Inside the Life of a Psychology Student – Jessica (#10)

This article we have another interview for you with a psychology student! This time, we’re interviewing Jessica Pinson, from the UK (bare this in mind when reading this article). Jessica has just completed a three year BSc in Psychology at Goldsmith’s University, in London, UK. We will ask her about her course, her experience of psychology, her career goals and then any advice she may have for you guys!

Let’s start by asking about her course.

Us: How’s the program like and cost?

JP: It’s a BSc in Psychology, it sounds like it would be very much core Psychology but Goldsmiths had a lot of unique modules which made it always super diverse and intriguing. The cost is the basic cost for any University course in the UK at the moment, £9000 a year.

Us: How’s the education?

JP: The education was really great. Goldsmiths is well known for it’s research background and many of our lecturers were in the middle of cutting edge research whilst they taught, meaning our lectures were always full of brand new research keeping us on the ball in different areas of Psychology. They were also all so enthusiastic about their courses, it was very inspiring and motivating, you kind of always felt ‘one day I want to be up there talking about something I love!’ Because of this the course was very research base, in first year we conducted a experiment every 2 weeks so we really learnt how research works. As I said earlier, the course was very diverse, though we got taught the basic core subjects (cognitive, bio, social, etc,) in first and second year we got to choose some amazingly unique modules in the third year, for example I did a module called ‘Magic and the Mind’ which was an interesting take on Cognitive Psychology looking at how magicians and the art of magic has shown for years how easily our cognitive systems can be manipulated. It was a really fantastic way to look at Cognitive Psychology. I believe now the course has been changed so the student either goes into a clinical or neuroscience stream to cater their degree closer to their career goals.

Us: Is there something you’d like to study not within your programme?

JP: I would of liked to study criminology, I took a Psychology & Law module but that was more to do with the issues the criminal justice system faces.

Next up, her careers and aims!

Us: What’s your goals in terms of career?

JP: Is it bad that I really am not sure yet? There’s too many areas I’d love to specialise in! I’m taking a year out to get work experience and then I’m going to apply for a masters, and become a Psychologist. Research is something I truly enjoy doing so I’d love to carry that on. I’m just not sure what course yet, it needs a lot of thinking through. Clinical would probably be my first choice but I’m wary because it’s such a competitive field to get into.

Us: What do you look to do after your degree, further study or work, or something else?

JP: Oops, I’ve answered that in the last question! I’ll extend it. I really need work experience, which is why I haven’t applied for a masters yet. I’m signed up to a teaching agency so hopefully will be getting a placement in a school in Sepetember where I’ll be a SEN teaching assistant, which means I’ll be helping students with learning difficulties. I’m really excited use my degree and be able to apply it to a real life setting, and think it will be a really rewarding job.

We also asked for her opinions on certain things in psychology, such as her likes and dislikes.

Us: What course/module?

JP: My favourite course was probably Anomalistic Psychology (the study of extraordinary phenomena of behaviour and experience, so fascinating!) and Psychopathology.

Us: What is your least favourite?

JP: Probably neuroscience, not that it’s not interesting, it is, I just find it very difficult haha.

Us: What got you interested in psychology?

JP: It’s a bit of a weird story! When I was 16 I experienced sleep paralysis a lot, a phenomena where your body is paralysed but your brain is asleep, so you wake up and cannot move, I also experienced visual and auditory hallucinations during these episodes. It’s a very common phenomena but it really scared me because at the time I had no idea what. I did my research into it and discovered what is was and I was so amazed that my brain could have tricked me like that. I decided to study it for my A-levels and got passionate about the whole subject from there.

Us: Whats your favourite psychology fact/research study?

JP: Ah this is such a hard question! One that comes to mind is Swann’s research on self-esteem and self-verification, he found that people with low-self esteem actually prefer to be rejected than accepted, for instance those with low self-esteem preferred roommates who didn’t like them, because they feel better when their self concept is verified. So people with low self-esteem will be constantly looking for ways to confirm their negative self-views. It’s such a bad cycle and can lead to poor relationships and depression, I think its really important research. I also think attachment research is very interesting and how it can affect later relationships. And Loftus’ work on eyewitness testimony and false memory is amazing! I’ll stop before I list 100 haha.

Finally, we asked any advice she had for yourselves, our readers.

Us: Whats one thing a student should know about studying psychology?

JP: Make sure it’s something you want to do. If you’re not sure, do as much research into it as you can. It’s hard work and involves so much self motivation and you don’t want to stress yourself out if its not for you. More specific to Psychology; Keep up with the readings! They really help cement the lecture topics. A lot of people write notes in lectures but I always felt that distracted me from the lecturer’s words so I wrote up the lectures a few days after the lecture to help me cement them. Record lectures if you can! It also involved a lot more maths than I expected! so if you need extra help don’t be afraid to ask. Universities  should always offer extra classes to those struggling, we used to have stats clinics. Sorry that’s more than one!

Us: And whats one thing a student should know about studying at University?

JP: It’s going to be a huge milestone in your life. You’ll have the best and worst times of your life there. If your living there, at times you’re going to feel homesick and alone but it’s going to make you into a stronger person. You’re going to meet people who are going to be in your life forever. I really struggled getting into University life but made the best friends and had the best time eventually. But remember your mental and physical health are the most important things, you need to put them before your education. You can always take time out if you need it and come back to studying.

Tune in next time!