Advice for Psychology Majors who transferred here

 Keep in mind that only 60 credits of transfer courses can go towards the required 120 credit hours to graduate. Therefore, you will have to take at least 60 credit hours here (this is typically done in 4 semesters of taking 15 credit hours per semester). Please note that iStudy classes do not count towards this 60 credit hour requirement.

 If you have not completed all of your General Education courses, prioritize finishing those courses. There are a few courses that you should pay special attention to because they require a sequence of courses.

o If you have not completed your Modern or Ancient Language requirement, especially prioritize finishing those courses because that typically requires 2 – 4 semesters of taking classes in your chosen language. If you need to take the 111, 211 sequence that will be 6 credit hours per semester for two semesters. (The 111, 211 courses are intensive versions of the language classes, so these classes often meet five days per week to help you become immersed in the language). If you need to take the 101, 102, 201, 202 sequence, that will be 3 credit hours per semester for four semesters.

o If you have not taken Writ 100 or 101 and Writ 102 or Liba 102, take those as soon as possible. You must have both of those requirements completed before you can register in the required English literature classes (Eng 2xx) so you cannot complete
these requirements in one year.

 For your Psychology major:
o Take Psy 201 as soon as possible if you have not done so already.
o Take Psy 202 and your core psychology courses as soon as possible so that you can take the lab in Psychology as soon as possible.
 Some students take Psychology elective courses first and then have not taken the required pre-requisite courses to take the lab in the time they plan on being at the University and are forced to take a summer or intersession course or stay another semester; avoid this by prioritizing the pre-requisites for the lab
courses (Psy 202 and the relevant core course).
 These required classes fill up quickly, so it is preferable to attempt to get into the class as soon as possible rather than waiting until your last planned semester here (you don’t want to have to stay an extra semester just to get into one class).
o Save Psychology electives for when you have room in your schedule (after prioritizing getting the courses that require a sequence of courses to finish).

 Depending on where you transferred from and how many credits you have completed as well as when you were able to register for classes, your first semester here will range from slightly to extremely different from your previous institution. Seek assistance from your professors and departments on campus designed to help students (e.g., the Writing Center).
 Keep in mind that only 60 credits of transfer courses can go towards the required 120 credit hours to graduate. Therefore, you will have to take at least 60 credit hours here (this is typically done in 4 semesters of taking

For your Minor
o Check that the minor you would like to pursue is an approved minor in the College of Liberal Arts (there is a link to approved minors on the Psychology Advising webpage). If the minor you want to pursue is not an approved minor in the College of Liberal Arts, you can still take classes in that field (e.g., Criminal Justice) if you have room for elective courses, but you will have to get a minor in an approved field.
o If you know what your minor is going to be, begin taking classes in that field as soon as you have room in your schedule. Most minors require 6 courses and many have courses that are pre-requisites for other courses. Thus, it is almost always impossible to earn a Minor in 1 – 2 semesters; plan accordingly.
o It may also be impossible to complete some minors within four semesters. This is because some minors require the equivalent of 4 (or more) semesters of pre-requisite courses before taking the upper level courses required for the minor (e.g., some foreign language minors).
o Some minors have psychology classes as potential classes (e.g., Neuroscience and Disaster Science). You cannot count a class as going toward your minor if you are using it to go towards your major. Thus, if you were to take a psychology course for your minor requirements, you would have to take a different psychology course for your major requirements. (e.g., If you took Psy 390 (Lab in Psy: Behavioral Neuroscience) for the major requirements, you would have to take a different Neuroscience-approved lab for the minor requirements.)
 Pay attention to obtaining courses that are at the 300+ level. In order to graduate, you must take 40 hours of courses at the 300, 400, or 500 level (this typically is done by taking 14 courses and earning 42 credits at this level). You should take 8 courses at the 300 or above level as part of your Psychology major and will likely take at least 3 courses at the 300 or above level as part of your minor but this means most students need to take extra classes at the 300+ level in order to satisfy this requirement. You can take these classes in any department, including Psychology.
 Please use the Psychology Department Advising webpage to obtain advice for preparing for careers and graduate school.
o Unique pieces of advice for transfer students:
 Try to develop relationships with your professors as soon as possible because you have less time to develop these relationships than students who started college here as a freshman. (You will want to know at least three individuals who can serve as strong references for jobs or will be able to write strong recommendation letters for graduate schools.)
 If you want to go to graduate school, try to join a research lab as soon as possible (ideally by your second semester here) so that you can gain research experience before you apply to graduate schools.