B.S. Degree

General Education Requirements for the B.S. in Psychology

In general, the lower division courses required for the B.S. degree in Psychology overlap with the B.A. degree. However, to fulfill the formal skills, we require the Mathematics sequence 20A, 20B, 20C.

Upper-Division Course Requirements

A minimum of twelve upper-division courses plus two Research Experience courses (8 units total ), and a research paper is required.

Five of these upper-division courses must come from the Core courses (101-106).

Of the seven upper division electives (107-193), three have to come from an area of concentration:

Behavior Analysis	Neuroscience & Behavior
Clinical Psychology	Sensation & Perception
Cognitive Psychology & Cognitive Neuropsychology	Social Psychology
Developmental Psychology

Areas of concentration and their associated courses are listed in alphabetical order below. (Subject to change -- for additional qualifying courses see the department’s Student Affairs Office, 1533 Mandler Hall, or email an advisor at ugradpsych@ucsd.edu).

Majors must have departmental approval for electives taken outside the department. Of the required courses in the area of specialization, three regular upper division courses and two research experiences, no more than two may be taken outside the department. We recommend consulting the department before enrolling in courses offered by other departments.

Research Experience and Research Paper Requirement

The two Research Experience courses will be comprised of a combination of laboratory courses or Psychology 199 courses (Independent Study) totalling 8 units of research credit. Psychology 199s can be taken for 2 or 4 units; but must total 8 units. If two 4-unit Psychology 199 courses are taken to fulfill this requirement, they must be directed by a psychology faculty within the chosen area of concentration and culminate in a research paper* approved by the primary advisor.

* Research Paper Requirements
The research paper has to be filed with the Undergraduate Students Affairs Office in Mandler Hall Room 1533 by the end of finals week in the quarter the student intends to graduate. Failure to do so will delay graduation. The paper has to be written in APA style. It should include reference sections and constitute a review of the research area in which the student was working. It should show a combined introduction and discussion section of a typical journal article (assuming that the student did not get to see the results of the research project(s) in which they were involved). The paper should indicate to the reader that the student understands the logic of research methods in psychology (remember it is a Bachelor of Science degree), and it should possibly include a "method-section-like" description of the part that the student played in the research, e.g., procedure if he/she was involved in running subjects, method of data analysis if he/she was involved in analysis of data, etc. The length of the paper is to be discussed with the PI (Principle Investigator/Primary Advisor).

B.S. Four Year Plans

Freshman Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	Math 20A 1 Nat Sci 1 GE 1 GE	Math 20B 1 Nat Sci 1 GE 1 GE	Math 20C 1 Nat Sci 1 GE 1 GE
Sophomore Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	1 Statistics 1 GE 1 GE 1 GE	1 Comp.Prog. 1 GE 1 GE 1 GE	1 GE 1 GE 1 GE 1 GE
Junior Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	1 Core Course 1 Core Course 1 Elective Course 1 GE	1 Core Course 1 Core Course 1 Elective Course 1 Lab Course (or 199)**	1 Core Course 1 Elective Course 1 Lab Course (or 199)**
Senior Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	1 Concentration 1 Elective Course 1 GE	1 Concentration 1 GE 1 GE	1 Concentration 1 GE 1 GE
You need a minimum of 12 upper division courses for a letter grade, plus 2 research experiences – we encourage you to take many more. **199 courses do not count as one of the 12 upper division Psychology courses towards the major GE = course needed for college or university requirement. Contact your college for more information.

B.S. with Honors

Freshman Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	Math 20A 1 Nat Sci 1 GE 1 GE	Math 20B 1 Nat Sci 1 GE 1 GE	Math 20C 1 Nat Sci 1 GE 1 GE
Sophomore Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	1 Statistics 1 GE 1 GE 1 GE	1 Comp.Prog. 1 GE 1 GE 1 GE	1 GE 1 GE 1 GE 1 GE
Junior Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	Apply to Honors Prog. 1 Core Course 1 Core Course 1 GE upper div.	Psych 110 1 Core Course Psych 111A	Psych 111B 1 Core Course 1 Core Course 1 Lab Course(or 199)**
Senior Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
	1 Concentration 194A 1 GE	1 Concentration 194B 1 GE	1 Concentration 194C 1 GE
You need a minimum of 12 upper division courses for a letter grade, plus 2 research experiences – we encourage you to take many more. **199 courses do not count as one of the 12 upper division Psychology courses towards the major GE = course needed for college or university requirement. Contact your college for more information.