Psychology and Neuroscience

Bachelor’s Degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience

Students must complete the general requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences and one of the two programs listed below. Additional explanatory notes are available in the department advising office in Muenzinger D243.

Neuroscience Major

Graduating in Four Years

Consult the Four-Year Guarantee Requirements for information on eligibility. The concept of "adequate progress" as it is used here only refers to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major. To maintain adequate progress in neuroscience, students should meet the following requirements:

• The neuroscience major must be started in the first semester. Adequate progress is defined as cumulative completion of at least one fourth of the required course work for the major during each academic year, including the following specific requirements: a) The ancillary molecular biology requirement and the genetics requirement must be completed during the first year; b) All ancillary requirements (molecular biology, calculus, and general chemistry) and Introduction to Neuroscience and Laboratory Techniques in Neuroscience must be completed by the end of the second year.
• The neuroscience major requires at least 55 hours of required course work. Thus, at least 14 hours must be completed yearly, including timely completion of advanced course prerequisites.
• The four-year guarantee also requires completion of 30 hours of core curriculum courses by the end of the sophomore year. Calculus counts as three hours of QRMS; chemistry and molecular biology count as 13 hours of natural science.

Psychology Major

In order to graduate with a degree in psychology, the department requires that students fulfill the following course requirements with a grade of C- or better. Additional explanatory notes are available in the department advising office, Muenzinger D243.

The department recommends taking PSYC 1001, 2012, 2145, 2606, and 3101 by the end of the sophomore year, and 3111 by the end of the junior year.

Required Courses and Semester Credit Hours

• PSYC 1001 General Psychology—3
• PSYC 2012 Biological Psychology—3
• PSYC 2145 Introductory Cognitive Psychology—3
• PSYC 2606 Social Psychology—3
• PSYC 3101 Statistics and Research Methods in Psychology—4
• PSYC 3111 Psychological Sciences II: Research Methods—4
• One of the following:
  PSYC 3102 Behavioral Genetics—3
  PSYC 3303 Abnormal Psychology—3
• At least one course from the following upper-division laboratory and methods courses:
  PSYC 3001 Honors Research Methods Seminar—4
  PSYC/NRSC 4052 Behavioral Neuroscience—4
  PSYC 4136 Human Judgment and Decision-Making Lab—4
  PSYC 4145 Advanced Cognitive Psychology—4
  PSYC/NRSC 4155 Cognitive Neuroscience/Neuropsychology—4
  PSYC 4165 Psychology of Perception—4
  PSYC 4175 Computational Cognitive Neuroscience—4
  PSYC 4376 Research Methods in Social Psychology—4
  PSYC 4443 Research Methods in Clinical Psychology—4
  PSYC 4733 Psychological Testing and Assessment—4
• Additional electives to bring total hours in psychology and neuroscience to at least 34, but not more than 45, of which at least 18 must be upper division. (Students are encouraged to use independent study to gain field or laboratory experience. However, independent study hours are pass/fail credit only and cannot be used toward the 34 hours required for graduation.)
• In addition to the course requirements listed above, and the minimum of 31 hours in psychology, the student is required to pass one of the following natural science sequences with a grade of C- or better:
  CHEM 1011 and 1031 Environmental Chemistry 1 and 2
  CHEM 1051 and 1071 Introduction to Chemistry and Introduction to Organic and Biochemistry
  CHEM 1113 and 1071 General Chemistry 1 and Introduction to Organic and Biochemistry
  CHEM 1113 and 1133 General Chemistry 1 and 2
  CHEM 1251 and 1271 General Chemistry 1 and 2 for Chemistry/Biochemistry majors
  EBIO 1210 and 1220 General Biology 1 and 2 (formerly EPOB 1210 and 1220)
  MATH 1300 and 2300 Analytical Geometry and Calculus 1 and 2
  MCDB 1150 and 2150 Introduction to MCD Biology 1 and Principles of Genetics
  MCDB 1150 and EBIO 1220 Introduction to MCD Biology 1 and General Biology 2
  PHYS 1110 and 1120 General Physics 1 and 2 (science and engineering majors only)
  PHYS 2010 and 2020 General Physics 1 and 2
• One of the following MATH courses with a grade of C- or better:
  MATH 1011 College Algebra
  MATH 1071 Finite Math
  MATH 1150 Pre-Calculus
  MATH 1300 Calculus

NOTE: Transfer students must complete a minimum of 12 upper-division hours of psychology course work on the Boulder campus with a C- or better. Of those 12 hours, one laboratory and methods course must be included.

Graduating in Four Years

Consult the Four-Year Guarantee Requirements for information on eligibility. The concept of “adequate progress” as it is used here only refers to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major. To maintain adequate progress in psychology, students should meet the following requirements:

• Declare the major by the beginning of the second semester.
• Complete PSYC 1001, 2012, 2145, and 2606 and  natural science sequence during the first two years of study.
• Complete the 2-semester sequence of PSYC 3101 and PSYC 3111 by the end of the fifth semester.
• Complete 3102 or 3303, a 4000-level laboratory and methods course, and at least two upper-division PSYC electives during the junior (third) year. (If students are unable to enroll in these courses due to oversubscription during the junior year, they will have top enrollment priority the senior year.)
• Complete remaining elective requirements during the senior year.

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Prerequisites Statement

It is policy to enforce the course prerequisites listed in the course descriptions. If you have not either taken and passed (C- or better) the prerequisites for a course, or obtained permission from the instructor or a departmental advisor to take the course based on equivalent preparatory course work or experience here or elsewhere, you may be administratively dropped from the course.