- Class sizes and Class Offerings
- Advising
- The first two years
- Degree Structure
- Special Opportunities
- Who should consider the University Park Psychology Program?
University Park has a large, research-oriented Department of Psychology, with more than 50 full-time faculty more than 120 Ph.D. students. The undergraduate major is also large, with 450-500 Bachelors degrees awarded each year. Both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees are offered, and the BS degree has Business, Biological and Evolutionary Sciences, Neuroscience, and Quantitative Skills options. University Park also offers many options for minors and concurrent majors. Surveys of graduating seniors and alumni show that more than half of University Park majors go on to advanced degree programs (masters and doctorates) in Psychology and related fields. Some students also choose Psychology in preparation for law school, medical school, or other professional degrees.
Class sizes and class offerings
Lower-level courses at University Park are typically large lecture classes offered in auditorium-style classrooms. Advanced courses range in size from around 20 to more than 100 students, with class sizes of 50-60 typical at the 400 level. Required senior seminars (Psych 490) are limited to 30-35 students, and are taught by research-active faculty who cover special topics in their research areas. Courses offered vary by semester.
Advising
The UP Psychology Department maintains a staff of full-time professional advisers, and each UP Psychology major is assigned to one of these advisers. The Psychology Advising Center offers advising by appointment and on a walk-in basis, and maintains an extensive web site with resources for Psychology students. All UP Psychology students are subscribed to a listserv, and receive emails with announcements of special interest to Psychology students several times each month.
The first two years
As in other Penn State Psychology programs, students in their first two years focus on lower-division courses, General Education, and completing prerequisites for more advanced courses. The UP Psychology program does have entrance to major (ETM) requirements: PSYCH 100, STAT 200 or PSYCH 200, a GQ (math) course other than STAT 200, and a GS (Social and Behavioral Sciences) course other than PSYCH 100 must all be completed with grades of C or better before entering the major. These ETM requirements can be completed at any Penn State campus, and approximately 30% of University Park Psychology majors begin their studies at another Penn State location. Students starting at other locations should plan to meet the ETM requirements, and consider the 200-level Psychology distribution requirements in planning their first two years of coursework.
Degree structure
The University Park Psychology degrees are designed to encourage breadth in lower-division courses, and students are required to distribute their 200-level Psychology courses over several categories. All UP Psychology majors take PSYCH 105, Psychology as a Science and Profession, in semesters 3-5 to learn about the field of Psychology, critical thinking in Psychology, and to explore career options in Psychology and related fields. At the 400 level, there are no distribution requirements for Psychology courses, allowing students to specialize in particular fields of Psychology. Students may count 3 credits of internship or research experience toward the requirements of the major. Bachelor of Science options consist of non-Psychology courses, with flexibility in fulfilling particular option requirements.
Special opportunities
A large, research-oriented faculty provides many opportunities for students to become involved in reseach. More than half of UP Psychology majors participate in research by working in faculty laboratories during their time at Penn State, and each semester more than 200 students take advantage of such opportunities. These opportunities provide excellent preparation for graduate school, especially for doctoral programs, and allow undergraduate students to gain first-hand knowledge of graduate school by working directly with graduate students on research projects. Off-campus internships are possible, but must be arranged by students, and local opportunities are few relative to the number of Psychology majors.
Who should consider the University Park Psychology program?
The UP Psychology program provides a great deal of flexibility and is appropriate for students with many kinds of interests in Psychology. It will be of special interest to students focused on psychological research, those considering doctoral programs in Psychology, and those interested in combining Psychology with other programs available at UP. The most successful UP Psychology students are those who take the initiative to seek out opportunities such as research experience, and who are comfortable in a large-campus setting with many large classes.