Students Questions 5 - what grades do I need to get into psychology?

In this series, I respond to questions that I was asked as part of "I'm a Researcher, get me out of here". See my earlier post on the event for more detail on the event as a whole. Students in secondary schools asked questions about my research, experiences, and researcher life. There was much less time and space to talk about these questions / issues than needed to give a full picture. So, this series has more of my thoughts and reflections on those questions. I'll keep the editing to a minimum, so that this is a more organic process, maybe I'll even get a podcast or two recorded on this topic. Comment or contact me directly to pose new questions, and I'll aim to answer them!

Today's question;

What subjects/grades do I need to get into Psychology?

These kinds of questions were asked regularly during the I'm a Researcher live chats. So, to procrastinate from writing my thesis, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on what subjects and grades you need to get into psychology. I'll assume that by asking one of these kinds of questions that you are the sort of student that a) turns up to lessons, b) cares at least a little bit about grades, and c) maybe wants to go to university. I have no idea how other systems work in terms of getting to university, so I wont speculate on ones outside of the UK. But, if you do know more, leave a comment because I'd love to know what is different and where.

The Living Library Librarian (Hint: not me)

My story

A few folk at the Living Library event (I got to be a book and talk about my research in quick-fire chats to loads of people. God my throat was sore afterwards) were surprised that I didn't follow a direct route into studying psychology at university. I think that it's expected that to work / research in a particular area that you must have done that subject at GCSE, A levels and so on. But, that's not always the case. So, here's my quick story. 

GCSEs: We didn't get too much choice in subjects for GCSE, so I just went with the flow and got relatively decent grades (mostly Bs). That was back when my memory was better, and I benefited from managing to get a lessons work done quickly and well enough that I could doss about for the remainder of the lesson (at least I'm being honest here, I guess). Note, I did get the work done, so I learned and remembered enough for the exams. Back then I had zero exam anxiety as well, which helped. During my degree it got worse, mainly because there was more riding on each grade. 

A levels: I took Maths, Further Maths, Philosophy for A level, as well as an AS (1st year of A levels) in Physics, and blagged my way to an A level in general studies (whatever that means).

BSc in Psychology: I needed three Cs to get in to my Psychology/Philosophy course at the University of Stirling (beautiful place, worth a visit even if you don't want to study there). So, I was confident that my conditional offer would go through without an issue based on grades. About a year and a half into my 4 year course (Scottish undergraduate degrees tend to be 4 years), I switched to study Psychology alone. 

There are people that took a whole other route as well. I met quite a few people during my MSc at Oxford Brookes that were taking the course in order to get the BPS accreditation (after I think a years course beforehand) so that they could pursue clinical psychology, for example. These routes take a bit longer overall, but give the opportunity to transfer between fields.

Honestly, it's OK to not have been studying psychology super early on

"We don't want to hear any more about you Sam, get to answering the question!". Fine, imaginary grumpy teenager (maybe the ghost of myself, who knows), I'll get to the point, geez. 

Which subjects?

You don't have to have to do the exact subject you might want to study at university in your GCSEs or A levels. For some subjects it may be a necessity, for me at the time it was not (but check, because I'd hate to be caught out on this). Psychology Undergrad degrees are so general and introductory that if you want a career in psychology, it's just the first step anyway. It will be easier if you've already studied something for awhile to continue studying it. But, don't kick yourself if your school doesn't offer Psychology, or the specific subject you want. I took further maths at A level because I was always in advanced maths classes and I was basically told that if I took that I'd get into University easily. Now I realise that was a complete over exaggeration, but it was well intended I suppose. If you can try the subject that you're interested in, that's great. It might light a fire in you to study further, or it might explode in your face and you hate it, but at least you tried it early. If you cant try it, then do some research into what it's like to do that subject. Hopefully this blog is useful, but there are many more that talk about similar issues across fields. Either way, it's possible to take a university course in your chosen subject. I'll discuss being able to stay working in that field in academia in a future post.

Quick aside. If you know that psychology is for you and it's your chosen path, try to take some statistics classes, and maybe some programming classes. They will really help. It's not necessary to get onto the course, but it will help a lot, even just to relieve some of the numbers anxiety that I see in some undergrad psych students.

What grades?

My guess is that this is the question that you are really interested in. It's also why I left it until the end, so I could trick you into reading the rest of my waffle, muwahahaha. Anyway, grades. You'll have a rough idea of what sort of student you are, on average. Whether you are a solid A student, or more of a CCC grade kind of person, or like me somewhere in the middle, there'll be a University for you. If your grades fall below that and you're keen on studying psychology for example, there will be conversion courses that you can take first to bridge the gap before an undergraduate degree.

Here's my honest truth. You don't need to be a A+++ student to get into university, nor do I think its healthy for the government to continue making things extra stressful with more and harder exams and standards. I don't think that it is reasonable to expect that of people. You do need to work hard, you do need to get whatever grades your chosen university requires. But, it should not be at the expense of your own wellbeing. Also remember that the "best" university for you may not necessarily be the one that requires the highest grades. My secondary choice required higher grades than Stirling, but I knew from visiting there that it was where I wanted to be for the next few years. The point is that there are lots of routes and required standards to get onto a psychology degree. there is not a single or "right" path that you have to follow.

Thought this was funny and relevant enough to get away with including

Student's Questions 4 - What is imposter syndrome?

In this series, I respond to questions that I was asked as part of "I'm a Researcher, get me out of here". See my earlier post on the event for more detail on the event as a whole. Students in secondary schools asked questions about my research, experiences, and researcher life. There was much less time and space to talk about these questions / issues than needed to give a full picture. So, this series has more of my thoughts and reflections on those questions. I'll keep the editing to a minimum, so that this is a more organic process, maybe I'll even get a podcast or two recorded on this topic. Comment or contact me directly to pose new questions, and I'll aim to answer them!

Today's question;

What is imposter syndrome?

My plan was to write a longer post about imposter (or impostor apparently, depending on your persuasion) syndrome, and my own experiences of it. But, that will have to wait because I'm angry. I'm angry because I have just seen the kind of insensitive comment about imposter syndrome that helps only in making peoples imposter syndrome worse. I'll save the rants about where those kinds of people should shove things. What I'll do instead is cover what imposter syndrome is, for an early career researcher. 

These snippets are all part of my own experience these past few months, feel free to add yours in the comments. Perhaps then those looking down on people who have experienced imposter syndrome might begin to understand.

Imposter syndrome is...

Imposter syndrome is working for years to become an expert in your area, develop practical skills, and come on leaps and bounds in your quality of work; but, constantly feeling like you still ‘aren’t good enough’.

Imposter syndrome is knowing on a logical level that you are good at what you do, but psych yourself out of job applications because you do not feel good enough for that role, or, because you “know” that somebody more qualified / better will get the job anyway.

Imposter syndrome is judging yourself poorly every time a colleague posts that they have just published a new paper. Wondering why you cannot be as productive yourself. 

Imposter syndrome is getting rejection letters with no feedback and coming up with hundreds of reasons why you weren’t good enough for the job. Then realising that the reason is probably something simple like other people had more publications and would be higher on the list. Then feeling much worse because if that's the case then that is how every application is going to be received.

Imposter syndrome is kicking yourself for having such a long list of things you would like to learn. It's thinking that these are things that you have to learn to be of any worth to your research field. 

Imposter syndrome is having a super productive day/week, but as soon as you've congratulated yourself on doing the work, you assume that it's garbage.

Imposter syndrome is holding up a mask of "everything is/will be fine", because admitting that you're struggling is harder than shoveling it down deep. It's doing this so often that perhaps others assume that you are "so well-adjusted". 

Imposter syndrome gets worse when...

Imposter syndrome gets worse when you are not allowed to be included on a grant application (that you spent months writing) because you are “too junior”.

Imposter syndrome is propagated when asshats like @jim_bouldin say things like “if you’re obsessed with being an Imposter, then either get over it, or get out of it, one of the two… because maybe you shouldn’t be there in the first place”. Thanks for inspiring this post, I hope you get mauled by a ferret.

Imposter syndrome gets worse when we let people think that they need to be in the top 1% to be "successful" or on a more basic level to be employable. 

Imposter syndrome syndrome gets worse when keeping on the "I'm ok" mask becomes less of hiding your doubts, and more about trying to convince yourself that everything will work out.

Imposter syndrome gets better when...

When we receive congratulations on our hard work, and not deride them for not achieving enough, quickly enough, or for simply having doubts. (Thank you @t_awkr for praise() ).

When people like @StephEvz43 write "If you get imposter syndrome, you should ABSOLUTELY be doing what you’re doing because you CARE ENOUGH TO BE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR PERFORMANCE". These positive messages need to be shared more

Hopefully when experiences like this are shared. Knowing that so many people experience these kinds of feelings that it's nothing to be ashamed of. 

Having support, any support. Family and friends are gold dust here. My wife is always a source of strength and support, even when I don't admit that I'm worrying or hurting.

That was quite cathartic, even if I am somewhat uncertain and apprehensive about putting this 'out there'. Its the first time that I've gotten some of these feelings out of my head, in any format. I'm hoping that anybody that reads this that is experiencing imposter syndrome understands that you're not alone. I hope that somebody reading this that has a poorer opinion of imposter syndrome will themselves "get over it, or get fired from a cannon out". This isn't a tone thing, this is supporting other researchers, especially early career researchers to let them know that they are doing a good job. Imposter syndrome is almost a direct by-product of the misaligned incentive structures and high competition in academia. But, maybe we can help each other a bit?

Thanks for reading, please remember that you're awesome.

- SP

I'm a Researcher: Thoughts, reflections, and more questions

On Friday I became a runner-up in the Curiosity Carnival's "I'm a Researcher; Get me out of here" event (check out my profile page for this here). I'm a Researcher was a collection of interactions between Researchers from a range of areas and backgrounds and secondary school students in the Oxfordshire area. There were three kinds of interactions between the researchers, and the students. ASK questions, in which students were able to ask questions directly to one or more of the 22 researchers that were involved over a three week period. There were fast-paced live chats, where a small group of the researchers would be involved in a live chat with a full class of students. These 30 minute chats passed by in what felt like seconds with the speed that questions were posted and the wide scope of questions asked to each of us. Finally, on Friday we had the live final. I was super excited to have been voted in to the final, where five of the researchers got to speak a little about themselves and their work, and answer questions from the live audience. Congratulations to Priyanka Dhopade who took the win, and donated the winnings to a charity that works to get girls into STEM subjects. It was a well deserved win, and I love the charity of choice. I also love my lego runner-up prize!

My runner-up prize. I've named him gReg the R jester. He judges me on my R scripts. Look at that smug face, mocking me.

The range of questions (in each of the formats) was inspiring, ranging from simple "how long have you been a researcher?" or "what's your thesis about?", to the more difficult "What part of your research can improve mental health to make people happier?" or "what do you hope to achieve with your research?". The latter questions took some time for me to consider, and I do feel like some required a much more in-depth response. Sadly, in a chat room, writing a long post to fully address all angles of a question is somewhat challenging.

The whole event was an eye-opening experience, and now that I have had some time to process what started as 'just' a public engagement exercise for me. Now, I am fully convinced in the importance of these events as an additional avenue to interact with the next generation of researchers. They deserve to know more about what research and being a researcher entails. Also, for those of them considering university and research more broadly, they should know what they might be getting themselves in for.

"Umm, my name is Sam and I, er, try to do science..."

An example; "what is the best thing about being a researcher?". The answers cover so many aspects that make working in research an awesome thing to have as a career. But, by the nature of the question itself, it completely misses what are the bad things about being a researcher. 

So, are we giving potential future researchers an accurate picture of research life? I don't think so.

What I am planning to do therefore, is to take a selection of the questions that I have recorded and spend some more time answering them from my current perspective. These are questions from teenagers interested at the very least in a direct answer. But, at the most, these questions might come from someone who is interested in pursuing a career in psychological research. I'm not coming from any privileged perspective on what things are like for everyone, but I can give an honest account of my experiences.

Watch this space for blog posts and maybe a podcast or two (if I can figure out recording one and don't hate my voice too much). Feel free to comment with questions you wish you had an answer to before heading into research or University. Also, post them to my twitter so we can discuss them more broadly!