Graduation Requirements

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Social Sciences Department
Master of Arts in Psychology

All requirements for the degree can be completed on either campus.  

The program of study consists of the following three areas: 

a)      Psychological and Biological Foundations
b)      Counseling Foundations and Methodology
c)      Interventions and Problem Solving in Psychological Counseling

Overall, the Master of Arts in Psychology with a Counseling Concentration comprises a minimum of 54 to 60 credits divided as follows:

a)      academic coursework (48 credits)
b)      1,200 hour supervised internship (6 credits)
c)      Option A – Thesis (6 credits)
or
 c)      Option B – Comprehensive Examination

Core Courses Credits
PSY 503 Classic and Contemporary Approaches to Personality 3
PSY 520 Human Growth and Development throughout the Life Span   3
PSY 530 Research Methods in Applied Settings and Program Evaluation  3
PSY 534 Abnormal Psychology 3
PSY 540 Counseling and Psychotherapy:  Theory and Practice 3
PSY 541 Psychological Counseling: Orientation and Ethics 3
PSY 542 Social and Cultural Contexts of Counseling 3
PSY 550 Drugs and Human Behavior 3
PSY 630 Psychometrics 3
PSY 635 Psychological Testing 3
PSY 640 Psychological Counseling with Individuals 3
PSY 641 Psychological Counseling with Children and Adolescents 3
PSY 642 Psychological Counseling with Groups 3
PSY 643 Family Systems Counseling 3
PSY 644 Community Mental Health Counseling 3
PSY 645 Counseling in Vocational and Career Development 3
PSY 695-696 Internship in Psychology 6

* Each course may be repeated once for credit.                                                                                  

Other Requirements: 

Thesis

Students selecting the thesis option register for PSY 697-698 Thesis in Psychology. In order to qualify for registration, students must have: 

  1. Successfully completed all core coursework.
  2. B average in all graduate courses.
  3. Approval from the Program Director as a potential candidate for thesis work, through the evaluation of the quality of graduate work, student workload, and other factors.
  4. Submitted a written application one semester before completion of graduate course work, selected a topic, and received the support of a faculty member to be an advisor for the thesis.

Comprehensive Examination

Students not completing a thesis must complete a Comprehensive Examination.   All core courses must be successfully completed before students can take the Comprehensive Examination. The Comprehensive Examination will be administered to students in their final year of the Master of Arts in Psychology Program. The Examination will be administered in a single day over the course of 4 hours.  Students will be asked to complete essay questions that test both their knowledge base and application of psychological theories, concepts, principles and interventions across the MAP curriculum.   Examinees will be required to answer one question in each of the following areas: Ethics, Research Methods, Social and Cultural Issues in counseling and theory and practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (in various forms). Examinees will also be required to answer two additional (elected) questions selected from two of the following areas of psychology: Theories of Personality, Psychological Testing, Human Development and Drugs and Human Behavior.  The examination will be handwritten on paper provided by students.  No outside resources will be allowed to be in use during the exam. The exam will be proctored by an objective party.  Exam questions will be graded anonymously on a Pass/Fail basis by two outside examiners.  If examiners disagree on whether to pass or fail an item, a third party will be consulted.  Writers must pass all required items and at least one elected item, in order to be deemed having passed the MAP Comprehensive Examination.