Sociology
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
UCAS Code: L400 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
UCAS Code: L400 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
English required and Maths preferred GCSE grade C or 4.
Various Access courses considered, such as: Access to Community, Education & Humanities Access to University Study Access to Arts, Social Sciences & Primary Teaching Access to Languages, Arts and Social Sciences Access to Humanities/Primary Education Access to Degree Studies Access to Arts & Social Science Access to Humanities Access to Social Sciences Access to Teaching
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
English required and Maths preferred at Standard level
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
English required and Maths preferred at Ordinary level grade O4 or Higher level grade H5
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
In Social Sciences subjects.
Scottish Higher
English required and Maths preferred at National 5 grade C or above.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
**Please note: for September 2025 entry there is only Year 1 entry for this course. Please refer to our Public Sociology course (L390) if you are looking for advanced entry onto Year 2 or 3.**
Our BSc (Hons) in Sociology is ideal preparation for a wide range of careers in which you can contribute to improving people’s lives.
In sociology, our focus is on understanding how people’s lives and interactions are shaped by factors like class, gender, ethnicity, race, disability and age in national and global contexts. Sociologists interpret and explain how social processes and institutions inform and impact people’s everyday lives.
Throughout your degree, you will have opportunities to study a broad range of topics including:
- Examining how, where, when and why social inequalities and divisions arise;
- Considering ways in which we can challenge, understand and overcome social problems and ethical dilemmas through public policy and social action;
- Interpreting the relationship between identity, community and society, locally and globally; and
- Conducting research into real world issues, as well as making concrete recommendations for social change.
Modules
Year 1
Introduction to Academia
Introduction to Psychology
Introduction to Psychology 2
Classic & Contemporary Sociology
Diversity and Inequality
Foundations of Psychology; Core Concepts and Practices
Year Two
Developmental and Social Psychology
Exploring Research
Material Culture: The Social Life of Things
Current Debates in Sociology
Education, Race and Ethnicity
Engaged Sociology
Year Three
Sociology of Knowledge & Science
Understanding the Sociological Present
Social Process and Social Movements
Class, Poverty and Inequality: Social Policy Responses
Research Skills
Community Education and the Organic Intellectual
Year Four
Community-based Education
Dissertation
Options may include: Inequality, Poverty and Social Policy in Comparative Perspective; Gender Justice and Violence: Feminist Approaches; Embedded Sustainability; Political Ecology: the Social Study of Environmental Justice; The Sociology of Scotland; Queer Feminist Sociology in Action
NB The modules listed here are correct at time of posting (Feb 2024) but may differ slightly to those offered in 2025. Please check back here for any updates.
Assessment methods
You will be taught in lectures, seminars and practical workshops. Outside these timetabled sessions you will be expected to continue learning through self-study. You will be assessed by essays and a variety of other ways including written reports, presentations and groupwork.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Queen Margaret University
School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score 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.
£17k
£18k
£25k
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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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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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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