What is the Psychology Club and how do I take part?
The Psychology Club is open to all students interested in psychology (not just
majors and minors). In the past they've hosted such events as a graduate school panel, a
meet and great with members of the faculty, and a movie night. For information about
the next event or to sign-up, please click
here.
What is the lottery?
In order to enroll in a lab or statistics course in Psychology, students must enroll
in the lottery the semester before the course is offered. All questions about the lottery
should be directed to the Department Administrator.
When is the lottery?
The lottery dates are announced prior to the Program Planning Period. The
dates are available in mailings sent to students and on the Department website. It is the
student's responsibility to find out the lottery dates.
How do I enter the lottery?
Students enter the lottery through eBear. The Department asks that students read
all of the directions carefully. The lottery was created to accommodate as many students
as possible, as fairly as possible, and, to this end, the Department strictly adheres to all
of the policies as they are listed on eBear.
I am studying abroad. Can I enter the lottery?
Students studying abroad must still enter the lottery if they wish to take a lab in
the semester that they return. If a student does not have access to the internet during the
lottery dates, she may e-mail her selections to the
Department Administrator. It is very
important that students studying abroad check that their student status is correct when
entering the lottery.
How do I declare a major in psychology?
Welcome to the department! Your first step is to find an advisor. You can start by
checking the list of advising faculty and their interests here. You may want to speak with a few
potential advisors before selecting one. Go to their office hours, send them an email, or
speak with them after class and find out if they are taking on advisees.
Once you have found someone you like who agrees to advise you, get a major declaration
form from the Registrar's office. Fill it out with your information and your advisor's
name, and bring it to the Department Representative to sign. Then take the signed form
back to the Registrar. Your new advisor's name should show up in your eBear record
within a day or two.
When should I declare my major in psychology?
Students typically declare their major at the end of their sophomore year, before program
filing. Keep your eyes open for the program planning meeting where you can learn about
the major and meet the faculty. You can also declare your major earlier, or change your
major at other times. If you are a junior planning to change to a psychology major from
another department, you should meet with the Department Representative (or your future
advisor) to discuss your program and see if it is
possible to finish the requirements in time to graduate.
Can I change my major advisor?
You can change your advisor at any time. The process is the same as declaring a major.
Check the list of advising faculty here. Once you have identified a professor who
agrees to advise you, pick up a Change of Advisor form from the Registrar's office, fill it
out, and bring it to the Department Representative to sign. Then take the signed form
back to the Registrar.
How do I declare a minor in psychology?
You should declare your minor after you have finished all of the requirements, or
partway through the second semester of your senior year if you are finishing up the minor
then. Check out the requirements for the minor
here. Once you've fulfilled all the
requirements, get a minor declaration form from the Registrar's office, fill it out, bring it
to the Department Representative (not the Chair!) to sign, and return it to the Registrar.
I have a form that says it needs the "signature of the department chair." Should I bring
it to the department chair?
Surprise - No, you should bring it to the [Department Representative]. Because the
Psychology Department is so big, many of the Chair's responsibilities are carried out by
the Department Representative, including transfer credit approvals, major declarations,
changes of advisor, and pre-approval of summer classes. Pretty much everything that
needs to be signed that pertains to undergraduates is the responsibility of the Department Representative. If the Department Representative is not in, and the issue is an
uncomplicated one, you can leave the form in the Departmental Representative's door
slot and pick it up later after it has been signed. You may want to send
an email to let the
Department Representative know that you have dropped it off.
Can I get college credit for my AP or IB exam in Psychology? Can it count toward the major or minor?
If you received a score of 4 or 5 on your Advanced Placement exam, or a score of 5 or 6
on the International Baccalaureate exam, you can receive 3 credits toward your degree.
Make sure that the credits show up on your transcript. If they don't, you'll need to
arrange for your score to be sent to the Registrar's office. The exam counts as the
equivalent of BC1001 Introduction to Psychology, so if you take the course, you can't get
credit for the exam too. If you are majoring or minoring in psychology, the exam fulfills
the introductory requirement, and you are not required to take the course. However, the
exam won't count toward the eight psychology courses required for the major (or the five
courses for the minor), so you will need to take an additional elective psychology course.
Can I fulfill the statistics requirement with an alternative to the Psychology Department's statistics course?
Majors and minors typically satisfy the statistics requirement with PSYC BC 1101
Statistics. Students who also have a major or minor in Economics can use ECON BC
2411 Statistics for Economics instead. You can also satisfy the requirement with STAT W
1111 Introduction to Statistics A, or STAT W 1211 Introduction to Statistics B. These
ECON and STAT alternatives, since they are not psychology courses, won't count toward
the eight psychology courses required for the major (or the five courses for the minor), so
you will need to take an additional elective psychology course. (Note that the statistics
requirement cannot be satisfied with STAT W 1001 Introduction to Statistical Reasoning.)
A course in statistics from an institution other than Barnard or Columbia can satisfy the
requirement if approved by the Department Representative. If it is a psychology statistics
course, it will also count toward the eight psychology cthe five courses for the minor).
How do I get college credit for courses taken elsewhere? Can I count these courses toward my major?
Note that there are two steps here - the first is getting college credit for a course, that is,
getting it listed on your transcript. The second is getting it to count toward your major.
The first part falls under the domain of the Registrar's office. They will give you a form
to fill out with the courses you have taken (or intend to take) elsewhere. If these include
psychology courses, those courses will need to be approved by the Department
Representative. The Department Representative will initial the form in the box where it
asks for the Chair's initials. For a course to be approvable, it must be offered at an
institution that grants a Bachelor's degree, and the course needs to be creditable towards
that degree. Be careful - many community colleges, junior colleges, and night school
classes won't be approvable.
As for the second part, courses from other institutions can also count towards the major.
This process falls under the domain of the Psychology Department. Get a form from the
Psychology Department Administrator, fill it out, and give it to the Department
Representative to sign. This form should then be turned back in to the Department
Administrator. Note that while some courses are readily approvable (most Introductory
Psychology courses and intermediate-level electives are approvable), others are not. For
example, it is extremely difficult to find an outside course that fulfills our laboratory
requirement, and courses fulfilling the A, B, and C distributions must closely match the equivalent Barnard course in content. Be prepared to provide a course description and
syllabus for any courses you want to apply toward the major.
We strongly advise that you have courses at other institutions approved before you take
them - especially summer courses and courses for a semester abroad. You don't want to
discover after the fact that you cannot get expected
credit for a course or that it won't apply toward your major requirements.
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