Sociology co major (trying to avoid unnecessary maths)

[Ceke2002]

Just looking at the unit requirements for a Bachelor of Behavioural Studies (Psychology) that's being offered through Australia's open university scheme. 24 units of study have to be completed - 4 pre-psychology units are compulsory for admission into the actual degree major, the Psychology major itself is 8 units so there's 12 units already, I'm planning to do a unit in basic maths/working with numbers before taking on the pre-psych stats course, so okay that's 13 units - now I need to make up an extra 11 units, and the recommended course pathway is to do an 8 unit co-major in sociology, plus a 4 unit minor. I'm looking at electives in the advanced psychology minor, which I'm assuming will consist of more maths although the course outline for each unit doesn't mention anything specific, and of course a co-major in sociology if that's what is recommended.

So anyone else who's studied sociology as a degree co-major (or whatever you would call it in your neck of the woulds), is it a 'look ma, no maths!' option?

Obviously I'll be contacting the relevant course unit providers before I go jumping in blind (like I did the last time I attempted a degree in Psychology without any sort of pre-preparation for University levels maths studies and failed spectacularly), I'm just looking for some basic guidance at the moment (and there's only so much maths my brain can handle before my head explodes).

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[modestmousktr]

Just looking at the unit requirements for a Bachelor of Behavioural Studies (Psychology) that's being offered through Australia's open university scheme. 24 units of study have to be completed - 4 pre-psychology units are compulsory for admission into the actual degree major, the Psychology major itself is 8 units so there's 12 units already, I'm planning to do a unit in basic maths/working with numbers before taking on the pre-psych stats course, so okay that's 13 units - now I need to make up an extra 11 units, and the recommended course pathway is to do an 8 unit co-major in sociology, plus a 4 unit minor. I'm looking at electives in the advanced psychology minor, which I'm assuming will consist of more maths although the course outline for each unit doesn't mention anything specific, and of course a co-major in sociology if that's what is recommended.

So anyone else who's studied sociology as a degree co-major (or whatever you would call it in your neck of the woulds), is it a 'look ma, no maths!' option?

Obviously I'll be contacting the relevant course unit providers before I go jumping in blind (like I did the last time I attempted a degree in Psychology without any sort of pre-preparation for University levels maths studies and failed spectacularly), I'm just looking for some basic guidance at the moment (and there's only so much maths my brain can handle before my head explodes).

I'm definitely biased because I'm in Counseling Psychology and a lot of my work draws from sociology, philosophy, etc., but I feel like a lot of people pick sociology as a "fluff" major, without realizing that it is a legitimate source of scientific inquiry. And like any legitimate sources of scientific inquiry, math will be involved. Luckily, depending on what statistics you do, it will largely be the same or similar to what you are doing for psychology, as they are both considered social sciences.

At my undergrad institution, soc majors/minors had to take Analytical Statistics for Sociology which is like your basic psych stats class- ANOVAs, t-tests, etc. descriptives vs. inferential, etc. Students also had to take several methods courses, courses on qualitative analysis, program evaluation, and survey research. So I'd say you certainly wouldn't be avoiding math, but it would all be math that will go hand-in-hand with your work in psychology. Additionally, you may also benefit from learning the various different philosophical reasons that sociologists conduct research the way that they do, and how it shares similarities and also differs from psychology. I think they compliment each other very well, and I very much regret having not completed a Sociology major or minor in undergrad. I chose Biology because I thought it went better with Psychology, but as I progressed in my M.A. and doctoral education, I came to realize my interests were much more influenced by the social environment.

So, I think in determining what major, it certainly wouldn't be a "no math" major, but it will overlap greatly and/or enhance your psychological studies. Whereas something like Biology would be A LOT of extra math, chemistry, etc. While we are on the subject of regrets, I also wish that I had chosen a foreign language as a second major. Definitely useful in the helping professions.

 

[Ceke2002]

I'm definitely biased because I'm in Counseling Psychology and a lot of my work draws from sociology, philosophy, etc., but I feel like a lot of people pick sociology as a "fluff" major, without realizing that it is a legitimate source of scientific inquiry. And like any legitimate sources of scientific inquiry, math will be involved. Luckily, depending on what statistics you do, it will largely be the same or similar to what you are doing for psychology, as they are both considered social sciences.

At my undergrad institution, soc majors/minors had to take Analytical Statistics for Sociology which is like your basic psych stats class- ANOVAs, t-tests, etc. descriptives vs. inferential, etc. Students also had to take several methods courses, courses on qualitative analysis, program evaluation, and survey research. So I'd say you certainly wouldn't be avoiding math, but it would all be math that will go hand-in-hand with your work in psychology. Additionally, you may also benefit from learning the various different philosophical reasons that sociologists conduct research the way that they do, and how it shares similarities and also differs from psychology. I think they compliment each other very well, and I very much regret having not completed a Sociology major or minor in undergrad. I chose Biology because I thought it went better with Psychology, but as I progressed in my M.A. and doctoral education, I came to realize my interests were much more influenced by the social environment.

So, I think in determining what major, it certainly wouldn't be a "no math" major, but it will overlap greatly and/or enhance your psychological studies. Whereas something like Biology would be A LOT of extra math, chemistry, etc. While we are on the subject of regrets, I also wish that I had chosen a foreign language as a second major. Definitely useful in the helping professions.

Thank you, I have a lot to think about. And definitely not looking at sociology as an easy fluff way of getting the required number of units, it's just that that's the recommended co-major for Psychology through this institute, and I can see why. On the otherhand maths stuff is really difficult for me, but I suppose if I at least get a handle on statistics, and sociology maths work is going to be similar to that, then I could probably handle it. I'm also taking psychology as an undergrad to hedge my bets with med school post grad application (I may not be accepted due to some physical limitations, so an undergrad in Psychology still gives me the option of going on to do honours and masters and work in a clinical setting eventually, hopefully). So I also need to look at different Universities prerequiste study requirements for medicine as well and make a decision for co-majors and minors based on that. I'm probably over thinking things, but I just don't really want to see history repeating itself (where I decided to just jump straight into a degree in Psychology in the mid 90s, with no preparation, no course consideration, nothing apart from going 'Yeah cool, I'd love to study that', and then flunking out in a major way without even finishing the first year).

Geez I haven't even started the application process and I'm exhausted already.

Thanks again.