General-Experimental Psychology M.A.
Getting Started
Admission to the M.A. Program
In addition to the general requirements of the university, specific requirements for admission to classified graduate status are:
1. A baccalaureate degree with a major in psychology; or with any other undergraduate major;
A. Score at least at the 50th percentile on the GRE advanced test in psychology;
OR
B. Satisfy the graduate admissions committee of the Department of Psychology that a satisfactory course of study has been pursued in preparation for graduate study in psychology;
2. A cumulative undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.0 ("B") overall and in the major;
3. Submission of scores for the verbal and quantitative portions of the Graduate Record Examination (for the General-Experimental Psychology only);
4. Completion of the graduate entrance writing requirement;
5. A brief statement describing preparation for graduate study, the goals of graduate study and professional aspirations, to be submitted to the department;
6. Three letters of recommendation, with at least two from former professors. Letters should come directly from the writers or be included in a placement file. (It is the applicant's responsibility to determine if letters have been received.);
7. Satisfaction of the prerequisites of one of the following areas of concentration:
A. General-Experimental Psychology concentration, the following prerequisites or their equivalent:
PSYC 100. Introduction to Psychology
PSYC 210. Psychological Statistics
PSYC 311. Introduction to Experimental Psychology
B. Child Development concentration, the following prerequisites or their equivalent:
PSYC 100. Introduction to Psychology
A course in child development.
Students who meet the general requirements of the university for admission to graduate study, but who do not meet the Psychology Department's specific requirements for admission to classified status or who wish to take course work prior to spring quarter consideration of their application for classified status, may be admitted to the university in the unclassified postbaccalaureate status. Unclassified postbaccalaureate students may enroll, with consent of the Psychology Department, in selected graduate courses.
Advancement to Candidacy
At the end of the spring quarter, all first year graduate students will be evaluated to determine whether or not they will be advanced to candidacy for the Master of Arts degree. Students will be reevaluated each quarter until they are either advanced to candidacy or declassified.
To be formally advanced to candidacy, a student must, to the satisfaction of the chair of the department, have:
1. Achieved classified status;
2. Successfully completed 16 units of course work in the program and maintained a 3.0 ("B") grade point average in the course work;
3. Selected a graduate advisor to supervise the course of study;
4. Satisfied the ethical requirements of the American Psychological Association;
5. Filed an approved graduate program which must have the approval of the student's advisor, the department chair or the graduate program director and the Dean of Graduate Studies;
6. Demonstrated successful research participation with a faculty advisor. Success will be determined by a passing grade in PSYC 611B (2 units). PSYC 611C (3 units) will be reserved for the completed thesis proposal after advancement. This requirement can be fulfilled in one of three ways:
A. Student will be required to become familiar with the literature in a research area which will be related to their thesis research. This could take the form of a partial literature review, an annotated bibliography and/or a presentation of the literature of interest to faculty/student groups.
B. Student will be required to become familiar with several related research literatures if their area of interest is currently undeveloped or if specialized knowledge of particular methodologies requires further investigation for the development of a thesis project.
C. Student will be required to become skilled in certain specialized research methods which will pertain to their abilities to gather data for the thesis. Examples of such activities could include gathering pilot data to acquire interview skills, knowledge of survey procedures, assessment skills, advanced statistical skills, understanding of content analysis, skills to work with a special population, or advanced physiological measurement skills.
Please refer to the University catalog at http://catalog.csusb.edu for official information.