First Year Requirements
- Behavior Analysis (including basic and applied)
- Neuroscience & Behavior / Biopsychology (including Neuropsychology and Neurophysiology)
- Cognitive (including attention, language, perception)
- Developmental (including language acquisition)
- Sensation and Perception (including vision and audition)
- Social (including health and law)
- Behavior Analysis- Psyc 219A, 219B
- Neuroscience/Biopsychology- Psyc 222
- Cognitive- Psyc 218A, 218B
- Developmental- Psyc 217A, 217B
- Sensation and Perception- Psyc 221
- Social- Psyc 220
Courses are divided into six areas:
The Graduate Affairs Committee provides an approved list of courses from the six areas. (See Approved Seminars from Psychology and Other Departments)
All courses must be taken while the graduate student is registered as a student in the Department of Psychology at UCSD. Occasionally (e.g., off-campus study), exceptions may be granted to this rule. Students and their advisors should request exemption from the Graduate Affairs Committee as early as possible. This helps the students, their advisors, and the Graduate Affairs Committee to anticipate any changes in course requirements.
In the first year of study each student must fulfill the following requirements. The student must complete all requirements to continue beyond the first year.
1) Quantitative Methods:
Either (a) take two quantitative methods courses approved by the Graduate Affairs Committee (currently 201A and 201B), or (b) demonstrate satisfactory knowledge of these courses through an examination. 201A and B must each be completed with a B+ or better.
2) First Year Proseminar Requirements:
In addition to the quantitative methods requirement, each student is expected to take four proseminar courses from the list prepared by the Graduate Affairs Committee. Proseminars from each area will be offered every year and may be one to two quarters in length, depending on the area. Though some research areas may prefer you to take both classes in a series, all prosems may be taken independently without completing the series for that particular area. If you do choose to complete the series, taking the second part during your second year, you should take a total of three prosems and one approved seminar in your first year. In some cases, there may be a reason to take five prosems, at which point you could petition the Grad Advisor to have the additional prosem count as an approved seminar. Each entering student will be required to take at least one proseminar in each of three areas and a total of four proseminars altogether. Thus, no more than two courses from any one of the six areas may be counted toward the basic requirement. These courses must be completed with an average of B+ or better, and no less than a B- in any given course.
Proseminars by Area
3) Psychology 270ABC, Introduction to Laboratory Experimentation:
PSYC 270ABC is a three-part required course for all first year students, 4 units per quarter. Fall (270A) and Winter (270B) will be taken as Pass/No Pass. Spring (270C) will receive a letter grade based on the final project (paper and presentation). This course does not have an official meeting time. It is the responsibility of each graduate student to work independently with their Research Advisor and the Grad Advisor to develop and complete this first year project.
4) Research Project (including oral presentation at the departmental “Little APS” in June):
a) Research Project
Submit and present a research paper on the research project completed for Psychology 270ABC. The paper should be comparable in style, length, and quality to papers published in the normal, refereed journals of the student's research area. Papers should be prepared in APA-approved format, as if being submitted for publication to one of the society’s journals. In some cases, students may submit with an alternate format such as Journal of Neuroscience, Brain Research, JEAB, JPSP, Vision Research, or Perception and Psychophysics. Such instances should obtain prior approval from Grad Advisor and indicate the name of the target journal on the cover page of the research paper.
During Winter quarter, each student will be expected to arrange a preliminary meeting with their faculty advisor and one additional faculty member of their choosing. The purpose of this meeting is to propose their idea for their 1st year research project in order to receive guidance and feedback. Before this meeting please pick up a sign off form from the Grad Coordinator. Upon successful completion of the meeting the form should be signed by the faculty in attendance and returned to the Grad Coordinator. To download the form click here.
The final research paper is traditionally due 2 weeks before “Little APS”, submitting three copies to the Grad Coordinator’s mailbox by the announced deadline. The paper will be read and evaluated by the student's research advisor and at least two other readers appointed by the Graduate Affairs Committee, graded on a five-point scale (1-5, with 5 being the best possible score). Students must average a 3 to be considered passing. Additional readers may be required when there are conflicting evaluations.
b) “Little APS” (oral presentation of research project)
The research paper will also be presented orally at a research meeting at the end of the Spring quarter (“Little APS”). “Little APS” is traditionally held on the Saturday before finals in Spring. Attendance at this meeting is required of all graduate students and faculty. Each first year student will have a maximum of ten minutes for their presentation, immediately followed by five minutes of questions.
Any student who fails to present a first year paper at “Little APS” will automatically fail the first year requirements. Any request for an exception to this policy must be brought to the Graduate Advisor for approval at least one week prior to the date on which the paper is due (and at least three weeks prior to “Little APS” presentations).
5) Psychology 280, Colloquium
The Psychology Colloquium series (PSYC 280) is a required course for all first through fourth year students in the program. The Colloquium meets on Thursday afternoons, from 4pm – 6pm in 3545 Mandler Hall. First through fourth year students are required to sign up and attend every quarter for 1 unit, Pass/No Pass. During the Winter quarter when there are no colloquiums students are expected to attend at least five Job Talks.
6) Psychology 500, Academic Credit for TAship
Academic credit is awarded for each TA appointment. You must sign up for PSYC 500 for 4 units, Pass/No Pass, with the appropriate instructor for every quarter you are a TA. Note: Summer TAships do not receive academic credit.
7) Advisor
Students are accepted into the graduate program independent of an advisor. A student is expected to have an advisor by the end of Fall quarter of the first year of study. Continued status in the department depends upon having an appropriate advisor. Students may change advisors; this is between the advisor and the student. Contingent upon approval, students may elect to work with an advisor outside the Psychology Department. Should a student decide to work with an outside faculty member it will be the responsibility of that professor to provide support for the student. It will also be necessary for the student to have a Psychology faculty co-advisor who can keep abreast of the student's research progress.
8) Language Requirement
Foreign students whose undergraduate degree is from a non-English speaking college or university must demonstrate satisfactory English language skills. Language competency is assessed by an oral interview (about 15 minutes) by a committee comprised of a representative from the department and a linguist. Students who do not have the requisite language skills must enroll in a language training course offered at no cost by the TA Development Program. The department requires that students pass the language screening evaluation by the end of their first year of the program. All of our foreign students to date have used the resources of the TA Development Program and have successfully passed the language screening evaluation.
