Our BA Psychology (including foundation Year) will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills to support your academic performance.
This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study. During your Year Zero, you study three academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory academic skills module, with additional English language for non-English speakers.
After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our Department of Psychology.
If you want to understand our place in the world, then psychology at Essex is for you. We provide one of the most immersive and exciting experiences of studying the human mind in the UK. We focus on the big questions so that you embark on a journey into the thoughts, feelings, and actions of individuals.
Satisfy your curiosity by learning from innovative researchers at the cutting edge of psychological science. At Essex we take a multi-method approach, working beyond traditional boundaries to combine different expertise and share fascinating techniques and intriguing theories. We answer questions such as:
- Why are social relationships so important – how do we make and break them, and what can we do to improve our relationships?
- How do parenting choices in the earliest weeks of a baby’s life impact them for years to come?
- How does our cultural background affect thinking, motivations, personality, interpersonal behaviours and group processes?
In your first year you will study six brand new modules that address major challenges that society faces today. You will learn psychology from the start, and we will give you the skillset you need to be successful. We embed key skills such as research methods and statistics into topics you’ll be interested in. You’ll be taught topics one-by-one in blocks which allows you to consolidate your knowledge.
You will continue to develop these skills during your second year. In your third year you will specialise in areas that really interest you. This will allow you to excel at studying psychology.
You learn from our researchers and can work together in the same space via our Research Experience Scheme (RES) which gives you the opportunity to work one-on-one with a psychologist as their research assistant. Our SHOUTS scheme allows you to use your skills and creativity to make our department a better place and promote what we do beyond Essex, through social media, activities and events.