Sociology
University of Plymouth
UCAS Code: L300 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
104 to 120 UCAS Tariff points including a minimum of 2 A Levels.
Pass a named Access to HE Diploma in any subject with at least 33 credits at Merit and/ or Distinction.
Considered in combination.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
To include a Grade 4 at any subject at Higher Level. Maths and English accepted within as GCSE equivalent.
104-120 points Maths and English accepted within as GCSE equivalent.
Considered in combination
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Any subject accepted
Considered in combination
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Any subject is considered.
Considered in combination
104-120 UCAS Tariff points, including a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers. Maths and English accepted within as GCSE equivalent.
Considered in combination with Advanced Highers. Maths and English accepted within as GCSE equivalent.
T Level
Any subject is considered.
UCAS Tariff
Considered in combination.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
Sociology is flourishing at University of Plymouth. Our programme ranks among the best in the country. We use an innovative, ‘hands-on’ approach to teaching by encouraging students to apply sociological questions to the real world. Most importantly, our lecturers truly care about the progress of their students.
If you want to learn from leading sociologists about how inequality, gender, and ethnicity shapes our identities, or how the media impacts our culture and politics, or how health is socially determined, or how people are affected by prison - and much, much more – then this is the sociology programme is for you.
- **Learn from passionate and committed academics** with active and wide-ranging research expertise. Our research and specialisms include health, well-being and social policy alongside politics and identities.
- **Apply sociological theory to contemporary issues** in an interactively taught environment, then explore and experience first-hand the world beyond the classroom with national and international field trips and exchange opportunities.
- **Engage in a pioneering, well established work-based learning programme** along with voluntary opportunities to enhance your employability.
- **Develop key transferable skills** that employers actively seek through novel research methods training.
- **Experience varied and engaging assessment formats** supported through personal tutoring.
- **Opportunity to study abroad** by participating in an international exchange.
Modules
In your first year, you’ll start investigating how and why societies change, looking into how individuals and society connect. Working in small tutorial groups, you’ll explore real-world research through topics such as health, poverty, housing, gender, race, family, education, religion, employment, global development and environmental sustainability. Throughout the year, you’ll learn what it is to be a sociologist and how to use evidence to better understand the social world.
In the second year, you’ll put into practice what you’ve been learning in the classroom and see sociology in action while gaining work experience relevant to your future career. In tutorials, you’ll explore the impact of global change and international social justice, and discover how these affect socio-cultural identity. You’ll also gain confidence in discussing contested social ideas and how they are applied in today’s global world, industry and employment.
In your final year, you’ll examine in more depth the sociological issues that particularly interest you and complete a dissertation on your chosen topic. With teaching focusing on the links between theory, policy and professional debates, you choose from a selection of modules including: food and foodways; philosophy of social science; work-based learning in sociology; anthropology of humour and laughter; green criminology; and media, state and society.
The modules shown for this course or programme are those being studied by current students, or expected new modules. Modules are subject to change depending on year of entry and up to date information can be found on our website.
Assessment methods
For up to date details, please refer to our website or contact the institution directly.
The Uni
University of Plymouth
School of Society and Culture
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Sociology
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Sociology
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Sociology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£23k
£26k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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