Hi all

First post so apologies if it's in the wrong place.

I've spent an eternity Googling the correct usage/order of post nominal letters and am still unsure.

Mine, in the order gained, are as follows.

BA PhD BSC MBPsS dip.couns

My first question being what is the correct order, generally, that these should be displayed.

Secondly and more specifically. I understand that PhD should be placed at the end as the 'highest' however I work in psychology and my BA and PhD are in combined social science therefore not directly relevant.

I do not wish to seem to be misleading potential clients.
It seems to me that "..BSC MBPsS PhD" implies a relevant doctorate.

Hope that makes sense!

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

With both prenominal and post-nominal letters, the more senior qualification is always that which is furthest away. If you have academic and professional qualifications, the professional qualifications (MBPsS) always come after the academic ones.

i.e. "Matthew Thorpe Dip Couns B.A. B.Sc.(Hons) M.Sc. PhD MBPsS"

Assuming you don't have honours for the B.A. but do for the B.Sc., then the B.Sc. whould take precedence and come after the B.A. (if both are with honours and equivalent, then use alphabetical order - B.A. would still come first).

If you choose to use prenominal qualifications where relevant, this becomes:

"Dr. Matthew Thorpe Dip Couns B.A. B.Sc.(Hons) M.Sc. MBPsS"

Never use "Dr." as a prenominal designation and "Ph.D." as a post-nominal designation together as this misrepresents you as being "Dr." twice.

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As an aside, with prenominal qualifications the more senior qualification goes to the outside, furthest away from the name.

So you might have:

"Rt. Hon. Revd. Dr. Sir Matthew Thorpe MBE MP Dip Couns B.A. B.Sc.(Hons) M.Sc. MBPsS MP"

The above assumes you're a member of the Privy Council, a vicar and have a knighthood. The Privy Council designation (Rt. Hon.) takes priority over the position of divinity (Revd.), which itself takes priority over the doctorate (Dr.), that taking priority over the knighthood. Also assuming you have an MBE and you're one of that corrupt band known as members of parliament, the MBE goes before you MP designation and also before your academic then professional qualifications (both are always post-nominal).

Googling shows how often people get these in the wrong order and I bet I'm wrong with at least a little fo the above. :-)

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

And, er, it took me three attempts to get that right!!! :-)

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

Extremely helpful and concise answer Ian.

Exactly what I was looking for.

Many thanks.