Psychology B.A.
College of Education and Behavioral Sciences
Contact: Mark B. Alcorn, Ph.D., Director
Location: McKee Hall 0014
Telephone: 970.351.2957
Website: www.unco.edu/cebs/psychsci
Advising Information:
Students must consult with their assigned major advisor each semester prior to registering.
Assigned advisor is available through the Ursa login; ursa.unco.edu; under Student tab Academic Profile channel and is term specific. If no advisor is listed, contact the major program for advisor information.
The program consists of three parts:
- Liberal Arts Core (LAC) Credits
- Required Major Credits
- University-Wide Credits
Program Description:
The School of Psychological Sciences offers a quality, comprehensive, and coherent program. Students learn the research methods and core theories employed by psychologists. Students are also exposed to the diversity of psychology through a range of elective courses. The variety of courses offered permits students to choose a set of psychology courses that are related to their interests and career goals. Students participate in a field experience in which they work in a supervised psychology-related setting.
We are home to an active chapter of Psi Chi, the national honor society for psychology students. Psi Chi works closely with the program faculty and provides social and preprofessional opportunities to qualifying students. Also, we strongly encourage high achieving students with an affinity for research and an interest in graduate school to consider applying to the University Honors Program.
Program Admission Requirements:
Academic Good Standing
Program Requirements:
- A maximum of 24 semester credits may be transferred to the major from other institutions.
- Psychology students must have a minimum of 9 upper division credits (300-400 level) while in residence in order to graduate.
Degree Requirements — 120 Credits
Degree Requirements
1. Required Specified LAC — 3 credits
LAC area 5.c. — Human Behavior and Social Systems
Remaining LAC — 37
See “Liberal Arts Core”.
2. Required Major — 40 credits
Take all of the following courses:
| PSY 200 | Psychological Statistics and Design | 3 |
| PSY 300 | Research Methods in Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 380 | Introduction to Physiological Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 491 | Psychology Field Experience | 1-6 |
Choose one of the following options:
| BIO 100 | Exploring Biology | 3 |
| | and | |
| BIO 105 | Exploring Biology Lab | 1 |
| | or | |
| BIO 110 | Principles of Biology | 4 |
| | or | |
| BIO 245 | Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology | 4 |
Foundation Group
Choose two of the following courses:
Experimental Group
Choose one of the following courses:
Social/Developmental Group
Choose one of the following courses:
Choose 12 additional credits from the following courses:
Any additional courses from the above groups. (For example, if you satisfied the foundation group requirement with PSY 230 and PSY 255, you may select PSY 265 to help you reach the required 24 elective credits.)
Any additional psychology course with the PSY designation.
| PSY 271 | Psychological Testing and Measurements | 3 |
| PSY 280 | Psychology of Human Sexuality | 3 |
| PSY 323 | Health Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 347 | Educational Psychology for Elementary Teachers | 3 |
| PSY 349 | Educational Psychology for Secondary Teachers | 3 |
| PSY 350 | Theories of Personality | 3 |
| PSY 366 | Industrial Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 422 | Directed Studies | 1-3 |
| PSY 475 | Evolution and Behavior | 3 |
| PSY 492 | Instructional Aide | 1-3 |
| PSY 493 | Practicum in Psychology | 1-3 |
| PSY 495 | Special Topics in Psychology | 1-5 |
Electives from outside the PSY designation. (No more than 6 credits of the following courses may be included in the major as electives.)
| APCE 468 | Psychology of Women | 2 |
| HUSR 397 | Rehabilitation of the Substance Abuser | 3 |
| SES 333 | Psychological Analysis of Sports Exercise and Physical Activity | 3 |
Majors Only Seminars (Juniors or above, 3.0 cumulative grade point average and above)
| PSY 401 | Advanced Research Methods | 3 |
| PSY 407 | Introduction to Counseling Theories | 3 |
| PSY 430 | Developmental Disabilities and Psychopathology | 3 |
| PSY 460 | Clinical Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 481 | Advanced Physiological Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 482 | Behavioral Genetics | 3 |
Graduate Classes (Juniors or above, 3.0 grade point average and above)
| PSY 530 | Life Span Developmental Psychology | 3 |
| PSY 540 | Theories and Principles of Learning | 3 |
| PSY 550 | Cognitive Development | 3 |
| PSY 575 | Educational Assessment | 3 |
| PSY 580 | Psychopharmacology | 3 |
| PSY 590 | Seminar in History and Systems | 3 |
| PSY 595 | Special Topics in Psychology | 1-5 |
Additional credits of PSY 491, Field Experience (6 credits maximum).
| PSY 491 | Psychology Field Experience | 1-6 |
3. University-Wide Credits — 40 credits
Complete additional credits to achieve the minimum credits needed for this degree at UNC; for this degree, that will typically be 40 credits.
Accelerated (4 + 1) Psychology B.A. and Educational Psychology M.A.
Motivated and high-achieving students may seek to complete the requirements for the B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Educational Psychology in five years. To obtain both degrees, students must complete all the requirements for the B.A. described in the Undergraduate Catalog and all of the requirements for the M.A. described in the Graduate Catalog. Completing the requirements for both degrees in the accelerated Master's program is made possible by taking 9 credits of graduate course work in the junior and senior years (paid for at the undergraduate tuition rate). These 9 credit hours will be counted towards both the B.A. and M.A. degree requirements. Students remain eligible for financial aid as an undergraduate; any Graduate School aid is not available until students are admitted as a Graduate student.
Students interested in transferring into an accelerated Master’s Program must:
- Have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 to take graduate-level courses as a junior or senior.
- Meet with the program’s advisor in their junior year, apply (following the same procedure and meeting the same requirements as other M.A. applicants). Full admission is dependent on completing the B.A. requirements in the senior year while maintaining a minimum 3.0 GPA.
- Students and faculty identify the graduate courses the students should take. The program application will be signed and forwarded to the Graduate School with signatures of the program advisor indicating the approval of graduate course transfer.