North Thames - UCL

Who can apply

We are unable to consider:

• Applicants that do not have Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the BPS at the point of applying to the course
• Applicants who, at the start of our programme (last week of September each year), are still formally registered for (or re-sitting examinations) for another programme of study at UCL or any other Higher Education Institution. 

If applicants have completed another HEE funded training course, they must please ensure they check their website for guidance on eligibility to apply to the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology training programme as this would apply to our course https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/mental-health/psychological-professions/funding-psychological-professions-training-programmes. 

Applicants applying for home fee funded places must:

• Be eligible for home fee status. Please check the UCL website for details or contact the admission office directly if you are still unsure after consulting their website
• Have the right to work in the UK without restriction

Applicants applying for international self-funded places must:

• Be eligible for international fee status

Applicants can not apply to both our home fee and international fee routes simultaneously.

As per the UCL graduate admissions policy, command of the English language is considered essential. Both home fee and international fee applicants whose first language is not English, must demonstrate a level of proficiency in both written and spoken English – for our programme at UCL, applicants are required to achieve a minimum of Level 4 of English proficiency as specified by UCL and provide evidence of this in their application. For more details of qualifications accepted and criteria for Level 4 of English proficiency, please see UCL’s policies on English proficiency

Academic

To meet our minimum academic criteria, applicants must have:

• GBC confirmed at the time of applying
• Achieved the equivalent of a high 2:1 (67%) or above or equivalent in the degree that confers them GBC status, confirmed by their academic transcript:
  • For applicants outside the UK, please check here for grade equivalents
  • For applicants who did not achieve the equivalent of a high 2:1 in the course that confers them GBC status due to mitigating circumstances (e.g. mental and / or physical health difficulties, caring responsibilities, bereavement etc.):
    • We will consider these applications if applicants provide relevant details regarding the mitigating circumstances for us to review. We advise candidates to make clear in their application the mitigating circumstances and to also ask their academic referee to explicitly comment on their overall academic ability in light of their performance on the course that conferred them GBC and the mitigating circumstances which affected their academic performance.
  • We will consider applicants who did not achieve a high 2:1 in the degree that confers them GBC, but who subsequently go on to achieve at the equivalent of a high 2:1 or above (i.e., a high merit or a distinction) on a postgraduate course: 
    • The postgraduate qualification must be either a full Masters (e.g., MSc) qualification or doctoral (PhD) qualification. PGDips and PGCerts would not be considered as part of this minimum academic entry requirement.
    • Applicants must still provide the transcript from all their university courses (undergraduate and postgraduate) but may wish to choose an academic referee from their subsequent postgraduate course(s) who is able to comment on their academic ability within the context of their performance on postgraduate study and how this is more representative of their academic ability than their performance on the course the conferred them GBC.
  • We will use applicant’s academic transcript(s) to gain evidence of their overall degree grade. If their degree transcript does not provide an overall percentage grade for their degree, we ask that applicants provide confirmation from their university about what their percentage would have been for their degree. This can either be a letter from the department or email correspondence with the department / registry.
    • If the applicant’s university cannot provide confirmation of the percentage but they give instructions of how to calculate the overall percentage, we ask applicants to please do this and include their overall percentage on their application form. Applicants should then upload the correspondence detailing the instructions of how to calculate the percentage with their application to explain how they have calculated the percentage.
    • We understand that some universities are not able to provide confirmation of what an applicant’s overall percentage grade was for their university degree or instructions on how to do so. Please be assured that we will still consider these applications if this is the case. In these instances, we ask applicants to simply upload the correspondence they had with their university confirming they are not able to provide the overall percentage or instructions of how to do so. Alongside this they should also still upload transcript(s) for us to review. We would also suggest that applicants ask their academic reference to comment on their overall academic performance in their studies and whether their final degree was equivalent of a high 2:1.
  • If an applicant achieved a 1st on their degree, we would not require a letter confirming the overall percentage for their degree.

Clinical

All applicants are required to have completed some clinically relevant work experience prior to applying. For home fee applicants some of this experience must have been within the UK. All applicants should have experience of client groups that clinical psychologists typically work with (this could be in any field or specialty). The applicant should have some experience of structured or statutory services (e.g., NHS, MIND services, hospitals, clinics or related government services such as Social Services, schools or prisons) or in clinically related research roles and demonstrate awareness of how the NHS functions and operates day-to-day. 

Work experience is considered relevant if it offers opportunities to develop:
 

• an idea of what clinical psychologists actually do 
• direct clinical contact with “typical” users of clinical psychology services, usually gained in a coherent organisational context rather than as a series of ‘one-off’ contacts
• a sense of the organisational contexts in which clinical psychologists usually operate

Amount of experience

We look for an applicant's clinical capacity and potential more than anything and as such do not specify a minimum requirement for the length of clinically relevant experience prior to applying to our course.

• We do note though that most successful applicants typically have the equivalent of 2-years FTE at the point of applying.

A significant proportion of the experience completed prior to applying must have been gained in an employment context.

Applicants should use the relevant section of the application form to provide details of any gaps in experience

References / Statements of suitability

All applicants must provide both an academic and a clinical reference (suitability statement) with their application for it to be considered. Please note, each reference must be able to comment directly on the applicant’s skills in each area i.e., academic references being able to comment directly on the applicant’s academic capacity and the clinical reference being able to comment directly on the applicant’s clinical capacity. Please note, these references must come from someone who knows the applicant in a professional or employment capacity, we cannot consider references from friends or someone that knows the applicant well but not in a professional or employment capacity.

At the point of offering places on the course following interviews, the employing Trust (Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust) will also need to complete pre-employment checks, which includes securing a satisfactory employment reference from the applicant’s most recent employer. All offers are conditional on satisfactory employment references.

Documents required

• A document confirming GBC status
• A transcript of the applicant's undergraduate degree
• Transcript(s) from any postgraduate degree(s)
• Please note, for the degree that confers GBC status:
  • If the transcript from the course that conferred you GBC status (either undergraduate or conversion course) does not provide a final overall percentage grade, we will require a letter from the course confirming the final percentage grade. This can either be a letter from the department or email correspondence with the department / registry.
    • If the applicant’s university cannot provide confirmation of the percentage but they give instructions of how to calculate the overall percentage, we ask applicants to please do this and include their overall percentage on their application form. Applicants should then upload the correspondence detailing the instructions of how to calculate the percentage with their application to explain how they have calculated the percentage.
    • We understand that some universities are not able to provide confirmation of what an applicant’s overall percentage grade was for their university degree or instructions on how to do so. Please be assured that we will still consider these applications if this is the case. In these instances, we ask applicants to simply upload the correspondence they had with their university confirming they are not able to provide the overall percentage or instructions of how to do so. Alongside this they should also still upload transcript(s) for us to review. We would also suggest that applicants ask their academic reference to comment on their overall academic performance in their studies and whether their final degree was equivalent to a high 2:1 or above.
  • If an applicant achieved a 1st on their degree, we would not require a letter confirming the overall percentage for their degree.

Advice for your application

Applicants should be able to demonstrate:

• Their understanding of the role of the clinical psychologist in contemporary healthcare systems
• An ability to be reflective about one’s own experience 
• A capacity for analytical, critical thought
• Research experience, including any experience of service evaluation 
• Demonstration of NHS core values and commitment to service users
   

International applicants

• We do accept applications for international fee candidates via our international route.
• The academic and clinical requirements would be the same for our international applicants as they are for our home fee applicants, please see the sections which outline our entry requirements for further details. 
• As per the UCL graduate admissions policy, command of the English language is considered essential. Both home fee and international fee candidates whose first language is not English, must demonstrate a level of proficiency in both written and spoken English – for our programme at UCL, applicants are required to achieve a minimum of Level 4 of English proficiency as specified by UCL and must provide evidence of this in their application. For more details of qualifications accepted and criteria for Level 4 of English proficiency, please see UCL’s policies on English proficiency
• If undertaken, please provide any certificates from an acceptable English language qualification or test result no more than three years prior to the proposed date of enrolment.