Studying Psychology at QUB – Talk to AS Psychology Pupils

Studying Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast

Mr Chris Gibbons, a researcher and lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, visited our AS Psychology class to give a talk about studying psychology at the university.  We were very pleased to welcome Mr Gibbons as many members of the class are interested in continuing studies in psychology at degree level.

He took us through the options for studying psychology, eg most people take a 3 year degree in psychology.  Many then go on to do a postgraduate course eg a masters degree in clinical psychology or educational psychology.  We also discussed the careers that an undergraduate degree may lead to.  We learned that psychology opens up many doors for job opportunities such as social work, teaching, counselling and nursing.  An interesting fact we learned was that 80% of undergraduate psychology students at Queens University achieve at least a 2:1 honours at the end of their degree.  The entrance requirements for course entry are ABB + GCSE mathematics.

As well as informing us about studying at Queen’s university, Mr Gibbons also gave a brief talk on how our minds work which proved very interesting.

For example, look at the 2 lines and decide – which line is the longest?  

Did you pick the line on the left?

Believe it or not, these lines are in fact the same length. Mr Gibbons explained to us how it’s an illusion of the mind. This is called the Muller-Lyer illusion.

Our mind can play tricks on us.  We believe the left arrow to be longer because its tails are pointing outwards, causing it to look longer, whereas it has the opposite effect on the right arrow.

Personally as an AS psychology student at the moment, this talk has confirmed my interest in going on to study psychology in higher education.  It was informative and gave me a realistic idea of what to expect on a degree course.  It sounds like hard work but also should be very rewarding.

Link to Queen’s Psychology degree information on website: http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/psy/

Anna McKeown, Year 13