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Buckinghamshire New University

UCAS Code: C8F1 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements

A level

B,C,C-A,B,B

Applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements for the three-year undergraduate programme, or those who do not feel fully prepared for a degree course, can apply for a four-year programme including a Foundation Year.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE Grade 4 or above in Maths and English are required. We will consider equivalent qualifications.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

MMM-DDM

Applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements for the three-year undergraduate programme, or those who do not feel fully prepared for a degree course, can apply for a four-year programme including a Foundation Year.

UCAS Tariff

104-128

Applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements for the three-year undergraduate programme, or those who do not feel fully prepared for a degree course, can apply for a four-year programme including a Foundation Year.

About this course

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Subject

Forensic psychology

This course has a shared first year across multiple specialisms. After your first year, if you want to study a different specialism you can choose to change between BSc (Hons) Psychology, BSc (Hons) Counselling Psychology, BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Psychology, BSc (Hons) Psychology & Criminology, and BSc (Hons) Psychological Studies.

**Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?**
Whether you’re simply fascinated by Psychology, or you have your sights set on becoming a Psychologist, gaining a Psychology degree is a great choice. A Psychology degree gives you a strong foundation for a variety of careers, utilising your knowledge of human behaviour and societal trends.

A Psychology degree helps you gain an understanding of the root cause of behaviours, thoughts and emotions and explain them within the scope of scientific theory. You can expect to build a deep understanding of yourself and our societies, develop your analytical mind, nurture your curiosity and understand communication and relationships.

If you choose to become chartered with the British Psychological Society (BPS) you can go on to practice Psychology as a scientist, analyst, researcher, commentator, advisor or as a clinician. Psychology is a wide field, and there is a lot of paths to choose from. Psychology crosses over with medical science, clinical practice, business and more.

**What facilities can I use?**
With fantastic facilities in the Buckinghamshire area, we are the only institution that can offer our equipment in High Wycombe and the immediate surrounding area. Our High Wycombe campus is located only 35 minutes from central London which makes commuting super easy and stress free. At our High Wycombe Campus, we have purpose-built facilities, including well-equipped simulation clinics and rehabilitation teaching rooms.

**What will I study?**
Forensic science has addressed the need for scientific specialties within the investigation and prosecution of crime. At the heart of every major case is evidence, and Forensics are an essential part of uncovering the full story. As someone who works in Forensics, you are interested in the facts, and you extract them from the background noise with precision, care and skill. You will build up your analytical mind, able to recognize patterns and inconsistencies and communicate this in reports.

**Career Prospects**
Throughout your time with us we’ll support you on the route to your chosen career. We’ll help you to develop crucial skills, encouraging you to become enterprising, employable and good leaders. We also help you find employment after graduation. Have a look at our Careers and Employability pages to find out more.

With such a strong academic grounding, as well as the transferrable skills you’ll develop along the way, you are well-placed to succeed wherever you go.

There are many options to explore with your Psychology degree; it’s the first step to starting postgraduate study in a more focused area like clinical, educational, forensic, counselling, health, cognitive neuropsychology and sports psychology (to name a few). Or perhaps you’d prefer to dive right into the world of work and explore a career in health, education, local government or the infinite possibilities available to you in the private and public sector. You could become a teaching assistant, learning support assistant or mental health support specialist.

Graduates can choose to continue their studies at BNU and study a postgraduate programme, such as our MSc Applied Positive Psychology, MSc Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education, or even the MSc Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

There are numerous opportunities which your degree could help to open. Our graduates have gone on to successful careers in psychology, clinical psychology, forensic psychology, therapy, nursing, and private and public businesses.

Modules

**Year one**
**Core**
Frameworks of Living Psychology
Applying Psychology
Researching Psychology
Nature and Nurture in Psychology
The Mind, the Person, and the Social World

**Year two**
**Core**
Personality and Development
Sensation, Perception, and Beyond
Quantitative Methods in Psychology
Qualitative Approaches in Psychology
Psychological Perspectives in Classifying Criminality
Psychopathologies of Criminal Behaviour

**Year three**
**Core*
Conceptual and Critical Social Psychology
Forensic Professional Practice Issues
Interpersonal Violence and Victimology
Psychology Undergraduate Dissertation

**Optional Modules**
Investigative and Forensic Psychology
Police Psychology and the Legal Framework
Brain, Mind and Behaviour
Pathways to Wellbeing and Transformative Experience
Evolutionary Psychology
Health Psychology
Disability, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System
Employability and Professional Development
States, Beliefs, Values: Psychology in Practice

Assessment methods

This course is accredited by The British Psychological Society (BPS), which means certain modules are incorporated into the course, which you must pass to achieve the Graduate Basis for chartered membership. Upon graduation, you’ll be eligible for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) and from there you can take steps towards becoming a Chartered Psychologist, which is a highly desired accreditation.

There are many ways you can be assessed, and assessments are designed to help you learn and identify certain areas you need to improve. We use a variety of assessment techniques to look at your ability and areas you may need support with. You must pass the module assessments to progress with the course. Some of the methods we use are:

exams
presentations
group work
projects
labs
coursework

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,535
per year
England
£9,535
per year
EU
£15,150
per year
International
£15,150
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,535
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,535
per year
Scotland
£9,535
per year
Wales
£9,535
per year

Extra funding

There are several ways you can fund your studies, including sponsorship and student loans. You may be able to use ELCAS credits for some of our courses. We also have scholarships and bursaries to help support our students.

The Uni

Course location:

High Wycombe Campus

Department:

School of Human and Social Sciences

Read full university profile

What students say

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Applied psychology

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.


Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

91%
UK students
9%
International students
29%
Male students
71%
Female students
67%
2:1 or above
23%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
B
A

After graduation

The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Applied psychology

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£24,000
med
Average annual salary
85%
med
Employed or in further education
50%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

18%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
15%
Caring personal services
9%
Welfare and housing associate professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Applied psychology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£22k

£22k

£27k

£27k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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