Science or Arts?

[vashappenin]

Hey all,
Ok I'm in year 11 atm, and I'm doing chemistry, which is a pain in the backside. So I talked to the careers counselors and they told me that I should have some kind of idea of what pathway I should be taking, or what I want to do in Uni, and through that I can decide whether to drop chem or not... Because I don't wanna waste my time doing it if I wont need it as a prereq. for future studies

I really want to major in Psychology, and I've been told I can do so through doing either Bachelor of Science or Arts.
I personally think Arts seems much more interesting, but what if my psychology dream dies off? What other possible occupations could I be doing through majoring in something else from the Bachelor of Arts?
Also, for those doing either, what's good about Bachelor of Arts and Science?
Thanks

[ninwa]

Is there any reason why you couldn't do a double degree science/arts to see what you like?

[Russ]

Is there any reason why you couldn't do a double degree science/arts to see what you like?

The University of Melbourne doesn't offer double degrees any more...

[vashappenin]

(Image removed from quote.)

Is there any reason why you couldn't do a double degree science/arts to see what you like?

How long would that take?

[DisaFear]

(Image removed from quote.)

Is there any reason why you couldn't do a double degree science/arts to see what you like?

How long would that take?

You wouldn't have to continue through with the double degree for the whole duration. If you like Science more, you can then transfer out into straight Science, and vice versa, since you only want to major in Psych

[Menang]

Is there any reason why you couldn't do a double degree science/arts to see what you like?

The University of Melbourne doesn't offer double degrees any more...

But it's possible to do both under the one degree.

To clarify:
A friend who's interested in both science and arts is doing a BA at UoM, majoring in Psych and Linguistics under the Arts degree. For her breadth, she's doing Chem, which she will continue throughout the degree.

So basically she's doing enough arts and science units for it to be essentially a double degree with arts/science, but it's only a Bachelor of Arts with a chem breadth.

[vashappenin]

Thanks! Finally someone answers my question properly

[charmanderp]

I'm pretty sure that your scope of employment and postgraduate study is more expansive if you study Psychology under a Science degree, than an Arts degree. Not 100% sure, but I recall my Psych teacher saying something along those lines last year.

[vashappenin]

But why? Aren't you essentially learning the same things anyway?

[Stick]

I believe it depends on the type of psychology you want to pursue. Having talked to a representative from the University of Melbourne, they suggest people who want to follow careers in neuro/clinical psychology to choose the Science path, and other areas to choose Arts.

Would you consider Psychology at Monash University?

[vashappenin]

I want to do psychology involving children and development and that kind of stuff.
Is arts okay for that then?

And my ideal uni would be Melb cos Monash is tooooo far :S

[greenbeans]

Hmmm.

A double degree is an option.
You can do Arts/Science as some have suggested which gives you a bit of a taste in both areas. I know you're a bit anti-Monash, but I travel pretty far to Monash and even though I'm not doing a double degree, if you're more likely to travel that extra bit further then chances are you'll probably stay a bit longer and do some actual study rather than gallop off shopping or whatever if you've got that sort of temptation...(shush, I'm female!)

I honestly haven't looked much into how double degrees work, but I know that there are some universities where you can do 2 units from each faculty in the same year at the same time, such as 2 Arts and 2 Science. But then apparently other Unis make you do all Science, then alternate or something like that. A girl in my French stream is doing Arts/Education, so basically all the content she learns in Arts she immediately is learning how to implement it in the classroom. Thought that was pretty nifty. And pretty sure a double degree would lengthen your course duration by a year.

I can fully understand your concerns about future career prospects. I know at Monash that you can select to study a sequence (or Breath, whatever) from another faculty such as doing Marketing from commerce/business. There's opportunity to customise that degree of yours.

Personally, I'm doing Arts: Linguistics, French, Sociology & Journalism. I hope to major in Linguistics, but I've Journalism stuck in there too for something more concrete to focus on in the workforce. I personally would love to be doing Psychology though. At the moment I've got French and Sociology that I'm quite interested in, but now that I've got a passion for Linguistics I can now drop them, do a double major in Ling, pick up Behavioural studies, Psychology, etc - the possibilities are endless. That's the beauty of Arts - practically no set rules about how to structure your degree.

So I spose if you're deciding between Bach Science vs Arts, I'd go with where your passions are. Talk to teachers, past and current students, currently employed Psychologists, go to Open Days in August and read the Uni websites for all their information on courses and units!

[ninwa]

I have a friend studying towards a career in clinical psychology at Monash. She did an arts degree, now she's doing a postgraduate diploma which is essentially an honours year, and then she will have to do either masters or a PhD. It's a long haul whichever degree you choose, but arts is fine for any kind of psychology.

[1ne]

What I don't understand is how Psychology can be categorized as an arts subject. ? Can someone please explain this?

[Thu Thu Train]

What I don't understand is how Psychology can be categorized as an arts subject. ? Can someone please explain this?

Because it's not a science but the psychologists bitched hard and loud enough that the universities finally caved and put it in science as well.