Declaring a PSY Major

Advising Session Required

During the session, major requirements will be covered and whether or not you are eligible to declare will be reviewed (find advising hours here).

How would my requirements change if I became a PSY major? Students can run a "What If" audit, which shows all of the degree requirements (including graduation requirements) if a student were to declare a new major/minor—including if their completed and in-progress coursework satisfy requirements in the new major/minor. Read all of the instructions for the What If audit as they include information for adding either a major or minor. Keep in mind that a "What If" shows whether a student is pre-major/major status in their current major, not in the new major.

 

Eligibility to Declare a Psychology Major

University Policies for Majors

  • No more than 56 units in psychology courses (any course that has PSY in the course number) can count toward the 120 units needed for a bachelor's.
  • A 2.0 or higher major GPA in upper-division PSY courses is needed to graduate. This is different than the impaction criteria for prep for the major where a minimum grade is needed in each course.  
    • A D- or higher in an individual course can satisfy a major requirement, however, it would need to be balanced out by higher grades in other classes to keep a major GPA at 2.0 or above.
  • Take PSY courses for a letter grade. All PSY courses that can be taken for a letter grade need to be in order to count toward the major. However, courses that are only offered for Cr/NC (e.g., PSY 201, 499) will apply to the major if Credit is earned. (If you have a minor, all upper-division courses in the minor must be taken for a letter grade.)
  • UD courses cannot double-dip to meet requirements for another major or minor.

 

Pre-Major or Major Declaration Restrictions

  • First-term students: Whether freshmen or transfers, students cannot declare a new major or minor until after Census (about a month after the term begins).
  • Transfer students: Transfers who entered SDSU on a different major must meet impaction criteria first before declaring a new major. However, students are welcome to visit Psychology Advising for advice on completing prep courses, etc. before they can officially declare.
  • Overall GPA: Because students must have an Overall GPA of 2.5 or higher (liberal, applied, I/O emphasis) or 3.0 or higher (neuroscience emphasis) to earn major status, current Overall GPA is considered when students want to declare. If achieving the needed GPA in a reasonable number of units is not feasible, the declaration request will not be approved.
  • Previous PSY grades: Students need to demonstrate that they can achieve Cs in PSY courses (or Bs, for specific courses in an Emphasis) to be approved to declare the major.
  • Switching from one PSY path to another: Impaction criteria are rechecked if you switch majors, including switching to/from a major to an emphasis. If you previously had major status, but your overall GPA has dropped below impaction criteria since (or your grade in a prep course is below the minimum), you will be placed in the pre-major on the new path.
    • Important: Students can only request to declare one of our emphases after they have met any differing requirements from the regular PSY major (i.e., earned a B or higher in PSY 211 and 260 and an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher for the Neuroscience emphasis; earned a B or higher in PSY 280 [or 3-unit statistics lecture and PSY 281] and an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher for the I/O emphasis). 
  • Students on Applied PSY path: Students admitted to the Applied path are on a contract with the state. If a student changes or adds a major, that contract is broken and SDSU is not obligated to have them graduate within 60 units. You can visit Psychology Advising or run a "What If" degree evaluation to see the impact on your requirements if you were to switch.
  • Time to Graduate: Declaring a new major/minor that will extend a student's time to graduate will not be approved.
    • Language requirement: Takes up to 3 terms to complete.
    • I/O emphasis: Takes at least 3 to 4 semesters just for the upper-division courses depending on when declared due to course sequencing and when courses are offered (e.g., two required courses offered once per year and can only be taken after the initial emphasis course).
    • Neuroscience emphasis: Takes at least 3 to 4 semesters just for the upper-division courses depending on when declared due to most emphasis courses being offered only once a year.

 

Declaration Request Processing

It can take up to a week for a declaration request to be processed within the Psychology Advising Office. We will contact students if clarification is needed or to inform them if a request was denied. If approved, a major change form will be forwarded to the Registrar's Office. Depending on the time of the semester, it can take up to 2 weeks to process there. Once completed, the new major will appear on the student's degree evaluation.