Psychology Major UBC vs. SFU
 

I already did searches but I really didn't find anything relevant to what I was looking for because they were all either about first year intro courses or from a very long time ago, hence a little outdated.

Anyways, I am a transferring student from a college, transferring into 3rd year.

I am planning to major in psyc and I am debating whether to go UBC or SFU.

I know that UBC's psyc is superior compared to SFU in many ways.
But, does SFU's psyc that bad? Or is it that UBC's psyc is just too superior to the level that you can't really compare them side by side??

I'm looking for some real, informative feedback from people who are actually majoring in psyc in either universities.

Thank you

i'm just going to generalize ubc as a whole
i know you can choose to do psych under art or under science

if you are ever considering doing research, taking psych at ubc would be the better choice.

I have friends who graduated with a Pysc degree from both UBC and SFU. End results were the same, both didn't find a job in the field.

It is your undergraduate's degree, it does not matter which university get it from. It will only be you and your parents that care, no one else will.

ubc has a better name.
but from what my cousin has said she regretted taking psych at ubc because the courses for psych are so broad whereas sfu psych courses are probably (or seem) a little more specific.

^ I respectfully disagree. I'm a psychology student at SFU and the courses that are offered are very limited within each field, so much that it is very difficult to specialize in any aspect of psychology.

not a surprise :thumbsup:

If you ever decide to pursue a degree in Psych, you better stick with it all the way. I graduated with a Psych degree and let me tell ya, it's tough to get a decent job. I ended up changing career field as I only took Psych cuz it was interesting to me at the time. I think you would have to go clinical to make any decent money in Psych. Do tons of research before you decide to spend however many years in this area and make sure that this is what you really want. It's a pretty negative field if you ask me because no one will ever see you when they are happy.

Yeah no kidding. Either way a psych degree = fail. If you don't know what subjects to take in university, don't go. You'll be wasting a lot of time and a lot of money with nothing to show for it but a piece of paper. At least if you learn a technical skill, you can apply it to a 9-5 job and trade in the rest of your life for some money ;)

lol. i know some unemployed psych grads too.

out of all the psych grads that you DO know, how many of them ARE employed? And of those employed, how many are working in a relative field? (And no, waiting tables and trying to figure out what the customer wants does not count as relative field)

This is depressing because I want to major in psychology too.

UBC has a better reputation domestically and internationally..

totally wrong. If you feel it hard to specialize then you either do not have the grades and/or did not make enough of an impression. I graduated from SFU and friends of mine from UBC. when it came time for the GRE, they bombed. However, I also took numerous seminar classes (9 and 800 level) in my 3rd and 4th year. But let's take a quick look why i said what i said:

UBC:
BA MAJOR in PSYCHOLOGY

FIRST YEAR
PSYC 100 (6 credits) is required

SECOND YEAR
PSYC 217 (3 credits) and 218 (3 credits)**

THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS
Students are required to take a minimum of 30 credits in 300- or 400-level courses, including
. at least 6 credits from one of the following two lists:
(a) Behavioural Neuroscience - 304, 306, 360, 361, 363, 364, 460, 461, 462, 466, 467
(b) Cognition/perception - 309, 333, 334, 336, 337, 365, 367, 368, 463

. at least 6 credits from two of the following four lists:
(a) Clinical/forensic/health - 300, 311, 314, 331, 350, 400, 401, 430, 431, 469
(b) Developmental - 302, 315, 319, 320, 322, 325, 412, 413, 414
(c) Foundation/methods - 303, 312, 323, 359, 465
(d) Personality/social - 305, 307, 308, 321, 358, 403, 407, 408, 415, 418

ie. you need 3 mandatory classes in 1st and 2nd year. 3rd year you need 2! mandatory courses, and another 2 from the last list. that's a total of 8 classes which make up 24 credits of the 120! one fifth!

now look at sfu:
Psychology Course Requirements:

* PSYC 100, 102, 201, 207, 210 all with a grade of C or better
* one course from Group A, one course from Group B, and one course from either Group A or B
* 30 upper division psychology credits including PSYC 300

1st year = 5 courses
2nd year = 3 courses
3rd/4th =10 for a total of 25 courses or 75 credits of the 120!

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But everything else said is true. However, UBC graduate programs are far superior to SFU's...with maybe the exception of animal studies...but SFU has very very anal protocols for that now.
And yes, if you plan on doing just a general psych degree taking the psychology of basket weaving type of courses, you're screwed.