Which Australian university should I go to for my undergraduate psychology degree?

Image Credit: http://www.psychologycouncil.org.au/course-search/singapore/
The above is the pathway for all those who plans to be registered in Australia as a psychologist.

I spoke to some students interested in studying psychology in the last week and they asked a similar question:
Which Australian university should I go to for my undergraduate psychology degree?
Step 1: Understanding Yourself
Understand which areas of psychology you are interested in.  You may look up and read the respective pages in the Australian Psychological Society (APS) website to learn about the areas of psychology.  These areas are the areas of practice endorsements as shown in the image above.

Step 2: Knowing APAC
First and foremost, I would introduce the APAC (Australian Psychological Accreditation Council) and they have the list of accredited programs in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, which includes all accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programs.  APAC allows you to switch universities from undergraduate level to postgraduate level as a result of their accreditation of the programs, which truly embodies the quote of:
"All schools are good schools"
Read this to know more about APAC.

Step 3: Identifying universities of interest
After identifying areas of psychology you are interested in (Step 1), you can go through the list of universities in the different countries (Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia) and states in Australia.
 My tip is to go through all of them and have a brief look at the postgraduate programs offered by all the universities.
From APAC website: Click the Country (Blue Arrow) and/or Australian state, followed by the Postgraduate Courses (Red Arrow)
Clicking on Postgraduate Courses will bring you to the postgraduate programs offered by the universities.  An example would be: the APAC-accredited postgraduate programs offered in Singapore  (link: http://www.psychologycouncil.org.au/course-search/singapore/#5th)
You can identify possible universities by seeing which universities offer the areas of psychology (in their postgraduate programs) that you are interested in.
You may ask why postgraduate programs?
The postgraduate programs offered are an indication of the specialities that their professors, in the respective universities, major in.  It implies that you will be learning from the best and well-respected academia in Australia, by undergoing the undergraduate and possibly the postgraduate degrees in the universities.  Why not learn from the best?

Step 4: Making your choice
After identifying the universities that are aligned to your areas of interest, you may then consider the following (not in any specific order):
  • Annual tuition fees of programs
  • Scholarships available (which means reduction of fees)
  • Advanced standings or module exemptions available (if you are articulating from the diploma level) to help you reduce the study time in the university
  • Accommodation (on-campus or self-rental) and surrounding factors, i.e. transport and accessibility, surrounding facilities, etc.
  • Summary accreditation reports by APAC (to assess the quality of universities and programs by the APAC standards)
  • Entry requirements (the minimum 'A' level grades or Polytechnic GPA results to enter the programs)
So, have you made your choice?

Comments

  1. Do note that the 4 + 2 pathway is a challenging pathway. It also appears that there are plans to phase out this pathway soon. See link below.

    http://dynamail.entegy.com.au/em/mail/view.php?id=10221375&a=35890&k=429fcbd

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    1. I have heard the same.. it is challenging but at least it is one of the ways...
      It will be more difficult to get reg once its phased out..
      Do you think it is possible for an Asian who has never been to Australia to do 5+1 in terms of finding the placement?

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    2. Yes Pei Ling. I have also heard that there are plans to phrase the 4+2, but that is still in the works.
      Yvonne, It depends if your 5th year is done in Australia?

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    3. im not dong 5+1/4+2 at the moment
      im only applying to masters now
      but as my undergraduate results are not impressive, I may apply for 5+1 next year if this year my applications are unsuccessful
      probably wont do 4+1, as i think it will be very difficult for an international student to find a supervisor.. especially if I have not even lived in Australia

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  2. thanks for writing about this, it is really helpful!!
    I myself am actually applying to the masters in clin psych in Australia..
    However, I still haven't heard back from most of the uni I applied
    Should I contact them about the status of my application? if so, when should I do so? the closing date of most were 31 Oct, so it's only been a week.

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    Replies
    1. It is very difficult to say. You probably can wait till mid-January when the staff are back?

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  3. I suggest you join the FB group 'Provisional Psychologists Forum Australia'. It's a support group and questions like uni application and getting a placement were posted (many times). You can find heaps of info on that page.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the wonderful resource!

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    2. yes it is a very good group!! I have joined it for a few months now and the members there are very supportive!

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