Psychology vs Law

This poll is closed

Is Law or Psychology a better degree to have?

Psychology 19%

Law 77%

Both the same 0%

I'm not sure4%

Total votes: 26

Howbeit

I have finished my first year of university in Psychology and have mixed feelings about it. I have been offered a place to study Law at Soton and am unsure whether to accept it or not. My predicaments are I'm already 1/3 through Psychology, by the time I finish my Law degree I could have done a Masters with a Psychology degree, I might end up hating Law, but part of me thinks Law is a better degree.

In the future I'm looking at becoming a:

Accountant
Solicitor
Business (perhaps human resources)
Perhaps something completely different.

Don't focus too much on the solicitor part as only a small part of me wants to do that.

Can anyone offer me any advice on this situation?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

StacFace

Have you looked at some Law textbooks or looked into what you'd be studying on a Law degree or do you just think it will look better? Are you enjoying your current Psychology course?

If there's one you think you'll enjoy and be able to get a better classification on then go for that one.

Reply 2

knight9434

I know its not a degree but I did both a level found psychology more interesting but law easier

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my LT18i

Reply 3

lkate01

Hello

I have just graduated with a psychology degree and my boyfriend with a law degree.
From comparing what we both did I have to say that Psychology requires a lot more written work (or at least at my university)
But if you want to be a solicitor then I would advise doing Law as you will have to have a law degree to do an LPC and get a training contract.
Psychology is a really good all rounder and get you into all sorts of jobs but if you are certain about what you want to do you need to do a degree that is going to get you there.
If you do Law now you've wasted one year.
If you later realize you need to do law you will have wasted 3 years and a whole lot of money!

To be honest though my boyfriend did law and he now works in IT.

Thanks so far guys.

Would you like a decent chance of a job afterwards?

If yes, obviously Law.

There have been an awful lot of posts on here involving people saying they've been a graduate 6 months, 12 months, etc saying 'I'm looking everywhere but can't find a graduate job, so I work in Poundland/McDonalds/Tesco - what's wrong?' and there are usually responses along the line of 'Psychology graduate? Well, there's your problem'.

Even people from great universities that take Psychology seem to have this problem.

I think you'd be much better off with Law, even if you don't eventually want to be a lawyer. It's a very respected degree and if you do well in it, a fairly large number of options open up to you.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

Aspiringlawstudent

Original post by lkate01

Not strictly true - you could do a GDL. It's not like the three years is 'wasted' - you don't have to do a whole UG degree again.

Reply 8

Aspiringlawstudent

Original post by knight9434

I know its not a degree but I did both a level found psychology more interesting but law easier

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my LT18i

I don't think that's really representative of university-level study, though.

Reply 9

Tsunami2011

Law from a prestigious university is right at the top of the pile.

Reply 10

roh

Original post by RobertWhite

Any chance you could rock up to a few law lectures and see if it's for you before your deadline? Realise they've likely all finished now.

Otherwise just give some legal textbooks from the First year modules a read and see if you end up thinking either 'oooh this is good, could happily do this for three years' or 'Christ this **** is boring and I really want to stab the Law Lords for yet another dodgy looking ruling'.

Reply 11

roh

Original post by Tsunami2011

Law from a prestigious university is right at the top of the pile.

Medicine, Vet and Dentistry say Hi :tongue:

Reply 12

Howbeit

Original post by roh

No they're all finished :/

Reply 13

Howbeit

Original post by Tsunami2011

Law from a prestigious university is right at the top of the pile.

Original post by roh

Medicine, Vet and Dentistry say Hi :tongue:

Law is up there with Medicine, dentistry etc...? (Southampton uni)

Reply 14

Howbeit

Original post by Aspiringlawstudent

This is what I'm scared of if I stick with Psychology. I'm also scared Law will be too difficult as only a small number of people come out with 1sts or even 2.1s

Reply 15

roh

Original post by RobertWhite

Law is up there with Medicine, dentistry etc...? (Southampton uni)

In terms of prestige as a degree, not necessarily as a profession, those are probably higher simply because they reject so many every year due to the government's funding system for those degree. You don't see anyone with A*A*A* predicted or even achieved getting rejected for Law, it does happen for Medicine.

They're exceptional though due to their unusual set up (ie. place=job) and Law is certainly a very well respected degree and well up there for other degrees, though I don't know if it's any more 'very top of the pile' than something like PPE.

For the lack of lectures thing books are your best bet probably. Just ask the law dept. which are recommended reading in first year then take them out of the libs, they shouldn't be oversubscribed at this time of year.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 16

Aspiringlawstudent

Original post by RobertWhite

This is what I'm scared of if I stick with Psychology. I'm also scared Law will be too difficult as only a small number of people come out with 1sts or even 2.1s

Eh? Firsts aren't very common, but not at all rare.

2.1s are very common in law. Have a look at this table, it shows the percentage of students getting a first or 2.1 in law at most English universities;

As you can see, as long as you're attending somewhere relatively decent, you're in with a very good chance. It is a hard subject, but most of those that take it do tend to be rather academic (think typically a minimum of AAB+ at A-level and a real desire to get at the very least a 2.1).

Here's a story in The Lawyer about it: http://www.thelawyer.com/universities-churn-out-record-numbers-of-top-class-llb-students/133379.article

It might be worth reading The Lawyer a bit if you're interested at all in being a solicitor. Also, have a look at RollOnFriday: http://www.rollonfriday.com/InsideInfo/CityFirms/tabid/68/Default.aspx

(edited 11 years ago)

uni_table_1_.jpg190.7KB

Reply 17

Politricks

Original post by RobertWhite

Law is up there with Medicine, dentistry etc...? (Southampton uni)

Yeah, a Law degree from Southampton is reputable.

Reply 18

Howbeit

Original post by Aspiringlawstudent

Thanks, that's quite reassuring. Seeing I achieved A*A*A and usually have a burning desire to do as well as possible I'll probably get at least a 2.1 then :smile:

Reply 19

Aspiringlawstudent

Original post by RobertWhite

Thanks, that's quite reassuring. Seeing I achieved A*A*A and usually have a burning desire to do as well as possible I'll probably get at least a 2.1 then :smile:

Those are the same grades as I got and I just got a first in my first year - you could do well in it so long as you avoid the pitfalls of boredom.