By Vicky Xian, MSc Occupational Psychology
I am currently studying a master’s in Occupational Psychology. I also have completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology. I can understand that choosing a degree can be challenging and at times overwhelming. So, in this blog post, I would like to share with you my experience of how I ended up choosing this course and the Management School.
Like most students, I was unsure what my next steps were after university. I didn’t feel like I was ready to take that big leap into working a 9-5 Monday to Friday. So, I took a step back and assessed my situation, through both logic and emotion. Firstly, ‘did I enjoy what I was learning?’ I knew I did, I have always been fascinated by psychology before I started my undergraduate degree.
Secondly, I asked myself, ‘was what I was learning going to realistically lead to a career that I wanted?’ With a straight psychology degree, my options were fairly open. But I was confused by the amount of options, and the obvious paths were such things like social work or clinical psychology. I knew that these realistic career choices were not what I wanted, I wouldn’t be happy.
Thirdly, I then asked myself, ‘am I ready to go into work?’ I knew I wanted to learn more, and become more specialised in a field. This could be a conversion course, or a more specialised psychology course and this would also increase my employability. However, I felt that I needed another year in education to really give myself that step up into the right path.
So, I concluded that I would look into the available masters’ courses that the university offered. You can search for postgraduate courses yourself ‘here’:
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught
As I did my undergraduate degree here, there was an alumni discount to consider and I also was confident in the quality and student environment. I therefore did extensive research into possible careers with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. I found that Occupational Psychology (OP) ticked all my boxes: it was relevant to what I had already learnt, I enjoyed the type of work a typical OP would do, and most importantly I would be happy studying and working in this field. In order to become an OP, I would therefore have to complete a master’s course in order to gain the right credentials.
Additionally, I also did research into the specific course the University of Sheffield had to offer. The Management School is well respected, with a Triple Crown accreditation. This gave me reassurance, which is important when choosing where to study as a postgraduate degree isn’t exactly cheap!