Bachelor of Psychological Science / Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Griffith University

Positives: There are heaps of hands on classes, instead of just study based, they help build up your career from the beginning, it’s an interesting course, lecturers try to get you engaged with different techniques, like dances and singing or doing activities to get you involved in the learning, there’s free tutor classes for first years

Negatives: The scheduling of our timetables clash sometimes or assessment will overlap, it’s a double degree so you’ll be doing first year courses in your second year

My advice to future students is: Study hard, pay attention in class and do the provided readings, you’ll get a better understand. Always ask questions if you don’t understand, it’ll get you extra points on your exams if you understand what you’re doing

Positive:
I found it very positive and insightful degree, I found Criminology had a lot of aspects that offered job opportunities and had a thorough support for their students

Negative:
I feel like they never heavily implemented or communicated how important grades are for psychology students who want to pursue further study (eg master or PhD).

I think in the psychology sector they also didn’t offer a lot of opportunities to extra curriculum work or it wasn’t advertised well enough

My advice to future students is: Look into potential job opportunities in the career you want to study as I found most students do a course then don’t find work

Positive - while seemingly different fields of study, many of the topics covered overlap between degrees which aids in understanding. The Criminology Student Society (CSS) is a brilliant way to meet people from your degree and gives you the chance to tour prisons, police academies, and attend lectures from professionals within the criminal justice field. As an excelling student, you are accepted into the Academic Criminology Excellence Society (ACES) and are able to have lunch with professionals and also attend lectures/conferences unavailable to others. There is also the opportunity to qualify for the Criminology Undergraduate Research Internship Program (CURIP) to give you practical research experience with an academic at Griffith University as a precursor to Honours or a career in research. Psychology combines the science and social aspects of the field well across multiple courses. Both degrees re-visit earlier topics in later courses to provide background and clarification. The assignments are tailored appropriately to what will be expected of you in further post-graduate study or a career where written work is required. These degrees teach you to be critical thinkers, how to write analytically and objectively, how to conduct research and compile this research in a laboratory report, how to apply learned knowledge across other disciplines, etc.

Negative -
As I started in 2015, courses that are now compulsory for psychology students commencing in 2018 were not available to me (for example, ‘counselling skills’). There are limited options for more practical courses to prepare you for Honours or work after the 3-year bachelors.
Criminology electives are extensive, yet limited to campus locations and trimesters which means some, while interesting, we’re not a possibility.
Both degrees hold Honours information evenings, but need to better prepare students and make them aware of alternative options if they wish to pursue a job after graduation

My advice to future students is: You will find yourself interested in one degree more than the other, but do not let that keep you from applying yourself in the least-preferred. Both matter. You will be receiving two degrees, so give your absolute best. Take every opportunity to learn more about your future options with a psychology and criminology degree, and take advantage of the services on offer.

Positive: great online resources and great lecturers

Negative; nil

My advice to future students - make use of lectures- attend them rather then watch online
Don't leave all he content till the last minute before the exam