Psychology Major

Admission to the Program

Freshman: 19 composite ACT or 890 combined SAT or top 50 percent class rank.
Transfer: Cumulative 2.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) from all colleges and/or universities attended and be in good academic standing.

Degree Requirements

All Northeastern students must meet the graduation requirements in order to successfully complete their degree, including completion of 120 hours of coursework with satisfactory grades.

Psychology majors are required to complete 44 credit hours of coursework and, in addition, are required to complete a minimum of 39 credit hours of general education requirements. This allows you to take 37 credit hours of coursework in a second major, minor or electives. Our advisors will help you choose the courses that will maximize your educational and professional opportunities.

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Program Requirements (44 credit hours) :

REQUIRED COURSES

  • PSYC-200 General Psychology (4 credit hours)
  • PSYC-202 Statistics and Research Methods I (3 credit hours)
  • PSYC-302 Statistics and Research Methods II (3 credit hours)

Select one course from each core area: (15 credit hours)

  1. Clinical Core (3 credits): 
    • PSYC-330 Psychology of Personality, or
    • PSYC-340 Abnormal Psychology
  2. Cognitive Core (3 credits): 
    • PSYC 370 Theories of Learning, or
    • PSYC 375 Cognitive Psychology 
  3. Developmental Core (3 credits):
    • PSYC 310 Developmental Psychology
  4. Physiological Core (3 credits):
    • PSYC 350 Physiological Psychology, or
    • PSYC 371 Neuropsychology, or
    • PSYC 373 Human Perception 
  5. Social Core (3 credits): 
    • PSYC 360 Social Psychology 

Elective Requirements (6 credit hours)

  • Two elective courses in psychology
  • Psychology electives must be 200 or 300 level courses.

Select one Diverse Experience course from the following list. Note: Diverse courses are also part of the elective options but the same course cannot be applied to both categories. (3 credits)

  • PSYC 311 Psychosexual Development
  • PSYC 312 Psychological Development in Women 
  • PSYC 314 Psychology of the African American Family
  • PSYC 317 Latino Psychology: Mental Health and the Latino Experience in the USA
  • PSYC 324 Geropsychology
  • PSYC 328 Seminar in Aging
  • PSYC 325 Psychosocial Development and Aging

Select one lab course from the following list: (5 credits)

  • PSYC-308 Laboratory, Research Methods: Tests and Measurements
  • PSYC-316 Laboratory, Research Methods: Child Development
  • PSYC-331 Laboratory, Research Methods: Personality Psychology
  • PSYC_341 Laboratory, Research Methods: Clinical Psychology
  • PSYC-351 Laboratory, Research Methods: Physiological Psychology
  • PSYC-361 Laboratory, Research Methods: Social Psychology
  • PSYC-374 Laboratory, Research Methods: Perception and Cognition

Senior Capstone Project (5 credit hours)

The Senior Capstone Projects must be approved your faculty advisor and the instructor of the capstone course. 

Capstone Choices:

  • Senior Seminar Course with Research Paper
  • Service Learning Lab
  • Independent Study with Research Paper

Transfer Courses

Transfer courses must be approved by the department before being applied to the major or minors. For transfer students at least one half of the courses applied to the major (22 semester hours) or minors (9 semester hours) must be taken at Northeastern. No more than three courses (9 semester hours) transferred in from junior/community colleges may be applied to the major or minors. Junior/community college courses may not be used in place of 300-level Northeastern courses. Students who transfer in an approved 3-semester-hour course equivalent to General Psychology may complete the major with 41 semester hours, or the psychology minor with 18 semester hours.

The same courses may not be used to fill requirements in two different programs within the department.

Contact Us

To contact the Psychology department general office, please call (773) 442-5840.

To declare a major or minor in Psychology, or a minor in Gerontology, please contact our department at deptpsyc@neiu.edu.

For general Northeastern admission requirements, the helps new and returning students through the application process. In addition, the assists transfer and veteran students with transitioning to our campus.