Mandy Psychology Offers from York and Edinburgh

Mandy L, a year 13 student at Dulwich International High School Suzhou, has recently received offers to study Psychology at the University of Edinburgh and the University of York.

The University of Edinburgh is a public research university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world.

As a top comprehensive research university, it was ranked fourth in the UK for research strength in the government's Research Excellence Framework in 2014, behind Oxford, UCL and Cambridge.  Ranked 18th in the world by The Times Psychology University Rankings in 2022.  

Before deciding to study psychology, Mandy explained that she did consider a wide range of other majors, including management and linguistics, but as she looked deeper into these areas, she found that the aspect of these subjects that she enjoyed most was their interaction with psychology. 

Mandy particularly enjoys experimental psychology. She finds it fascinating the way it's possible to take an obscure idea and transform it into something that can be quantified. 

“There are things that are hard to operationalize, but psychologists will always find a way to operationalize these variables!”

Mandy also explained that when she was looking at potential universities to attend, she made a point of checking student satisfaction levels, which she explained was a very important factor for her and was more significant than university rankings.

• Mandy particularly enjoys the basketball CCA. She is part of the team and has participated in it every single semester without fail. She believes that this consistency demonstrates her passion for basketball, which, in turn, helped her become captain of the basketball team. Mandy enjoys a wide range of hobbies and interests. While basketball remains her favourite sport, she also enjoys playing badminton, swimming, tennis, and table tennis.
   
• Mandy reads a lot and was quick to explain that while she did enjoy the Harry Potter series, it wasn’t her favourite book. That honour goes to Hergé's “Adventures of Tintin” series of Graphic Novels. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. Tintin has been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies and has been adapted for radio, television, theatre, and film.

When we asked Mandy about her experience at Dulwich, she gave us this thoughtful response:

“In my middle school, I was over-scheduled and there was no time for independent thinking or self-reflection. After coming to Dulwich, I feel that I have more time to let my mind wander. I use that time for self-reflection and, I do think that has helped a lot with my college applications.”

Dulwich strives to provide the best possible preparation for studying at an international University. One of the ways it does this is by encouraging students to become independent, self-motivated learners and this was something that Mandy valued.

Mandy’s university counsellor was Mr. Mark Coyle and Mandy was full of praise for him. “Whenever I need help, he was always there for me. He is very patient, responsible, and responsive. A couple of times, when I was lagging behind in the application process, he pushed me back on track!” 

Mr. Coyle said:

"Psychology and sociology are becoming more popular with Chinese students as these are areas of growth in China. The social development and need for psychologists are evident in every industry. China recently announced a plan for all schools to have a resident psychologist - so the industry will certainly grow more in the future.

There is normally a difference between clinical and behavioural psychology and the course requirements will be different. These courses normally have a slightly lower grade level than the traditional sciences-

Canada has some strange requirements for these majors needing students to take all the sciences

UK courses sometimes need an essay subject to be studied at A-Level (like psychology or economics) because the courses are heavy in the amount of writing

Very few schools have A-Level Psychology offered so we are very lucky to have such a great department here at DHSZ - the teachers are always supportive and make time to support the students' applications!"

We finished the interview by asking Mandy what advice for year ten students. She advised that it was important to try and find your passion as quickly as possible then stick with it. Find a major that you love, don’t just think about your future salary!