Choosing Options

Most psychology programs are proposing some optionality, i.e., some modules that you can pick. While I totally understand that many of them look interesting, you often have to make a choice. Many students pick what looks interesting, from various psychology domains (e.g., a bit of social psychology, a module from cognitive, one from clinical etc.). They might also believe that picking a variety of options will provide them with a multidisciplinary profile, which might be valued later on.

While this is, in principle, true, in practice, a “consistent” profile would be much more appealing to recruiters. For instance, having a set of clinically-relevant options, or cognitive/neuroscience ones, will give you an edge (and sometimes, even for say a “neuroscience” opportunity, recruiters would prefer a clearly clinical profile rather than a “jack of all trades master of none” type of one). Make your choices wisely, and make them with a plan.

• But I don’t know what I want to do later, so I want to keep most doors open.

Yes, that’s a common and tough issue. You can still keep doors open while at the same time having a coherent profile. Plus, at the end of your bachelor, you should deciding what subbranch of psychology you don’t want to do (e.g., social psychology).

For Sussex Students

For psychology students at Sussex, if you would like to work with me, I recommend picking some of the following options:

• Cognitive Neuroscience (must have)
• Conscious and Unconscious Mental Processes
• Biological Psychology of Mental Health
• Perspectives on Psychology
• Self Regulation: The Science of Achieving Your Goals
• Attention: Distraction, Daydreaming and Diversity
• Drugs, Brain and Behaviour