Bachelor of Psychology at University of California, Berkeley

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Psychology as a scientific discipline aims to describe, understand, and predict the behavior of living organisms. In doing so, psychology embraces the many factors that influence behavior " from sensory experience to complex cognition, from the role of genetics to that of social and cultural environments, from the processes that explain behavior in early childhood to those that operate in older ages, and from normal development to pathological conditions. The Psychology Department at UC Berkeley reflects the diversity of our discipline's mission covering six key areas of research: Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience; Clinical Science; Cognition; Cognitive Neuroscience; Developmental, and Social-Personality Psychology. Despite the existence of these specialization areas, the program learning goals focus on fostering methodological, statistical, and critical thinking skills that are not tied to any one particular content area in psychology but are relevant for all of them.

The major serves three purposes:

1. For the liberal arts student, the study of psychology provides an avenue for increased self-understanding and insight into the behavior of others. The objective study of behavior is one of the major themes of intellectual history in the last hundred-plus years.
2. For students preparing for training in such professions as medicine, law, education and business, psychology provides important basic knowledge and principles.
3. For students who plan on pursuing graduate work in psychology, the undergraduate major seeks to establish a sound foundation of research principles and knowledge of a variety of content areas.

Declaring the Major

Psychology is a capped (impacted) major at UC Berkeley. This means that due to high demand, the program, unfortunately, cannot accommodate every student who wishes to major in Psychology. As part of the terms of being a capped major, all students who apply to the major and meet the following criteria are guaranteed admission:

1. Complete all prerequisite courses with a letter grade. Please refer to our Major Requirements website for more information on our COVID-19 Pass/No Pass grading policies for classes taken during the remote learning period.
2. Have a minimum 3.0 grade point average (GPA) in the prerequisite courses. (Note: GPA is not rounded up.)
3. If you entered UC Berkeley as a freshman, you must submit the major declaration form after completing three semesters at Cal and before you begin your 6th semester. If you entered Berkeley as a transfer, you must declare the major before you begin your 2nd semester at UC Berkeley. For students on a reduced course load who cannot complete major requirements within this semester range, we will extend the window if you can apply prior to the accumulation of 80 semester units, including work in progress.
4. Submit the application to the major by the posted deadline. Please refer to the department website for exact deadlines.

If any of the above criteria are not met, students may still be admitted to the major. However, there is no guarantee. Please understand that applications will not be approved until all prerequisite courses are complete and final grades have been posted. This may mean that students will not technically be admitted to the major until the beginning of the following semester.

Honors Program

Declared Psychology major students may earn Honors or Highest Honors in the department for completion of the Psychology Honors program. This requires submission of a thesis of high quality, based upon independent study under the supervision of a member of the Psychology Department's faculty, satisfactory completion of the required courses, and attaining the requisite GPAs at the time of graduation (3.5 in the Psychology major and 3.3 overall).

Students are required to complete the following courses, none of which count toward major requirements, with a letter grade:

• UGIS 192B  or PSYCH 199  Students applying to the honors program must have experience as a research apprentice in a Psychology lab or in a related field. To demonstrate this preparation, students must have a minimum of 2 units of UGIS 192 or Psych 199 on their transcript prior to applying for the honors program. It is recommended that students begin as a research assistant in their sophomore or junior year.
• PSYCH 102 Statistics for Psychological Research is a 3 unit upper division course that is designed to introduce students to the data analysis techniques researchers use in the field of psychology. This course is only offered in fall and may be taken as early as the junior year. 
•  PSYCH H194A / PSYCH H194B Honors students are required to concurrently enroll in Psychology H194A-B (2 units per semester), the honors seminar, in their senior year. This course provides excellent supplemental background and support for preparing the thesis. 
•  PSYCH H195A / PSYCH H195B Psychology H195A-B is offered for 1-3 units per semester and is mandatory in order to receive honors in the major. The course is sequential with a grade of In Progress or "IP" for the "A" portion and the final grade assigned for both semesters at the end of the "B" portion. 

Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program

The UC Berkeley, Department of Psychology's Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program is a comprehensive retraining and immersion program for students interested in applying to graduate school in psychology. The program features intensive coursework to complete a psychology undergraduate major in three or four semesters, research opportunities with our world-class faculty, in-depth advising and a supportive community. If you are inspired to enter the field of psychology, switching focus from a previous major, or changing careers, the UC Berkeley Post Bac program may be your path to success.

Minor Programs

There are two Summer Minor programs offered through Psychology. The Clinical & Counseling Psychology summer minor allows students to explore the diverse career paths of clinical and counseling psychology. The Developing Child summer minor is offered in partnership with Early Development & Learning Science (ED&LS) at the Institute of Human Development.

Visit Department Website

The Psychology Department at Berkeley reflects the diversity of the discipline's mission covering six key areas of research: Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience; Clinical Science; Cognition; Cognitive Neuroscience; Developmental, and Social-Personality Psychology. Despite the existence of these specialization areas, the program learning goals focus on fostering methodological, statistical, and critical thinking skills that are not tied to any one particular content area in psychology but are relevant for all of them.

Most of the program level goals are introduced in PSYCH 1 These goals are extended and reinforced in a majority of the core courses. These include PSYCH 101, required of all majors, and the upper division Tier II courses that survey the major fields of psychology. The program is designed to ensure that all students gain broad exposure to the field of psychology. In addition, students are able to develop a deeper understanding of at least one major content area in psychology.

Learning Goals for the Major

1.    Understand basic concepts that characterize psychology as a field of scientific inquiry, and appreciate the various subfields that form the discipline as well as things that differentiate it from other related disciplines
2.    Develop an understanding of the central questions/issues in contemporary psychology as well as a historical perspective of psychological theories and key empirical data
3.    Develop a thorough understanding of one of the major content areas of psychology (i.e., Social/Personality, Developmental, Clinical, Cognitive, Biological)
4.    Develop skills to critically evaluate the presentation of scientific ideas and research in original scientific papers as well as in the popular media.
5.    Become familiar with research methods used in psychological research, and become proficient in basic concepts of statistical analyses and familiar with more advanced methods in data analyses and modeling
6.    Learn to develop, articulate, and communicate, both orally and in written form, a testable hypothesis, or an argument drawing from an existing body of literature.
7.    Apply a psychological principle to an everyday problem, or take an everyday problem and identify the relevant psychological mechanisms/issues