Course planning

Combining majors and minors

Psychology majors can pursue a double major in almost anything.Psychology complements well the other social and behavioral sciences including Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice, Communication, or Biology.   But even English or Music are possible double majors. 

Double majors in A&S College. As long as the second major is also in the College of Arts and Science, it is relatively simple to double-major.  This is because the CAS graduation requirements (e.g., group requirements and forieign language) apply to both majors. (now scroll down and read Making your Courses Count)

Doube majors in Other UD Colleges. While it is possible to double major in Education, Nursing, Buisness, or Human Services, it is more difficult.  These majors are in other UD Colleges (e.g., Human Services is in CHEP, whereas Psychology is in the College of Arts and Science). This makes it hard to double major, because each college has its own graduation requirements, and they don't always overlap.  For this reason, students interested in both majors usually choose to only minor in one.

Double major or an interdepartmental major?

An Interdepartmental Major is an individually designed alternative to a Double Major.  A double major means the student must complete every course required for each major, exactly as specified in the Catalog, which is credit intensive.

The interdeparmental major combines two majors.  Students whose goals and interests heavily involve materials from two departments but do not extend to all aspects of each subject area may submit an interdepartmental proposal. This major involves a minimum of 21 credits from each department with another nine credits that may be distributed in a number of ways.

A minimum grade of C- is normally required in all courses constituting the 21 credits of each area, and a C average is necessary for all the 51 credits in the interdepartmental major.

Important note--if you are planning to get the BS (Bachelor of Science) degree in psychology along with another major that is a BA (like a BA in English), you'll be required to take an additional 30 credits at UD. This is a "double degree" situation and is explained here. If your second major is a BS major, too, then you're in a single degree situation again, and you don't need to take the extra 30 credits.

Interdepartmental Major in Neuroscience.

Neuroscience is a special interdepartmental major (combining Biology and Psychology) at UD.  All neuroscience majors follow a template that is used by the Biology and Psychology departments.    If you are interested in studying Neuroscience, you should visit this website.  Dr. Skeen is the psychology faculty member who is directing Neuroscience majors.

Minors

Many students amplify their majors with a minor.  Most minors are easy to add; they range from a minimum of 18 credits (e.g., a minor in sociology) to more than 30 (e.g., a minor in Business Administration). The only downside to pursuing a minor is that you will have less latitude in your schedule for electives and breadth requirements.  However, psychology majors may have plenty of extra room in their schedules, since our major only requires 30 credits. You declare most minors in UDSIS, and the credits for a minor are included in your total 124 credits for graduation.

Common minors for psychology majors include:

Educational Studies (if you're thinking of going on in Counseling or School Psychology...Note that this program will accept PSYC209 as a sub for EDUC665)

Linguistics (if you're thinking about Speech Language Pathology)

Cognitive Science

Legal Studies (if you're thinking about law school)

Disabilities Studies

Business Administration

Making your courses count

If you plan to double major or do more than one minor, come see the peer advisors. They can help you find courses that count for several programs. For example, if your other major is Criminal Justice, you can take PSYC350 to fulfill a Group C, a PSYC requirement, and a CJ requirement. The CJ major may even accept PSYC209 in place of SOCI301. And PSYC100 is required of both programs.

You'll have no problem combining majors if you choose classes that fulfill both a group requirement and a major or minor requirement. Keep in mind, too, that you should try to take your second writing requirement and Multicultural requirement courses in your major deparement--another way of making a course do double-duty.

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