Admission Requirements

Students must complete the following benchmark standards by 60 credit hours to be on track for the psychology major:
A minimum UF GPA of 2.80 (3.0 if from other 4-year institution) and GPA of 2.75 on all critical tracking coursework.
12 hours Gordon Rule-writing
6 hours Gordon Rule-Math (including STA 2023)*
Completion of CLAST or appropriate waiver
General Psychology PSY 2012
One additional psychology course or one of the Foundation level courses below (e.g. Group A or Group B)*
BSC 2007 or BSC 2007 or BSC 2010* (For students with a catalog year before 1999, 6 credits of any General Ed. biology course is required rather than one of these three courses.)
MAC1147 or both MAC1140 and MAC1114

*Note: Underlined courses must be completed with an average grade of 2.75 or better.

Students must complete one additional psychology course by 90 credit hours to remain on track for the psychology major.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

The Psychology Academic Learning Compact can be accessed at the registrar's website.

Click here for a major check list to ensure completion of requirements for the psychology major.

As a student in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, you will need to fulfill the requirements of the College as well as those for the psychology major. See the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Section of the Undergraduate Catalog for College requirements and guidelines. For advisement concerning college-related matters, contact the Academic Advising Center, (392-1521). It is advisable to have the Academic Advising Center staff conduct a yearly "graduation check" on your progress in meeting college requirements, as well as a "graduation check" done by the department (in Room 135) regarding psychology requirements.

An undergraduate psychology major consists of a minimum of 36 semester hours of psychology. At least 30 of the 36 hours must be in upper division (3000- or 4000-level) courses. At least 18 of the 36 hours must be taken at the University of Florida. To count toward the 36 hour total, all grades in graded courses must be at C or better level. As of 2007, students entering UF with a catalog year of 2007 and beyond are required to complete a capstone course prior to graduation. In addition to the capstone course, Coursework must be distributed as follows:

1. Introductory level: PSY 2013 (or its equivalent; any general psychology course).
   
2. Foundation level: These courses form the core of the major. Each is an introduction to one of the substantive areas of psychology. You must choose at least two courses from each of these two groups:
   Group A:
   
   CBH 3003 Basic Comparative Psychology
   EAB 3002 Principles of Behavior Analysis
     OR EAB 3764 Applied Behavior Analysis (not both courses)
   EXP 3104 Sensory Processes
     OR EXP 3106 Sensory Processes with Calculus (not both courses)
   EXP 3604 Cognitive Psychology
   PSB 3004 Physiological Psychology
     OR PSB 3054 Behavioral Neuroscience (but not both courses)
   
   Group B:
   
   DEP 3053 Developmental Psychology
   SOP 3004 Social Psychology
   PPE 3004 Psychology of Personality CLP 3144 Abnormal Psychology
   
3. Laboratory courses: All of the focused labs have as a prerequisite the foundation level course with the same prefix as that of the lab and completion of at least one of the two statistics courses with at least a C grade. EAB 4714C and SOP 4214C require a STA 2023 grade of at least a B. You must take at least one of the following courses:
   
   PSY 3213L Research Methods (3 credits)
   DEP 4704C Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
   EAB 4022C Laboratory Procedures in Behavioral (oriented toward animal behavior)
   EAB 4714C Laboratory in Applied Behavioral Analyses (oriented toward human behavior in applied settings)
   EAB 4724C Laboratory in Precise Behavioral Management (oriented toward human behavior in education settings)
   EXP 4174C Laboratory in Sensory Processes
   EXP 4934C Laboratory in Cognitive Processes
   PPE 4324C Research Methods in Personality
   PSB 4104C Laboratory in Physiological Psychology
   SOP 4214C Research Methods in Social Psychology
   
4. Additional courses: You must choose enough additional courses from the 2000- (only 3 credits beyond General Psychology allowed at this level e.g PCO2714), 3000-, 4000-, and 5000- level courses in psychology to meet the 36 hour-minimum requirement. Carefully monitor course offerings and your progress each semester to insure achieving this goal by graduation and/or consult with the psychology advising office for a graduation check well before graduation. Your laboratory course is counted toward this 36 hours but statistics courses are not. Students wishing to take the UF correspondence course in Industrial/Organizational psychology (it not offered by the department) may receive credit toward this requirement (see the final section of this program guide and the psychology advising office for details).
   
5. Statistics and math courses: Two statistics courses, STA 2023 and STA 3024 (6 credits) and, for students with a catalog year of 1999 or later, one math course, MAC 1147 (4 credits) or higher is required. MAC 1114 and MAC 1140 (5 credits) may be substituted for MAC 1147. STA 2023 is a prerequisite for all 4000- and 5000-level courses in psychology. Thus you should take it prior to the laboratory courses. It is recommended that STA 3024 be taken prior to or concurrent with the laboratory courses. Hours earned in Statistics may count toward the 21-hour upper division elective requirement of the College. None of these hours counts toward the required 36 credits of psychology courses. No classes in statistics or mathematics may be taken on a satisfactory-unsatisfactory basis. For students with a catalog year prior to 1999, 6 hours of math is required from any course sequence that the College recognizes for its math requirement, with the exception of STA 2122. Typical choices would be (a) Fundamentals of Math (MGF 1202), College Algebra (MAC 1140) or Survey of Calculus (MAC 2233); and (b) Programming using Pascal (CGS 3462), Computer Programming and Software Packages (CGS 2531), or Logic (PHI 2100). In all graded courses, a grade of "C" or better must be earned if the course is to count toward your major. There are no exceptions.
   
6. Developing Writing Skills. It is strongly recommended that majors considering graduate school take PSY 3220, Communicating Psychological Science. This course should be taken rather than the previously recommended ENC 3254, Writing in the Discipline (psychology). PSY 3220 provides important preparation for writing research reports in the required laboratory courses and can also fulfill the second composition course required by the college. The course also enhances application to graduate and professional schools (e.g., writing an effective essay on the application form) and counts toward the Psychology major. Students are encouraged to take the course as a junior or first semester senior. Students who do not meet the prerequisites and need permission of the instructor to take the course should contact the Psychology advising office, 135 psychology building.
   
7. Individual Work Courses. Individual Work Courses. In addition to regularly scheduled courses, you can enroll in any of four individual-work courses on a pass-fail basis. Up to 9 of these hours will count toward the 36-hour minimum requirement. In each case, a faculty member or other approved professional serves as a supervisor of your activities. It is up to you to contact a supervisor and arrange to take these courses. Application forms can be obtained from PSY 114 or the Advisement Office in PSY 135. For more information about these courses, see an advisor. In some cases you can arrange to participate in research under the supervision of a qualified professional who is not on the department faculty. Under these circumstances, the application must be approved by a department member who is familiar with the intended supervisor and his/her research qualifications. It is then the responsibility of the faculty member to turn in a grade to the department at the appropriate time at the end of the semester. The three courses follow a rough sequence leading from the basic course (PSY 3912) through the execution of a senior thesis (PSY 4970). As you might expect, many more students are active in the initial course than in a formal senior thesis. It is highly recommended, however, that students considering graduate work in psychology take part in these activities, including the senior thesis. NOTE: Credit for these courses can't be awarded retroactively, so if you're about to become involved in an appropriate activity, look into the possibility of earning credit for it.
   

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