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Notes on the Psychology Department Year Abroad Program

http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~frank/Level3Away.htm

2009-10

Application and Eligibility Details

1)    The criterion for admission into an exchange from the Psychology Department is that a student must not have received a mark lower than a B during their first year of study (If by chance you have only one mark lower than a B or there are some special circumstances we will still consider your application but preference will be given to those who have marks which pass the criterion). 

2)    The applications need to be signed by the head of Department.  Applicants are asked to get completed applications to Ms Sheena McGill, the personal assistant of the Head of Department, by 11 January at noon.

3)    This year the department wishes to limit the number of students going abroad in Level 3 to around 6.   How this will be achieved if more than 6 apply is still under discussion.

Background & Comments

1. The program is meant to give Level 3 Honours students in Psychology the opportunity to study abroad for one year.  Honours entrance from Level 2 is essential.
2. Although possibly better suited for Single honours, it is possible in some cases for joint honours students to participate
3. For the year away 2009-2010 the universities one can attend include:  University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia, University of Otago in Dunedin NZ and three campuses of the University of California system in the USA.  These include UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego and UC Berkeley.
4. The British Psychology Society (BPS) certifies the psychology degree from Glasgow, and this is a crucial point for anybody wishing to pursue psychology as a career.  The conditions for satisfying BPS requirements and studying abroad is that a student take the equivalent set of courses while abroad and that the marks obtained for these courses are transferred back to marks for the equivalent Glasgow courses.  These marks then form part of your final degree mark.  At the end of this are samples of the course mappings from Glasgow to the different universities.
5. In almost all cases the student going abroad will have to take a heavier load of classes than their peers abroad.  This is because in Glasgow we can tailor the workload to our breadth requirements but when abroad you must take a set of classes that were not necessarily designed to go together. 
6. Frank Pollick is the Psychology Department coordinator for the program and his main focus is that students who go away satisfy the departmental requirements.  Linda Buchan is the University of Glasgow coordinator and she handles all other aspects of the exchange.
7. Every student who has gone away has thought it to be a positive experience.  Although there appears to always be some inevitable worries that they are learning the “proper” material when abroad, they tend to do well in Level 4 upon their return.  Though without a doubt you will be challenged more to learn a new system abroad and then come back and readapt.

Guide to Courses to take Abroad (useful for filling out university application)

Below you can find a rough guide to the courses you would take abroad at the various outlets. This information is also useful for filling out the forms, but is not meant to be a final list as course availability has some variation.

Course Equivalencies for Single Honours

Course Equivalencies for Single Honours

Course Equivalencies for Single Honours

Course Equivalencies for Single Honours

Course Equivalencies for Single Honours