Electives

Please note:  Starting in Summer 2022 all PSYC course will have a 4-digit course number.

Students are required to take four electives. Students are welcome to take any undergraduate Psychology course from the 1000- to 4000- level as electives (old numbers 100- to 400-level), see below for details. There are also options for up to two cognate (non-Psych) electives (see below).

LECTURE COURSES (1000- and 2000- level lecture courses; old numbers 100- and 200-level lecture courses): Students often select additional distribution lecture courses as electives.

SEMINARS (3000-level courses; old number 400-level courses): Students are encouraged to take our seminars. These are highly popular small, discussion-based courses. While it may be challenging to enroll in these given their small size, students are encouraged to attempt enrollment every semester, bearing in mind there is a preference for seniority.

A list of PSYC Seminars with their new 4-digit numbers (3000-level) can be found here:

4-digit numbers for PSYC Seminars (3000-level)

Mentored Empirical Research/Independent Study (PSYC 4998 and 4999; old number PSYC 399): Students are permitted a maximum of two PSYC 4998 or 4999 credits in the Psychology major. Many students earn one PSYC 4998 or 4999 completing the research requirement, and then a subsequent PSYC 4998 or 4999 credit can count as a Psychology major elective. Additional PSYC 4998 or 4999 credits will count as electives in the College. [Please note: PSYC 4998 is Individual Mentored Research; PSYC 4999 is Honors Thesis Mentored Research (only for seniors in the Psychology Honors Program)]

Research Experience Courses: These 4000-level research courses (old number PSYC 300-level research courses) give students the opportunity to conduct research in a setting that emphasizes group work. These courses are rare, and enrollment may be through individual application.

Cognate electives: There are a number of courses from other departments that are permitted to count toward the Psychology major as electives. You are permitted a maximum of two cognate electives counting toward your major. Please note these courses are not necessarily offered frequently, and it is your responsibility to take any prerequisites or related course to be prepared for these courses. The cognate electives are: ANTH 1040, ASAM 1800, BEPP 220, CRIM 2070, ECON 0120 (cross-listed as PPE 3001), EDU 2535, EDU 2541, EDU 2551, EDU 3545, ENGL 0052, ENGL 2145, LING 0740, LING 2700, LING504, LING1720, NRSC 2233, NRSC 2240, NRSC 3310, NRSC 2350, NRSC 4421, NRSC 4430, NRSC 4469, NRSC 4470, NRSC 4480, NRSC 4482, OIDD 2900, PHIL 4840, PHIL 4843, PPE 3001 (cross-listed as ECON 0120), STAT 1020, STAT 1120. If there is a course in another department that you would like to petition as a cognate elective, please email a rationale of how this course complements your undergraduate education with a PDF of the syllabus to dus@psych.upenn.edu. Generally 100% remote classes will not count towards the major.

Statistics: Students are permitted to take a maximum of two statistics courses counting toward the Psychology major- one fulfilling the Statistics requirement, and one as a cognate elective. Students considering graduate school are encouraged to take an advanced statistics elective (as a cognate elective described above). If you are unsure of which advanced statistics course is appropriate, please contact Claire Ingulli.

Individual Scholarly Research (PSYC 3999; old number PSYC 299): Students may take PSYC 3999 as an elective. In this seminar-of-one, a student completes a set of directed readings, meets regularly with the supervisor to discuss these readings, and writes a critical paper addressing some topic(s) covered by these readings. It is the student's responsibility to arrange their scholarly research credit with a Penn Psychology faculty member. This course does not satisfy the research credit requirement!