Alice Ford

Choosing Surrey

Surrey has great employability ratings for graduates and it was a good location for me – only an hour-and-a-half from home. I also liked the layout and feel of the campus, I knew I would be comfortable and feel safe. 

My course

I’ve always loved learning about the reasons people behave and interact the way they do, which first attracted me to psychology. I still find it very interesting and my future career aspirations have resulted from studying my favourite modules across the course. I think that psychology has such big implications and can be applied to everyday life making it so important that it’s taught and understood.  

I like the variety and different aspects of psychology that I get to learn about on this course. Additionally, I can apply different theories to the same modules and link my understanding of modules together. Having a module that focused on professional skills and CVs was also very helpful! The lecturers are always friendly and try to make lectures as engaging as possible. 

I found it very useful in first year to be able to use a computer lab for statistics – it can be a tricky module to understand but is so important for your later years. 

My placement

I was initially a research assistant at the Birkbeck Baby and Toddler lab which allowed me to explore one potential career path. Halfway through I decided to change placements to a comprehensive secondary school to be a trainee teacher where I worked closely with the special educational needs (SEN) department.  

My personal tutor was great when I decided to change placements and pushed me to do the best thing for me. 

I would 100% recommend doing a placement. It allowed me to explore numerous career paths I was interested in and, as a result, I’ve found the sector I would like to go into after graduating: educational psychology!  

Find out more about our Psychology BSc.