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Hi, my name is Chloe, I've just graduated from Aston University and I've studied Human Psychology.
The main reason I chose to study Psychology at Aston was basically because of the Placement Year.
Most universities only offer a three year course doing Psychology,
so you would stand out, once you've obviously graduated,
compared to someone who's just done a three year course, compared to a placement.
Really I would recommend it to anyone, because it really benefits. It's optional, so you do...Aston gives you that choice
of doing a three year course. However I would recommend it.
What makes Aston different? I'd say...
because it's small, I feel it's more friendly. It's like a little community
in a massive city, so obviously you've got the little community and then - walking along campus -
you bump into so many people. That's why it's friendly, and then you go out -
you know, ten minutes walking distance and you're in the city of Birmingham...
So, on my placement year, I shadowed a Child Clinical Psychologist
and I worked at a Child Adolescent Mental Health Partnership.
It wasn't in a hospital, it was in a small, sort of little service
and it was based in Suffolk, which is where I live.
So my day varied on what I actually did. My supervisor was a very busy lady
which also had its benefits, because I got to work with other people
in the service, so obviously nurses, art therapists, the site clinical psychiatric assistants as well - a range of different people.
I also got to speak to a lot of psychology assistants who had just graduated and told me
what I had to do to get on the Doctorate course and and what options there were when I obviously graduated,
which was a benefit, as well.
People who come into the service with children aged 5 to 18 years old
who have different mental health problems, from ADHD to schizophrenia to eating disorders, etcetera...
The things I did...I sort of obviously shadowed my
supervisor, so I got to work close to the children, helping out in different therapies,
for example, art therapy. I also got to go to hospital sometimes,
when they were obviously... so someone who had an eating disorder had been admitted to hospital
and I got to go with her, take their BMI and do stuff like that.
it was really interesting and I really enjoyed it.
So not only did my placement help me get a structure of sort of working 9 to 5, getting up, commuting into a busy place, working
with people probably more superior to me - like nurses and what have you -
but it helped also, when I came back to
university in picking my modules, so I'd worked at a child and adolescent mental health partnership,
I wanted to work with children when I graduate, so obviously I picked Child Development modules,
learning disability modules, and it really sort of benefited me when I was
doing these modules, and I was like "oh, I can think back to placement when I did this..."
and the lecturers were obviously pleased that I had some input in what I did on my placement as well.
The student support at Aston has been fantastic. You've got a place on the ground floor called The Hub
which you can go to for financial, international support and also, sort of...
The disability support which... in my first year, I was actually diagnosed with a learning disability
which obviously I was quite upset to begin with, however the university really supported me.
Obviously emotionally but also in helping me in modules and - sort of - taking exams, giving me extra time and...they've been really great.
So once I graduate, I'm actually going to America. I've secured a job in
California and it's a 2 year internship, working with children,
so they basically train me up to be a child counselor,
which I'm obviously really happy about because my placement was working with children.
I feel I wouldn't have got this job if I did have my placement because
obviously - working with children, doing different kinds of therapies - definitely boosted
my experience, and that's how I've got the job.
That's obviously why I picked Aston because they offered this placement where I don't think I would have got it
if I'd have just done a standard, three-year psychology degree in another university.