Psychology - B.A./B.S.

General Psychology

Students interested in research or teaching in psychology-related fields are encouraged to select this area of concentration.

Major Requirements

Thirty-eight semester hours in psychology including:

Clinical Psychology

Students interested in pursuing a career in clinical psychology or human services through graduate study are encouraged to select this area of concentration.

Major Requirements

Thirty-eight semester hours in psychology, including: 

PSYC 290/291 Requirement:

Psychology majors/minors should plan to complete PSYC 290 - Behavioral Research and Statistics I  and PSYC 291 - Behavioral Research and Statistics II  at Dominican University. These courses are central to the psychology major/minor, and unless there are extraordinary circumstances, the department will not approve transfer credit for these courses. The learning outcomes for PSYC 290/291 foster the development of the skills and knowledge psychology students need in order to be successful in upper level psychology courses at Dominican. Although some other four-year colleges may offer integrated research methods and statistics courses for their psychology majors, these courses typically do not cover all of the essential learning outcomes taught in PSYC 290 and PSYC 291.

Capstone Courses or Experience

Each psychology major is required to complete a capstone course or experience. The courses that satisfy this requirement are:

• PSYC 440 - History and Systems of Psychology
    
• PSYC 445 - Program Planning and Evaluation
    
• PSYC 460 - Advanced Topics in Psychology
    
• PSYC 470 - Advanced Research
     
• PSYC 495 - Independent Undergraduate Research or Creative Investigation  (3 credit hours of PSYC 495 may count as the capstone with departmental approval)

Experiences that satisfy the capstone requirement are: an honors project, a degree with distinction project, or an internship approved by the psychology department. Students choosing a major in clinical psychology must register for an internship (3 semester hours credit) as their capstone experience.

Departmental Comprehensive Examination

All students earning a major in psychology are required to complete the comprehensive examination in the discipline. The examination is administered by the department to graduating seniors at the end of their final semester. All psychology majors must earn a passing score on the comprehensive examination as a condition for graduation.

Bachelor of Science option

Psychology majors interested in doctoral study are strongly encouraged to earn a Bachelor of Science degree. In addition to the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in general psychology or clinical psychology, the Bachelor of Science requires the completion of the following:

• Six hours in mathematics including  MATH 250 - Introduction to Calculus
• Six hours in biology (excluding BIOL 120 ) or chemistry
• PSYC 372 - Behavioral Neuroscience
• PSYC 393 - Learning and Memory
• PSYC 440 - History and Systems of Psychology