The Master of Arts Program in Psychology affords its candidates an opportunity for advanced study of psychological theory and research techniques with the following objectives in mind:
To be eligible for admission into our program, you must:
1. Meet all of the University's Office of Graduate Studies and Research admissions requirements
2. Have the equivalent of a U.S. baccalaureate degree
3. Have completed a minimum of 30 semester units in undergraduate psychology
4. Have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the last 60 semester units (90 quarter units) of all college and/or university coursework
5. Have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all college and/or university psychology courses taken
6. Have taken the GRE Exam (General Test only), although we do not require a minimum score for your application to be considered.
General university requirements and procedures for completing the Master of Arts degree are described in the Academic Regulations section of this catalog. In addition to these, the following departmental requirements must be fulfilled.
1. The student's combined total of approved undergraduate and graduate work in psychology must be at least 60 semester units, including 30 units for the MA Degree Program.
2. The student must complete at least 30 approved graduate units. At least 27 of these 30 units must be psychology or statistics units; of the 27, at least 24 must be 200-level courses, i.e., up to six units may be from 100-level courses with the program coordinator's approval.
3. The candidate must complete an acceptable thesis. This thesis will be a quantitative investigation of some degree of originality and of publication caliber.
4. Satisfactory performance on a final examination is required. This examination may be written, oral or both, as determined by the student's thesis advisory committee. This is typically satisfied through the oral defense of the student's thesis research.
5. The University requires that all graduate students demonstrate competency in written English as a condition for advancement to candidacy. Please refer to the SJSU catalog section titled "Competency in Written English" for details. For graduate courses that meet the competency in written English requirement, please refer to the Graduate Studies and Research website at www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies.
| Course Requirements | |||
| Core Domain | 12 | ||
| PSYC 280, STAT 125 and PSYC 220 (9); PSYC 240 or STAT 235 (3) | |||
| Breadth Domain | 12 | ||
| PSYC 235 or PSYC 256 (3); PSYC 204, PSYC 230 and PSYC 254 (9) | |||
| Applied Domain | 6 | ||
| PSYC 299 (3) and elective (3) | |||
| Total Units: | 30 | ||
The thesis serves as the culmination of a student's coursework, research experience, and growth as a scholar and scientist. This process is guided closely by a thesis advisor; a tenured or tenure-track faculty member of the Department of Psychology. As the student's ideas develop into a full thesis proposal, a thesis advisory committee is formed in order to provide further guidance and expertise. Collection of the thesis data begins once the proposal has been approved by the committee and the proper animal care/human subjects' approval has been obtained. The introduction, analysis, and interpretations of these data will form the core of the student's written master's thesis. These efforts all culminate in an oral presentation and defense before the thesis committee. A detailed statement of thesis policies is available in the Psychology Department Office and on the departmental website http://psych.sjsu.edu/.
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