REQUIRED COURSES

There are four courses required for the major: Psychology 101, 107, 213W, and one course from the Psychology Advanced Laboratory 311-321 series. These courses were chosen because most graduate programs require them at the undergraduate level. Very few graduate programs have specific course requirements beyond these courses. You should make every effort to get these requirements out of the way as soon as possible. In view of the fact that these courses are required of all majors, they are in great demand and often close during preregistration. One should plan to use preregistration to get into these courses rather than wait for the regular college registration period. Because Psychology 107 is a prerequisite for Psychology 213W and because Psychology 213W is a prerequisite for the the Advanced Lab course, you should try to use what you have just learned by taking the required courses in successive semesters.

Electives

The rest of the credits for the major are chosen from elective courses. You should sample broadly from any of the electives. This preparation will be helpful when you need to take the Psychology subject test of the Graduate Record Examination. In addition, graduate schools like to see that you are familiar with the breadth of psychological inquiry. They do NOT want you to come in as an expert in any one area. They see their job as making you an expert. For example, if you were interested in developmental psychology, you would probably take some courses from the Psychology 214-217 sequence. Two courses would be a reasonable number and would adequately reflect your interest; three would probably not look good; and four courses would give an unbalanced transcript.