BSc Psychology

Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.

• Psychology
• Public Health
• Speech and Hearing
• Speech and Language Therapy

AAA, including including one or more of: Psychology, Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, Mathematics, Further Maths, Applied Science.

We accept only one performance-based A-level (eg photography, drama, art/design, music or media studies).

Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken. Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.

Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

Please check for specific GCSE/IGCSE subject entry requirements below

AAB including including one or more of: Psychology, Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, Mathematics, Further Maths, Applied Science.

Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken. Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.

Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

Please check for specific GCSE/IGCSE subject entry requirements below

Contextual offers are available for applicants who:

• live in the UK and will be under the age of 21 on 1 September of the year they will start their course; and
• live in an area of disadvantage or with low progression into higher education; and
• have attended a UK school or college for their GCSEs or A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) that has performed below the national average over multiple years.

See our contextual admissions page for full details and to check your eligibility.

ABB including one or more of: Psychology, Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, Mathematics, Further Maths, Applied Science.

Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken. Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.

Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

Please check for specific GCSE/IGCSE subject entry requirements below

UK refugee/care-experienced offers are available for applicants who:

• have been looked after in care for more than three months; or
• have been granted refugee status by the UK government or have been issued a UK visa under one of the Ukrainian schemes (Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine Family Scheme or Ukraine Extension Scheme).

See our contextual admissions page for full details and to check your eligibility.

36 points overall. 6,6,6 in Higher Level subjects, one of which must include Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Psychology or Mathematics (AA or AI are both considered).

Applicants studying the International Baccalaureate Career Related Programme (IBCP) should contact the admissions team prior to applying so that their academic profile can be considered.

Applicants must demonstrate a broad general education. We normallyrequire at least five GCSEs at minimum grade 6/B, including English Language and Mathematics. If an applicant has a grade 5 in one subject but has a grade B/6 in the other four subjects, we would still encourage them to apply.

For applicants whose status has been confirmed as WP+ using the University's Contextual Data Eligibility too l, we will allow an overall reduction of 2 grades on the full GCSE requirements. Please note, however, that no individual subject should be lower than C/4.

For applicants whose status has been confirmed as WP++ using the University's Contextual Data Eligibility tool , we will allow an overall reduction of 4 grades on the full GCSE requirements. Please note, however, that no individual subject should be lower than C/4. in GCSE/IGCSE English Language and Mathematics. GCSE/IGCSE English Literature will not be accepted in lieu of GCSE/IGCSE English Language.

Please note that if you hold English as a second language IGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of  our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications  or achieve a higher grade in your IGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the admissions team in your academic School/Department for clarification.

We welcome applications from overseas students. Country-specific information can be found on the University website . However, this is for general information only, as specific entry requirements may be different for the BSc Psychology course.

Please contact us at ug.psychology@manchester.ac.uk to check specific requirements for your country before you apply for the BSc Psychology course.

Advanced Placement Tests

We require grades 5,5,5 with subject specific requirements (contact us at ug.psychology@manchester.ac.uk to check specific requirements). We will also consider your full educational background in conjunction with your Advanced Placement Tests.

All applicants to the University (from the UK and Overseas) are required to show evidence of English Language proficiency. The minimum English Language requirement for this course is either:

GCSE/IGCSE English Language grade B/6, or;

IELTS 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in each component, or;

An acceptable equivalent qualification.

Please note that if you hold English as a second language IGCSE qualification, we may also require you to offer one of  our acceptable equivalent English Language qualifications  or achieve a higher grade in your IGCSE than the one stated above. Please contact the academic School for clarification.

If you need to improve your English language skills to meet the entry requirements for your academic course, the University Centre for Academic English (UCAE) summer pre-sessional courses can help. Check if your academic course offers the option of taking a pre-sessional course on the UCAE page .

The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requires that every student requiring a visa to study in the UK must show evidence of a minimum level of English Language (common European Framework (CEFR B2 level) to be granted a Student Route visa (previously known as a Tier 4 visa) to study at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

In addition, our academic Schools/Departments may require applicants to demonstrate English proficiency above the B2 level. Further information about our English Language policy, including a list of some of the English Language qualifications we accept, can be found  here .

Fees for entry in 2026 have not yet been set. For entry in 2025 the tuition fees were £9,535 per annum for home students, and are expected to increase slightly for 2026 entry.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Mature students are some of our most well-equipped learners, bringing skills and attributes gained from work, family and other life experiences.  Students come from a whole array of backgrounds, study every kind of course, undertake full-time and part-time learning and are motivated by career intentions as well as personal interest.  There is no such thing as a typical mature student at Manchester.

The application process is the same as for other prospective undergraduates.  If you require further clarification about the acceptability of the qualifications you hold please contact the academic School(s) you plan to apply to.  Further information for mature students can be found here ( http://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/mature-students/ )

Applications are considered on the basis of the UCAS form. Candidates may be interviewed online or by telephone, or asked to complete an alternative admissions statement.

Applicants whose personal statement is specific to a different discipline

Because of the high volume of applications we receive, we will not consider those applicants who choose Psychology as a second option and whose personal statement is geared towards a different discipline.

Applications from those who are returning to education are encouraged.

In your new application you should demonstrate how your application has improved. We may draw upon all information from your previous applications or any previous registrations at the University as a student when assessing your suitability for your chosen course.

If you are applying for a place for the same year of entry through UCAS Extra, you should provide additional evidence of your suitability for the course. If you are applying through clearing you are required to meet the clearing requirements. In both UCAS Extra and clearing, the places will be subject to availability.

The psychology units you will take throughout your degree each fall under one of the following themes.

Adaptability and wellbeing

What are the risk factors for developing psychological disorders? How can we influence choices made by the population, to help promote healthy behaviours?

You will learn from practicing clinicians, health psychologists and field-leading researchers to explore mental health, the influence of individual differences (including personality), ways we can influence choices important to wellbeing, and criminal behaviour.

Psychology in society

What influence does social media have on political attitudes? How can police procedures be optimised to achieve the accurate identification of perpetrators? How do our implicit or unconcious attitudes guide our behaviour and the way we evaluate others?

This theme examines society through a psychological lens, covering a range of topics in social psychology, as well as the application of psychology to politics, the workplace and forensic settings. Having been introduced to key theories, you will evaluate the research evidence cited to support those theories and consider their application in a range of real-world contexts.

Mind and brain

How do we perceive and make sense of the world around us? How can we use sensory information to control our actions?

Our units on cognition will help you understand the brain mechanisms and processes underlying learning and memory, what attention is and how it changes throughout our lives, and how emotion can influence our decisions.

You will learn from experimental studies in healthy people, neuropsychological studies in people with neurological disorders, and insights provided by the latest neuroimaging techniques.

Evolution and development

How do infants come to understand the world around them? What factors influence our cognitive abilities as we move into mid- and late-adult life?

In this set of units, you will learn about how people change throughout the lifespan, from learning to crawl to coping with retirement.

Our units on evolution will also ask how human development differs from that of other animals - what, if anything, sets us apart?

In your first year, you will cover the basics of psychology, including:

• how we develop over time (developmental psychology);
• how our brains work (biological psychology);
• how we think and learn (cognitive psychology).

You'll also explore:

• how people interact and influence each other (social psychology);
• why people differ in their traits and behaviours (individual differences);
• how psychology can address big global challenges like climate change and AI misinformation and ethical use (in 'Applying Psychology to Wicked Problems').

Alongside these units, you'll build essential skills in research methods, statistics, and lab-based experiments to prepare you for future studies.

You will also have the choice to swap out one of two units (Autism Research: Theory and Culture or Foundations of Health Psychology) to study a foreign language. It does not matter if you have never studied a language before; you can start from scratch. If you have studied a language before and wish to continue at a higher level, you can take a placement test to determine the best starting point for you.

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

The second year of the degree is designed to deepen your knowledge of the core areas of psychology studied in Year 1.

To help you build you research skills, advanced lab classes will develop your practical expertise.

Our dedicated Careers Unit will ensure you build the skills needed for life after university and you will also have the opportunity to undertake a short (30-hour) work placement.

We also offer the flexibility to replace some units with units from the University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL) . UCIL offers you the opportunity to take units outside of your main discipline, allowing you to tailor your degree to your interests. Example UCIL courses include 'Sustainability and Climate Change', 'AI: Robot Overlord, Replacement, or Colleague?' and 'Leadership in Action'.

You can also chose to continue to study a language, through the University Language Centre , enabling you to broaden your educational horizons.

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

In the Final Year of our BSc Psychology course, you will work closely with an academic to address unanswered questions in psychology by conducting a new piece of research and writing up your findings. This research project will provide you with the opportunity to make a real contribution to the field.

You will have the freedom to shape your degree around your interests and goals. For example, you can choose from a selection of four advanced psychology units (two per semester), all informed by the latest research from our staff.

Students wanting to broaden their studies can also opt to swap two psychology units for two non-psychology units from choices offered by University College , Business and Management for all Programmes or the University Language Centre.

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

The course is accredited as conferring eligibility for Graduate Membership of The British Psychological Society and the Graduate Basis for Registration.

The latter is the first step towards becoming a Chartered Psychologist. To be eligible for the Graduate Basis for Registration, you must gain a minimum of an Upper Second degree (2:1) classification and pass the Final Year Project unit.