you somewhat stuck with that vocation? Of course you will get the applied skills with vocational courses, and any good degree should teach crticial thinking etc., but if you aren't sure of the career you wish to enter then I would think they are a bad choice. At 17 when the vast majority of students are choosing their degrees, a lot aren't sure what they want to end up doing. When I was 18 I studied Law (LLB) but went in with the intention not to practice, rather I was interested in the concept of law, specifically the constitutional stuff. However, from day one we were constantly pushed "when you are doing your articles..." etc. There didn't seem to be the option to simply study it because it interested you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suebeedoo Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I spent the first year of my degree having to take half the credits in pointless unrelated subjects. They should fit more stuff into the degree so that people could actually use it professionally or gain some work experience! It was all just theory, nothing practical so I did voluntary work alongside it. It wasn't a waste of time, just could have been a lot better. (And this was meant to be at one of the top universities in the country for psychology). The trouble with getting practical experience in psychology is that a lot of the populations that we work with are sensitive (eg children, offenders, clinical patients etc.) and gaining access to those populations for cohorts of psychology UGs is a minefield of red tape and risk assessment, not to mention finding people who will consent to untrained psychology students "experimenting" on them. Voluntary work is a brilliant way of getting experience working with people (which a lot of careers for the social sciences require) and also for sussing out what you actualy want to do. When I first started my UG degree I worked for the Probation Service and decided I wanted to work with offenders as a forensic psychologist, I volunteered as a mentor which lead to part time work in a bail hostel. This made my mind up that I simply didn't want to become a forensic psych and it changed my focus completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyfriday Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Has anyone got a BA (Hons) in psychology and sociology and thought it was a waste of time. I find that those who go to uni to study a vocational course study have applied skills. I find that social sciences require further studying at postgrad level in order to get a decent paying job. I am finding that jobs like admin and HR could have been done without going to uni. Career orientated degrees I.e. skill specific careers lead to specific careers. Social science degrees such as mine give you an introductory understanding of a subject while building career skills such as research, writing, critical thinking, and interpretation and analysis of information. I find that you can learn all those skills from the vocational degrees. The advantage is that vocational degrees give you the skills needed to perform a service and make contribute to an industry. What jobs have people got from psychology and sociology degrees without further studying? Most vocational degrees require post graduate study/training before qualification in the specific occupation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Moomin Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I Graduated from a BSc(Hons) in Psychology in 2001 with no intention of working as any type of psychologist. What the degree gave me was strong proof that I am numerate to a high level based on the statistics elements fo the course, literate and able to write for review, scientific/experimental reports and argumentative essays, I am able to research topics fully. In addition it gave me the other skills of a good degree - the ability to self motivate and organise workloads etc. I couldn't proove that I am where I am today - middle management in a hood job I enjoy earning a decent salary - just because of the specific degree I did, but I know it has given me lots of skills which have been applicable to many graduate level jobs. My current job does happen to specifically require a social science degree, plus other experience or study, but I didn't come directly into it. I have (very fortunately) very rarely struggled to find work of some description. I put this down to the fact that throughout my time at uni and beyond I haven't been work shy or fussy. When I have needed a job I have worked and that has got me experience an a vst array of places which even based on temp jobs gives me a good looking CV of experiences to bring to other roles. Of course the possibility is with a Psych and sociology degree that you missed elements that make a psychology degree quite useful in my opinion. I must confess the sociologists didn't seem to have much int heir course which lent itself to wider work. The other thing that annoys me slightly with the raft of graduates on the news at the moment is the expectation that just a degree was enough to get a graduate level job (I don't necessarily mean the OP here). Even 10 years ago it wasnt. There will always be tough competition for good jobs and the only way to fight that is to make yourself different and desirable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vwkittie Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I did an AS level in sociology and managed to get a C without having turned up to the classes or done any revision. It was such a stupid and pointless subject, what a waste of time! All you had to do was state the flaming obvious in as many words as possible, and somewhere put 'Marx' in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finoni9 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 As a mature student I find it really frustrating that I have to do my BSc Psychology and then go on to do my PhD before I can really "practice". At my age I don't really want to waste my time! However as a mature student I have lots of experience, just need to the paperwork to prove I have! I actuallly prefer it the way I have done it as I feel what I am studying now makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameis Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 I did an AS level in sociology and managed to get a C without having turned up to the classes or done any revision. It was such a stupid and pointless subject, what a waste of time! All you had to do was state the flaming obvious in as many words as possible, and somewhere put 'Marx' in it. i registered just to reply to this one!! was going to anyway but...i did an A Level and BA Hons in Sociology..no way is it a cakewalk..it depends on where you studied the AS Level and when! there is no way, when I did my A Level in early 1990's that you could not study and get a C..I got an A and worked my balls off..others I knew worked equally as hard and got a C..so I reckon either your exams are dumbed down these days or you are telling porkies!! to further dispell the myth that social science degrees are easy..I went to Essex Uni, the best place for Sociology in the UK..and we had a housemate who said it was easy...so one of my classmates got him to do an essay for her..guess what, he barely got the equivalent on a 3rd class for it..he got about 43%...showed him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercenary Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Whatever happened to studying a subject because you enjoy learning about it? Although I am probably not a good example as I went on to do a PhD after my Psychology Bsc and now I lecture, but the grounding you get from an UG degree in psychology can lead to a wide range of careers. If you study for a vocational degree aren't you somewhat stuck with that vocation? Of course you will get the applied skills with vocational courses, and any good degree should teach crticial thinking etc., but if you aren't sure of the career you wish to enter then I would think they are a bad choice. At 17 when the vast majority of students are choosing their degrees, a lot aren't sure what they want to end up doing. When I was 18 I studied Law (LLB) but went in with the intention not to practice, rather I was interested in the concept of law, specifically the constitutional stuff. However, from day one we were constantly pushed "when you are doing your articles..." etc. There didn't seem to be the option to simply study it because it interested you. I agree, I studied BA (Hons) History because I enjoyed the subject (plus it meant not having to grow up for another 3 years;)). I've ended up climbing the ladder in admin roles within Higher Education. I wouldn't change anything if I could go back- for one thing I met my wife whilst studying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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