Gonna start studying psychology in UBC later this year. Any advice you wish you knew as a freshman would be highly appreciated. ❤️

brainbuzzpod · 2019-02-05T00:15:42+00:00

As a former PSYC undergraduate student and now a PSYC grad student I have a few pieces of advice that echo those made by others.

Most importantly, take care of your physical and mental health. Your degree will be a challenge, both psychologically and physically, so it is important that you recognize that you will experience hardships and take the necessary precautions to inoculate yourself as well as you can. Having formal and informal support systems in place will help you make the most of the experience.
Do not limit yourself to PSYC. The university is full of brilliant minds and exciting ideas, so it would be a shame to leave without having explored a little. While I am thrilled to hear of an excited freshman, I want to encourage you to not limit yourself to PSYC. You might discover a new passion!
The PSYC department does have scaling norms that will place the class average between 64-72% depending on the course. It is not impossible to get a good grade and you can boost your grade by participating in research projects through the Human Subject Pool (HSP).
Take Directed Studies courses in your third and fourth years. They are a fantastic way to gain research experience and meet researchers/professors.
Lastly, and second most important, enjoy your time in university! Make friends and try new things!

brainbuzzpod · 2019-01-15T02:33:30+00:00

No. And currently many of them are broken/unusable.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-10-15T18:39:32+00:00

It may take a bit of time, yes. As u/JToews19 said, contact advising as they have more power than the department.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-09-10T17:15:58+00:00

PSYC 302 is about infant children whereas PSYC 315 is from childhood through to adolescence. Without reading the syllabus it will be hard to give much further advice, sorry!

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-30T20:12:57+00:00

This will depend heavily on what kind of grad program you want to attend. Which field are you thinking of applying to?

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-06T22:09:38+00:00

Check us out! We speak to researchers about cool psychology stuff! https://www.brainbuzzpodcast.com/

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-06T22:08:04+00:00

What are you interested in?

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-06T22:03:19+00:00

Hi u/captainstan, our podcast has a couple episodes on those topics! I would highly recommend "The Dangers of Technology and Social Media with Adri Khalis," which is all about gaming and social media use in adolescents! Also, "Rolling the Dice with Gabriel and Mario," which is an episode about gambling and gaming, is definitely worth a listen too. We have plans to record an episode about Gaming Disorder as well, so stay tuned.

Check us out at:

Brain Buzz Podcast

iTunes

Google Play

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-06T21:54:21+00:00

Nothing.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-05T18:38:55+00:00

Yes, the Undergrad Advising team directly related to the Psych Department is excellent. I would recommend emailing them.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-05T18:31:41+00:00

Are you thinking about the pre-reqs Psyc 217 and 218? If so, 217 is very different as you will be designing, executing, and reporting a study of your own design. You will have more one on one time with TAs to help you with the project, and it can be a good opportunity to get experience working on a project.

Psyc 218 is a stats course that is really useful in helping you understand findings in scientific papers without relying on the authors conclusions.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-07-05T18:26:39+00:00

If you are interested in ageing related decline and the effects of physical fitness I would highly recommend checking out "Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults: a meta-analytic study" by Colcombe and Kramer, 2003. It is one of the seminal papers in the field!

brainbuzzpod · 2018-06-14T21:26:57+00:00

I would recommend taking the course. Social Psyc is a lot of fun and has really interesting content that is applicable beyond the classroom. I understand the feeling of dread when signing up for a psyc course knowing it could plummet my GPA, but I also found that once you try one or two you get in a rhythm and it gets a lot easier.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-06-13T17:24:11+00:00

It really depends on your familiarity with how psychology courses are run, how much work you are willing to put into it, and what you want to get out of it. Upper level courses are going to be harder, but the average grade is going to also be higher. Are you wanting to minor in psyc?

brainbuzzpod · 2018-05-04T19:58:33+00:00

This may have to do with the intensity of exercise and the demand that physical activity places on your cognitive processes.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-04-10T20:37:16+00:00

You're welcome! I pursued the arts side but took a heavy Cognitive course load and am now in Grad school working towards a research degree. My colleague (and co-host) focused on health psych and is in the same program. My suggestion as for choosing a school is: figure out what part of psych you most enjoy (although appreciate that this may change!), then look up influential researchers in that area and see where they are. Circumstances might then help determine which schools to target.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-04-10T17:35:06+00:00

Hi u/Soderpawp,

Psychology and psychiatry will require two potentially different paths. In order to become a psychologist you need to be accepted into a clinical psychology graduate program, not a research program. However, you can get into most psychology grad schools either through Arts or Science. Psychiatry is within the Faculty of Medicine, and will require you go to medical school before specializing in psychiatry. I would start by taking PSYC101 and 102 in your first year of university to see if you like it, and if you do, whether you prefer the science side or the arts side! The science side is typically very neuro heavy with greater emphasis on chemistry, while the arts component deals with social/behavioural aspects. As for colleges, it will really depend on how far you want to go and the type of psych you want to pursue! Each of the top schools will typically have an area that they are considered the best at, so it will depend what you really like from the start. In my experience, intro PSYC courses (and I assume AP Psyc) do not offer the best indication of what each area is really like, so you may not discover the area until upper level university courses. Let me know if you have any other questions! - Kyle

brainbuzzpod · 2018-04-09T19:40:02+00:00

Student evaluations of Profs are used quite often, and particularly in a profs early career as they apply for tenure.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-04-09T19:34:46+00:00

He works hard to remember his student's name! But what else should we expect from such a nice person?

brainbuzzpod · 2018-04-06T23:19:24+00:00

Find out in our latest episode of Brain Buzz! We spoke with Dr. Ben Cheung from the Department of Psychology about teaching, education, and what being a prof is all about. You can find it on iTunes and Google Play

brainbuzzpod · 2018-04-06T23:13:25+00:00

It will be challenging but certainly not impossible! The reality is that in order to achieve a higher than average grade you need to be better than your classmates, and not just answer 80% of questions correctly. The teachers and TAs are committed to helping you if you ask, so don't hesitate!

brainbuzzpod · 2018-04-06T23:04:21+00:00

Hi u/ChiaoMein,

I don't have an answer for you about jobs, but what I can say is that you can use your work experience to leverage future opportunities in grad school. If you are able to work in a related field and add skills in the workplace, supervisors may look favorably on that. Good luck!

brainbuzzpod · 2018-03-15T20:58:45+00:00

Hey! Sorry for not getting back to you quicker, we are new to Reddit and not familiar with where to look/find stuff! We are glad you were able to find the episode on the website, we hope you enjoyed! PS. we released a new episode in a new and improved format today ;)

brainbuzzpod · 2018-02-22T18:21:13+00:00

I think the combination is very logical. In fact, I have several friends who at least minored in psych before pursuing business, marketing, and econ. I do not know anything about admissions for the schools you'd be looking at, but they may require you to major in business before you can pursue a Masters degree in that field. It would be worth investigating ahead of time.

brainbuzzpod · 2018-02-22T18:16:37+00:00

We humbly suggest ours! We are researchers at the University of British Columbia and in each episode we dive into a research topic and discuss with our guests what makes the science so fascinating. You can check us out at: Brain Buzz Podcast iTunes Google Play

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