Why I chose my course - Psychology with Criminology

Hi! My name is Lia, and I am currently a third year Psychology with Criminology BSc(Hons) student at the University of Huddersfield. I am here today to tell you why I chose to study Psychology with Criminology, and why I chose to study it at the University of Huddersfield. 

Before I ever decided what course I wanted to study, I knew I wanted to go to university. I think I was around six or seven years old when I first heard about it and decided that I wanted to go. I wasn’t much older than this when I first heard about psychology and criminology, and I was immediately fascinated. I basically knew there and then that this is what I wanted to study. I remember being in Year Five at primary school, not yet even old enough to sit my SATs, and I would be telling everyone about how one day, I would study criminology at university. It’s so surreal to think that I was right. 

I first heard about Huddersfield from a UCAS event at the arena in Sheffield. There were booths from many different universities all over the country there, and this is where I first came across the University of Huddersfield. I spoke to the woman who was running the booth with a few of my friends, and I remember asking questions about the course and the campus. I came away with a prospectus and a feeling of excitement – I honestly couldn’t wait to get home and tell my mum all about it. After reviewing what felt like millions of prospectuses I gathered into many different free tote bags that day with my mum and dad, Huddersfield was firmly in my top five. 

After I had compiled my top five list of universities, I began to book open days. I remember going to book the Open Day for Huddersfield and my parents not being able to make it, so I came and looked around the campus with my friend and her nana. It was this initial Open Day that put Huddersfield into my top two choices. A few months later when I came back to another Open Day with my parents, they also absolutely loved it, and after not much deliberation Huddersfield became my number one university choice, and I was so excited about it. 

Since the first Open Day, I have been extremely impressed with the staff on my course. You could tell that they were so knowledgeable on their topic and important to the world of criminology, while also still being approachable, friendly and easy to talk to. Even now, the thing that I am most impressed with about my course is the way that it is run. Because I do Psychology with Criminology as a combined course, we work with students doing just Psychology along with students doing Psychology with Counselling. This gave me the opportunity to make friends with people not just on my course but on other, similar courses. All of the students on these courses are incredibly supportive as well, which is another thing I like about the course. I also like that the course is student centred. Every Monday during teaching time we receive an email from one of our lecturers with updates on everything to do with the course, from teaching updates to university-wide updates.

There is also a link to a feedback form that is always active, and it is very clear that the staff really care about and value student opinions and want to help in any way that they can with any concerns. Every student on my course also has a personal academic tutor (PAT) who you can go to with absolutely anything that you may need help with, which is also very handy.  

The course itself is incredibly interesting. The level of support offered to you is great, and this support can range from help with the course itself to help with more personal things, as well as advice for the future. This course and the Uni as a whole really feels like a community, and it makes the transition from school/college to uni that bit easier.

 

It is for these reasons that if you are thinking of choosing to do Psychology with Criminology at the University of Huddersfield, I think you should absolutely make that choice. I did, and I am very glad of it.