Psychology | The Oxbridge Collective

Introduction

Psychology.

Psychology is defined as the scientific study of behaviour and the mind. It is a vast field that includes various disciplines, from social psychology to developmental psychology to forensic psychology. Human behaviour is complex and tricky to quantify. Unlike red blood cell counts and carbon dioxide levels, constructs like emotions and intelligence are far more difficult to define and measure. As such, psychologists always have to come up with innovative approaches to study the cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes that occur in our everyday lives.

When people think of psychologists, they often think of a professional therapist sitting in an air-conditioned room with sofas talking to patients. While clinical psychology is a key discipline in psychology, there are actually many types of psychologists!

Careers

Career options

Clinical psychologists: assess and treat clients with a range of mental and physical health issues, and help promote psychological wellbeing
Educational psychologists: help children and young people with learning, communication, and wellbeing issues
Counselling psychologists: working with clients to improve their psychological functioning and wellbeing
Forensic psychologists: applying psychological theory to criminal investigations, understanding and treating psychological problems related to criminal behaviour
Occupational psychologists: working with stakeholders in workplaces to improve the effectiveness of an organisation and job satisfaction of employees
Sports psychologists: applying psychology to increase exercise participation, and support athletes with the psychological demands of competition and training
Neuropsychologists: contributing to the assessment and rehabilitation of patients with brain injury or neurological diseases

These are only a few of many psychology-related careers, there are many more out there!

Moreover, students often enter a variety of careers regardless of degree choice. For example, a lot of psychology graduates end up in human resources, marketing, consulting, banking, journalism, civil service, and more.

While career considerations are important, at the level of university admissions your passion towards the academic subject is much more critical. In institutions like Oxford and Cambridge in particular, admissions panels look for students who have a genuine interest and curiosity in their discipline, rather than an instrumentalist attitude (i.e. solely to land a good job). This is why we created the Oxbridge Collective, to guide students in their exploration of academic interests to boost their chances of admissions to top universities.

Courses

Psychology at Oxford vs Cambridge

Psychology is offered at both Oxford and Cambridge, though the courses are different. People often ask about how to choose between the two universities. My answer is always:

Start with the course.

The teaching style is similar in both institutions, as most of the students’ learning happens in intensive small groups, which range from one to four students. They are named differently at the two universities: at Oxford it is called the tutorial system, while at Cambridge it is known as the supervision system. As the teaching style is similar, the key to choosing a university is deciding on a course structure that appeals to you.

There are three psychology degrees you can choose from at Oxbridge:

Allow me to introduce each of the programmes.

Oxford offers two programmes in psychology: one is focused on psychology, while the other is an interdisciplinary course that allows students to explore the interrelated subjects of psychology, philosophy and linguistics (PPL).

In PPL, students have the choice to study all three in parallel in first-year, then choose two to specialise in in second-year onwards (though there is the possibility of continuing with three). Depending on the combination of courses, a research project or thesis may be undertaken. If psychology is chosen as an option, students also attend practical classes (e.g. data analysis, science communication).

In Experimental Psychology (EP), students also have the opportunity to explore other psychology-related subjects like philosophy, linguistics and statistics in first year, but second year onwards they focus on core subjects in psychology, such as behavioural neuroscience and social psychology. They also have the option to undertake a dissertation or research project in third year.

In a nutshell, both PPL and EP at Oxford allow students to study psychology, but EP is more psychology-focused while PPL allows flexibility in interdisciplinary training.

At Cambridge, the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS) programme (from which I graduated first in my cohort) allows interdisciplinary learning in the first two years, but is not pre-decided like it is in Oxford’s PPL.

In the first and second years of PBS, students study two core psychology papers, alongside two option papers ranging from politics and criminology to mathematical biology and history of science. Students can choose to study different modules in the two years, allowing for the exploration of various disciplines.

For example, I studied Politics and World Archaeology alongside Introduction to Psychology and Psychological Enquiry and Methods in first year, while in second year I did Political Philosophy and Neurobiology alongside Social and Developmental Psychology, and Cognitive Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology.

According to my understanding (from speaking to PBS professors recently), the course structure will be changed within the next two years, but the change will be to allow for greater flexibility in subject choice and assessment format.

Admissions

Key differences in admissions

Grade requirements

Oxford - A*AA, with one or more being science subjects (including psychology) or maths
- IB equivalent: 39 with 766 at Higher Level
- DSE equivalent: 5 in Core Maths and English, 5*55 in Category A (or grade A in any electives taken from Category C), including the required maths/science subjects
Cambridge - A*A*A, with Biology/Mathematics as ‘desirable’ subjects
- IB equivalent: 40-42/45 with 776 at Higher Level
- DSE equivalent: 5 in all core subjects, 5* in two or more relevant core subjects; not a requirement but mathematics Extended Module may be desirable

* Cambridge requirements are more variable between colleges, before applying you will need to read college websites carefully. Our Oxbridge Collective team will be able to help you understand the different requirements for each college.

Pre-interview assessments and submitted work

Oxford - programmes require candidates to complete the Thinking Skills Assessment, which affects whether they are invited to interview

Cambridge - depends on the college; some colleges require submitted work and/or ask candidates to sit a test (only if shortlisted for interview)

Interview rates

Oxford interviews around 33% of candidates
Cambridge interviews the majority of applicants