Psychology Major and Minor

Student Resources

• Psychology Advisory Handbook
• Information sheet for clinical/counseling graduate school

 

 

 

 

Possible Double Majors and Complementary Courses

• Psychology and biology
• Psychology and religion
• Psychology and sociology
• Psychology and communication
• Psychology and criminology law courses: POSC 446, POSC 526, POSC 533, SOC 421, and SOC 436

Unique Aspects of the Major

In addition to broad academic offerings, a number of worthwhile fieldwork experiences are available. Students routinely work at a nearby detention facility for juvenile delinquents or in the local state hospital. A variety of other field placements are available with such agencies as those dealing with child abuse, adult mental retardation, drug abuse, educationally or physically handicapped children, and mental illness.

The faculty has developed expertise in assisting those students who desire to apply for admission to graduate school. When teaching specific areas, faculty emphasize the information needed to pass graduate school examinations. The faculty also counsels and assists psychology majors to select satisfying career goals in psychologically oriented fields or in other related settings.

Lastly, the faculty offers a few select courses that enhance understanding of the relationships between psychology, religion, and human values.

Career Opportunities

Recent graduates have found careers in industry, personnel, and research, and have worked as management trainees, counselors in various settings, and agencies educating children with special needs.

Psychology majors are often qualified to apply for state and county jobs in the area of corrections and welfare such as the Department of Children's Services.

Additionally, the industrial/organizational psychology minor allows undergraduates to take courses in the area of business management as partial fulfillment of their psychology requirements.

This way, students can incorporate both fields in pursuit of employment in an industrial career, which emphasizes psychological principles, such as personnel psychology.

Graduate School Admission Requirements

Requirements for admission to master's or doctoral programs vary greatly.

Master's programs—which include marriage and family counseling, industrial psychology, and clinical psychology—usually require a grade point average of 3.0 (B) or higher, and fulfillment of a core of undergraduate courses. Letters of recommendation are required.

Doctoral programs require a minimum grade point average of 3.3, completion of numerous psychology courses, and perhaps some other courses in physiology, chemistry and mathematics. In addition, students must perform above the median or higher in the three areas of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE): verbal, quantitative, and analytic. Some schools look for a high performance on the advanced GRE and on the Miller's Analogies Test (MAT).

Letters of recommendation from professors and other professionals are required, and it is very helpful if students possess some experience in related fieldwork.

Read the APA Graduate Study in Psychology book, and be prepared to take the GRE and the MAT in October the year before you hope to enter graduate school. Start applying for admission in November. Notification of acceptance arrives in April.

Honors Club

The Pepperdine chapter of Psi Chi and the Psychology Club provide excellent resources and opportunities for students. Psi Chi is the national honor society for psychology students. Its purpose is to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship for individual members, and to advance the science of psychology. Membership is open to psychology majors who meet the national requirements. Guest speakers, movies, and parties are arranged for members.

Student Research and Publications

Our psychology students have worked with professors in their areas to publish and present their unique research in a variety of places.