Psychology - B.A./B.S.

A minimum of 14 hours in the major field must be completed at Dominican University.

Required Courses (Bachelor of Arts)

Major Requirements

Thirty-eight semester hours in psychology including:

PSYC 101 - General Psychology: The Science of Behavior
Complete one of the following courses:
PSYC 105 - Introduction to Neuroscience
PSYC 372 - Behavioral Neuroscience
Complete the following courses:
PSYC 214 - Abnormal Psychology
PSYC 290 - Behavioral Research and Statistics I
PSYC 291 - Behavioral Research and Statistics II
Twelve hours taken at the 300 or 400 levels; 9 of these hours must be completed in the Psychology Department of Dominican University
A capstone course or experience (see below)
All psychology majors must additionally complete one community-based learning experience (either in a course with a CBL component built in or by adding PSYC 299 to an existing course)
The remainder of the 38 semester hours may be chosen according to the student’s interests and goals, but must included at least one course in each of two broad areas of psychology:

Complete at least one developmental psychology course:
PSYC 215 - Child Psychology
PSYC 220 - Adolescent Psychology
PSYC 225 - Adult Development
Complete at least one sociocultural/personality course:
PSYC 245 - Multicultural Psychology
PSYC 250 - Psychology and Law
PSYC 270 - Social Psychology
PSYC 325 - Psychology of Gender
PSYC 330 - Personality Theory
PSYC 370 - Community Psychology
The following two courses in the Graduate School of Social Work are available to psychology students. These courses will count toward the psychology major and are counted as 300-level courses.
- SWK 513 - Human Behavior in The Social Environment
- SWK 514 - History of Social Work & Social Welfare

PSYC 290/291 Requirement

Psychology majors need to complete PSYC 290 - Behavioral Research and Statistics I and PSYC 291 - Behavioral Research and Statistics II at Dominican University and must earn a minimum grade of C- in both. 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:

Experiences that satisfy the capstone requirement are: an honors project, a degree with distinction project, or an internship (PSYC 455 ) approved by the psychology department.

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 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. Three of the 6 hours may be BIOL 111 - General Biology I .
The following psychology courses, which will count towards the 12 hours required at the 300- or 400-level:
- Two 4-credit laboratory courses at the 300-level (e.g. PSYC 370 , PSYC 372 , PSYC 393 )
- PSYC 440 - History and Systems of Psychology

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