Majors, Minors & Requirements

REQUIREMENTS FOR A MAJOR IN PSYCHOLOGY

A total of 11 courses or forty-four (44) credits in the major as follows:

  1. Psychology 150 to be taken as early as possible in the student’s course of study.
  2. Psychology 200 to be taken as early as possible in the student’s course of study.
  3. Psychology 211.
  4. One writing intensive advanced method course from among Psychology 350 - 353.
  5. Three content areas courses from: Psychology 216, 220, 225, 229, 311, 318, 323, 326, and 327.
  6. One course applying psychology which may be an internship (460), a service-learning course, 229, 326, 338, 351 or a course in education that is not cross-listed in psychology.
  7. Two additional courses (only one 105 course may count).
  8. Psychology 485 to be taken during the senior year.

REQUIREMENTS FOR A MINOR IN PSYCHOLOGY

A total of 6 courses or twenty-four (24) credits as follows:

  1. Psychology 150.
  2. Psychology 200.
  3. Four additional psychology courses to be chosen in consultation with a departmental advisor and to be approved by the department chair.  These will be selected to coordinate with the student’s major and career aspirations, and will normally include at least one 300- or 400-level course.

MAJOR ESSAY

When declaring a major in psychology, students must submit an essay in which they articulate their educational goals. The essay should be four paragraphs, with one paragraph dedicated to each of the questions below (question 3 has two parts).

  1. In your opinion, what are the defining characteristics of the discipline of Psychology?
  2. How do the requirements for the Psychology major complement your program of liberal arts study and support your career or life goals?
  3. As a Psychology major, how will you (a) build on your strengths and (b) address your weaknesses?
The entire essay should be between 250 and 1000 words and must accompany the Declaration of Major form when a student has the initial meeting with her/his major advisor. A student may choose to revise the essay after meeting with the advisor. Students will electronically submit the final, advisor approved, version of the essay as a Word document to the psychology departmental assistant so that it can be archived. The file name for the essay should be as follows: student’s last name, student’s first name, and graduation year. Each student will revisit the major essay in the senior seminar course.