Psychology is a versatile major. Our discipline encompasses all of the many different factors that affect human thoughts, feelings, behavior and development. 

Read more about the Psychology major

Psychology degree requirements

Majoring in psychology will help you gain skills that will be useful to you no matter what career you pursue. Employers want people who have: written communication skills, problem-solving skills, analytic/quantitative skills, leadership and mentoring skills, and teamwork skills. A major in psychology will help you develop these skill sets, which you can take anywhere.

Read more about psychology careers and our alumni.

Please visit this site, and scroll to the appropriate section along the left-hand side of the page.

Be aware that students declaring majors in Psychology must complete the new majors advising session. Students declaring a co-major or minor in Neuroscience must receive approval by speaking with Program Advisor Dr. Jennifer Quinn.

If a student wishes to transfer a course from another institution to Miami, the course needs to be listed in Transferology as a match. It is important to ensure the direction of the match is FROM that school TO Miami; not everything is a two-way match. Students wishing to apply transfer credits to the Psychology major should contact the Chief Departmental Advisor.

If the course is not listed in Transferology, students should ideally get preapproval from the Chief Departmental Advisor before taking the class. Of course, students can take the class first and then apply to transfer it, but there is no guarantee that the class will transfer as an equivalent to the class the student is intending it to transfer in as. Also, note that the Chief Departmental Advisor is the only person who can approve “transfer credits” from other universities for the PSY major.

Please consult the roadmap to the Psychology major, which has 3 and 4-year plans for finishing the major.

Psychology is a fairly flexible major, so doubling it with another major is possible within the 4-year time frame. If you are planning to double, it is advantageous to complete the statistics and research methods sequence fairly early (see FAQ, "When should I take the stats and methods sequence"). This is particularly important if your other major is cohort-based or in a different academic division.

Also be aware that if your majors are in two different divisions, you are responsible for meeting division level requirements for both. For example, if you are a marketing (FSB) and PSY (CAS) double major, you will still need a foreign language through the 202 level. Although FSB does not require it, CAS does. It is also suggested that you meet with your advisors often to make sure you are on track for both majors. 

The statistics and research methods sequence (STA 261, PSY 293, PSY 294) is a foundational part of the psychology major. Psychology majors take their skills in analysis and reasoning to many types of careers. We have structured our major so that taking statistics and research methods as early as possible will help students get the most of our major. It is important to start these courses early because they progress in a sequence (they cannot be taken at the same time), requiring three semesters to finish. It is important to complete this sequence early because majors cannot take our upper-level (300+) courses until they have finished PSY 294.

The most common timeline is for students to take STA 261 during their first year, to take PSY 293 during the fall of their sophomore year, and PSY 294 during the spring of their sophomore year. It is not uncommon for students to be on a trajectory to finish this sequence one semester earlier or later than this, but it becomes difficult for students to complete the major in a timely manner if they finish PSY 294 with fewer than three semesters remaining for upper-level coursework.  

Bbecause majors cannot take upper level (300+) courses until after they have finished the three-course sequence in statistics and research methods, students are typically taking upper-level courses in their third and fourth years. This also allows time for students to take many of our 200-level breadth courses and while fulfilling that requirement, decide which area(s) of psychology they would like to be their major focus.

The Psychology major requires three upper-level courses, at least one of which is at the 400-level, and this does not count the capstone (PSY 410), which all students must take. It is most common for students to begin taking 300-level courses their third year and to take their 400-level courses their fourth year. The capstone course must be taken with “senior” standing to count towards the Miami Plan capstone requirement.

It is helpful for majors to plan which upper-level course they would like to take, as many 400-level courses have a 300-level pre-requisite. These often fall into the Area of Focus requirement, which is a series of three courses, often starting with a 200-level course and then moving into upper-level courses. The upper-level courses completed as part of the area of focus also count towards our requirement of three upper-level courses.   

Students can take 400-level PSY classes at any point during their academic career, provided they have the appropriate pre-requisites. However, for the capstone to count for the Miami Plan capstone requirement, students need to take it after they have completed 96 credit hours.

To be eligible for departmental honors in Psychology, you should apply in the fall semester of your junior year. Click here for more information.

First, read about how to transfer credits, above. Also, students wanting to study abroad often need to do significant legwork on their own to identify: 1) where they want to study, and 2) what courses at that university might be comparable to courses that we offer at Miami. Please contact staff in Global Initiatives for more information. To determine if psychology courses taken abroad will count towards the major, you should meet with the Chief Departmental Advisor before enrolling in the courses.

Getting approval for excess hours is done through the CAS Advising Office (146 Upham Hall; 529-3031). Students will need to fill out a form providing a brief rationale regarding the need for excess hours and the student's ability to handle the extra workload. Students will also need to obtain signatures from their academic advisor or the Chief Departmental Advisor.