3rd and 4th Year Bridging Programs On The Path Towards Psychologist Registration

This information was gathered by my on journey exploring what it would take to be a registered psychologist in Australia. I want to continue to work in technology, however a passion in this field has always existed for me and I would like to pursue it.

This video covers the same information as is contained in this article.

My priorities: 

1. Getting provisional registered as Psychologist (milestone 1)

2. Speed of completion

3. Cost

4. Online study option

Getting Provisional Registered Pathways (detailed here)
Here are the options, you can search for programs based on your criteria here.

Cheapest/Fastest Options:

1. CDU - Bachelor Graduate Entry (1 year) + Honours (1 year)

2. UNE - Approved Bachelor (1.5 years) + Honours (1 year)

Other options

1. Approved Bachelor (2 years) (most uni's seem to credit 1 year if you have another Bachelors) + Honours (1 year)

2. Approved Bachelor (1.5-2 years) + Grad Dip Advanced (1 year)

3. Bachelor Graduate Entry (1 year) + Grad Dip Advanced (1 year)

4. Grad Dip (1 year) + Grad Dip Advanced (1 year)

Cheapest and Fastest Options
If you already have a Bachelors, you would save approximately $15,000-$20,000 if you go down the Bachelors options - as you could get a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP). Universities generally don't want to offer fast Bachelor options because it's more profitable for them to sell Grad Dip courses at triple the price.

So options here are incredibly limited, these two options I listed are the only ones that can be done from Qld. A few others exist around Australia (Flinders and University of Adelaide) but nothing online.

Option 1: CDU - Charles Darwin University - Bachelor of Psychology Science (Graduate Entry). 1-year full-time. Before you start this course, you need to complete 2 foundations units, which they also offer as a CSP place through a Diploma. So you would take 2 units as a Diploma, then transfer to the Bachelors. 10 total units to complete (8 + 2 foundations). Cost approximately $8,350 total (this includes the 2 prep courses). Below is the mapping of this course.

Option 2: UNE - University of New England - Bachelor of Psychological Science (must apply under rule b). 1.5 years full-time. 12 total units to complete. Cost approximately $10,020 total. Trimester 3 intake for this course is the last one where they will offer rule b and so much credit.

Marks Matter
In order to get a CSP place for Honours you need decent marks in all PSY units excluding the 100 level units. The range of required grades varies hugely. For example:

• Griffith/USQ/QUT GPA 5

• UNE 6.5

• UQ 7

• CSU 5.5

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