The Psychology minor can be a wonderful addition to many majors as it allows you to learn about and understand human behavior. Whether you are in education and interested in developmental psychology or in biology looking at neuropsychology, you can find courses to provide breadth and depth to complement your primary major while providing insight into the understanding of psychology.
The PSY minor is available to students at any Penn State campus that offers the required courses. Some PSYCH courses are available to resident students through World Campus during the summer, but World Campus PSYCH courses are not available to resident students during fall and spring semesters. (See World Campus PSYCH enrollment policy for details).
Requirements
To satisfy the requirements for the Psychology Minor, a student must complete a minimum of 18 PSYCH credits. These credits must include PSYCH 100, PSYCH 301W, and 6 credits at the 400 level.
Required Course | Credits |
|---|---|
PSYCH 100 | 3 |
PSYCH 301W | 4 |
PSYCH xxx | 3 |
PSYCH xxx | 3 |
PSYCH 4xx | 3 |
PSYCH 4xx | 3 |
Important Notes
- Courses without a PSYCH designation do NOT count toward the minor, even if they contain substantial psychology content.
- A letter grade of “C” or better must be earned in ALL courses counted toward the minor.
- Thesis (491, 493), research experience (294/494), internship (295/495), and independent study (296/496) courses do NOT count toward the minor. The intent of the minor is that it be earned by taking standard, content-based courses from the PSYCH curriculum.
- Nine of the 18 credits of PSYCH (including 3 credits at the 400 level) must be completed at Penn State.
- A student may apply a maximum of 3 credits of 499 in place of one of the 200-level courses.
- Most 400 level PSYCH courses are initially controlled for majors only, controls are lifted for select classes once lowerclassmen start scheduling. See the notes section in the course offering for details. Once controls are lifted minors and other non-majors can schedule these classes.
- Due to high demand and the need to prioritize Psychology majors, PSYCH 301W is controlled at University Park.
Minor’s who are 6th semester wanting Psych 301W:
SPRING 25 PSYCH 301W request form for University Park will be here https://forms.office.com/r/rscU45feWL
Exceptions
The last day to submit an exception request for PSYCH 301W.
- Registration will not be approved without required prerequisite courses (PSYCH 100 and PSYCH 200 or STAT 200).
- Registration will not be approved if the minor has not been declared.
- There is no guarantee of approval for any student for any class. Please see University Policy on minors.
In some cases, students who complete an appropriate methods course in their major may choose an additional Psychology course in lieu of PSYCH 301W. The following methods courses are approved for this purpose: BBH 310, BBH 411W, CAS 304, COMM 304, COMM 420, COMM 428D,HDFS 312W, SOC 207 in combination with SOC 400W, and LHR 312.Students who take an alternative research methods course must still complete 18 credits of courses with a PSYCH designation, but those 18 credits do not need to include PSYCH 301W.
Students using the sub options above for PSYCH 301W must make up the psychology credits by taking a 200 or 400 level psychology course as well, students may not use a TA experience for the additional course.
Exceptions do not happen automatically please complete the following form to request your audit adjustment after you’ve completed both; one of the research methods courses listed above and the additional psychology course https://forms.office.com/r/Ezb743T6fJ?origin=lprLink
Declaring and pursuing a minor in Psychology
You may declare your minor through LionPath. It is important to note the following:
- Students can declare the PSY minor though the Update Academics function (drop-down menu) in the LionPATH Student Center page. Tutorial for Update Academics.
- Declaring a minor does NOT guarantee that you will be able to take specific courses, even those required for the minor. Due to demand, Psychology majors have priority for many courses.
- You must complete the prerequisites for PSYCH courses applied to the minor. These prerequisites do not always count toward the minor; for example, there is a statistics prerequisite (STAT 200) for PSYCH 301W.
Dropping a PSY minor
Students who wish to drop the PSY minor should do so in update academics in LionPath, only if this does not work then send requests by email to ugpsychupwc@psu.edu
Advising
Students in the PSY minor are not assigned a specific adviser in psychology, but UP students are welcome to visit the Psychology Advising Center in 125 Moore Building for assistance concerning the minor.