Psychology Major

Degree rules

10 to know

• Writing and Research: Research Component

  A research-intensive course named by your major, normally at the 400 level and often restricted to majors in the discipline. The Calendar gives a different approved list for each major, so it is carried by the major rather than here. a major that names one places it directly.

  UBC Calendar
• Place and Power: 3 credits

  Three credits from the approved Place and Power list, taken at UBC Vancouver (transfer credit in the same subject and number does not count). The Calendar says these credits "do not need to be exclusive of the student’s other degree or program requirements" and may sit inside the breadth credits above or inside the major, so charging them separately would double-count. Shown rather than planned for that reason, but you do still have to pick one.

  UBC Calendar
• At least 72 credits in Arts

  Arts credit is defined by subject area: anything the Calendar lists as offered by the Faculty of Arts, including transfer credit in those subjects. Your major supplies roughly 42 of the 72 on its own, so what this really asks is that most of your electives stay inside Arts. Relaxed only if your specialization itself requires more than 48 credits outside Arts.

  UBC Calendar
• Outside Requirement: 60 credits outside your specialization

  For a single Major, 60 of the 120 credits must fall outside the field of study of the specialization; 48 for Honours or a Combined Major, 24 for a Double Major or when a Minor is added. Every course accepted towards a specialization counts as inside it, even when taken as an elective. Cognitive Systems and Interdisciplinary Studies are exempt.

  UBC Calendar
• Upper-level: 48 credits at 300 or above

  48 for a Major, Combined Major or Interdisciplinary Studies; 54 for Honours, 60 for a Double Major, 66 for a Major/Honours and 84 for Double Honours. Adding a Minor does not raise it. These are 48 of the degree’s 120 credits spent at the upper level, not 48 on top, so they are shown rather than placed.

  UBC Calendar
• At most 48 credits from outside Arts

  Relaxed for majors that require more than 48 outside credits, Mathematics and Computer Science among them, but a student granted the relaxation must then take the maximum Arts credits the degree allows, with no non-Arts elective credit permitted. Also capped: 60 transfer credits, and 9 credits at the 500 level.

  UBC Calendar
• Residency: 50% of degree, upper-level and specialization credits

  A minimum of 50% of total degree credits, 50% of upper-level degree credits, and 50% of upper-level specialization credits must be completed while registered in the Faculty of Arts. Depends on transfer history rather than course selection, so it is shown, not planned.

  UBC Calendar
• Not all MUSC credit counts toward a B.A.

  Music history, theory, technology, ethnomusicology and composition are all acceptable, but a maximum of 12 credits of ensemble performance may be applied, and individual lessons, aural skills, conducting and repertoire courses are not applicable at all. Arts Co-op Search and Work Term credit does not count either.

  UBC Calendar
• Research Component: met by PSYC 217

  The Faculty of Arts Research Component names PSYC 217 for this major, and it is already required above, so it costs no additional credits. Students considering graduate study are encouraged to take PSYC 359 as part of the upper-level requirement.

  UBC Calendar
• PSYC 340, 388, 440 and 488 do not count toward the 30

  They may still be taken as electives, but not toward the minimum 30 upper-level Psychology credits the Department requires for the Major.

  UBC Calendar