Ep 34 - Arts and Psychology

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What we’re talking about:

Today my guest is Patrick, who has completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne followed by an Honours year in Psychology at the University of Canberra. In this episode, he shares how he chose his subjects for VCE when he didn’t have a clear career path in my mind, experience in Biomedicine before transferring to Arts, completing his Honours thesis interstate and the pathways he can choose from as he begins his career in Psychology.

Choosing Psychology in VCE

Patrick nearly didn’t study Psychology in VCE. By completing a couple of Unit 3 and 4 subjects before he was in Year 12 and choosing the rest of his subjects based on prerequisites for the types of courses he was thinking of at the time, he already had 6 VCE subjects and therefore didn’t need a 7th. When he needed to choose a subject just for the orientation period at the end of Year 11, he chose Psychology and when he enjoyed it he decided to keep it for Year 12, which is lucky given that the experience gave him the incentive to study Psychology at uni later on.

Arts at The University of Melbourne

After starting a Bachelor of Biomedicine and not enjoying it, Patrick decided to follow his interests in Psychology, Journalism, Creative Writing and Radio and transferred into a Bachelor of Arts. We discuss his experiences in the course, the stigma around Arts degrees and the range of careers you can pursue with a Bachelor of Arts.

Pursuing Psychology

After finishing his Arts degree and majoring in Psychology, Patrick wanted to pursue his Honours year in Psychology and applied all over the country before being accepted at the University of Canberra. He gives us a great insight into what Honours in Psychology looks like, what he plans to do now he’s finished, the opportunities to get some experience as a student, and the range of areas you can work in after completing it.