Program Planning Tips
If you are a major or concentrator please use these tips to help you plan your program.
1. Review Major Requirements
The requirements for your program are described on the Degree Requirements page.
2. Use Major Requirement Checklists
Fill out the appropriate checklist for your program to see what courses you still need to take. Always bring a completed Checklist with you when you visit an advisor. You must submit a checklist to the Undergraduate Curriculum Assistant in 406 Schermerhorn, prior to your final semester.
3. Study Psychology Course Offerings
The Course Index page will direct you to the course descriptions and syllabi for all of the lectures, seminars, laboratory, statistics and graduate courses the Psychology Department has offered in recent years. While many of these courses are offered regularly, not all of them are offered in every academic year. The Year-at-a-Glance table provides an overview of the courses offered in the current academic year. The Week-at-a-Glance schedules can help you find courses that will work with your schedule.
4. Use the Online Directory of Classes
The Psychology course listings in the Directory of Classes are updated by the Registrar's office regularly to reflect course details, including any changes in room assignments.
5. Note Prerequisites and Permissions
Read course descriptions carefully, noting the required prerequisites and permissions. With the exception of PSYC UN1450, psychology research methods courses require a statistics course as a prerequisite. Most psychology seminars require instructor permission. You may join the wait list of any seminar, but you are advised to write to the instructor for permission PRIOR to doing so. Faculty contact information and office hours are found on the Faculty page.
CAUTION: the fact that you are allowed to register for a Barnard class does not mean you have been admitted to the class; class rosters must often be reduced after the first class meeting.
6. Specific Recommendations:
- STRONGLY RECOMMENDED: Complete statistics (PSYC 1610) and research methods (PSYC 14xx) requirements, in that order, by Fall of junior year.
- Consult online syllabi before selecting your courses.
- Register at your first opportunity; some courses will close out early.
- Participate in research as early and as much as you can.
- Apply for Honors Program in Spring of sophomore year. Deadline will be in May.
- Take seminar prerequisites and request instructor permission early, PRIOR to joining seminar waitlists.
7. Consult a Faculty or Peer Advisor
Your Faculty Advisor will serve as an important contact for psychology-related questions, including class choices, research opportunities, fields of study, and post-graduation plans. Your Peer Advisors are also available to help with class choices and schedule planning. They have good ideas about things like getting involved in a research lab. You may set up an appointment with one of them by email, or meet them at our various Open Houses and Majors Forums.
8. Consult a Program Advisor (DUS)
For approval of transfer credit and for definitive answers to questions about major requirements or other administrative aspects of the degree see your Program Advisor (aka DUS), or the Undergraduate Curriculum Assistant in 406. If you completed a psychology course at another institution but have not yet received SIGNED departmental approval for transfer credit toward the major, you should apply for it at your earliest convenience. Follow the transfer credit instructions on the web, show your collected materials to the Undergraduate Curriculum Assistant in 406, and then meet with your Program Advisor.
9) Don't miss our Special Events!
Dates will be posted and email announcements will be sent to all majors. Our special events include, but are not limited to:
- Lab Preview - beginning of Fall term, Sch 200B
- Fall Majors Forum - mid-Fall, Sch 200B
- Open House for Prospective Majors - Typically February/March, Sch 200B
- Spring Majors Forum - Typically March/April, Sch 200B
- Pre-Clinical Advising Sessions - once per term (Sch 200C)
- Honors Presentations - last Colloquium of Spring term, Sch 614