Transfer Students
What else do I need to know about Psychology?
Undergraduate Academic Issues in the Department
of Psychology
Procedural Issues for Transfer Students
Can transferred psychology courses count toward my
psychology major?
Psychology Course Evaluation
If you are transferring to the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities from another institution or campus and are interested in psychology, you may wonder where to start. The Department of Psychology is housed within the College of Liberal Arts and does not admit students directly at the undergraduate level. If you are interested in attending the U of MN and becoming a psychology major, you've made a great choice! You will need to contact the University of Minnesota Office of Admissions for more information about transferring to the U of MN and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA). When applying, you will apply to the College of Liberal Arts and indicate your interest in the psychology major.
What else do I need to know about Psychology?Things you need to know about the Department of Psychology at the U of MN - Twin Cities fall into two categories: academic issues and procedural issues. Since you may not need to concern yourself with procedural issues if some of the academic issues affect your choice of program, we'll start with the academic information that's important for you to know.
Undergraduate Academic Issues in the Department of Psychology- Child Psychology is a separate department from Psychology at the U of MN. Child Psychology majors are granted through the Institute of Child Development and the College of Liberal Arts at the undergraduate level. However, if you are interested in taking a couple of child and/or adolescent psychology courses as part of your psychology major, you may do so. Two specific Child Psychology courses do count toward fulfilling the Psychology major requirements. [Child Psychology courses are under Group B. of the distribution requirements]
- The undergraduate major is broad and general in scope. We do not offer specialization at the undergraduate level since specialized training is most successful after gaining a strong foundation in the field of psychology. There is flexibility within the major requirements for students with particular interests who would like to tailor their program of study toward those interests, while still insuring breadth of study across the discipline.
- The U of MN's Department of Psychology places a high degree of emphasis on empiricism, understanding human behavior by using rigorous research methods and objective data. A strong grounding in research methodology and how this informs the understanding of psychology are important foundations of the undergraduate program.
- Because the interests of our Faculty are so diverse, undergraduate students have the opportunity to take courses across many areas of the discipline. Undergraduate courses are taught by members of our distinguished faculty or led by advanced graduate students with a strong interest in innovative teaching methods.
- As stated above, in order to major in psychology you must apply to the College of Liberal Arts through the U of MN's Office of Admissions. Contact the Office of Admissions for more information about processes, deadlines and requirements.
- See the sections on Majoring in Psychology and Psychology Undergraduate Worksheet for information about the requirements for the psychology major. Keep in mind that these courses are those required for the MAJOR only, and that the College of Liberal Arts has many other requirements for DEGREE completion. You will need to investigate these degree requirements in the Undergraduate Catalog. Psychology advisors are not prepared to answer questions about CLA degree requirements; keep in mind that we are your best resource for questions about the psychology major requirements as well as career and graduate studies in the field of psychology.
- Transferring courses from your previous institution always brings up the question: "How will these count at the U of MN?" This question must be addressed through the Office of Admissions where decisions are made regarding the acceptance of credit from institutions around the country and abroad.
- Once you have learned which courses will be accepted to the University of Minnesota and the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of Psychology will be able to determine whether or not your previous psychology course work will count toward a psychology major at the U of MN. Most of the time we will need to view course syllabi from your courses to determine if the level of the course and the course content are parallel to a similarly titled course here. At times we will have evaluated the same course from your previous school for another student in the past. In this case, we may be able to provide you with immediate information on your transferred psychology course work.
- If you would like to use transferred psychology courses that have not been previously evaluated to fulfill major requirements, you must provide the Psychology Undergraduate Advising Office with detailed course syllabi and a course evaluation form. Course textbooks, papers, and notes may also be requested. These materials will be used to assess the similarity between the transferred course and courses in the psychology department. Questions about the evaluation of courses should be discussed with a psychology undergraduate advisor.
Updated 3/14/06