Minimum Course Requirements

The Ph.D. is a research degree, and students should keep this in mind during their time in the Genera/Experimental Ph.D. Psychology program. The minimum requirements of the General/Experimental Psychology program are:

  • 30 credits of graded coursework
  • 15 credits of PSYS 391 – Master’s Thesis Research
  • 20 credits of PSYS 491 – Doctoral Dissertation Research
  • 25 additional credits, which may be graded, ungraded, or Doctoral Dissertation Research credits

Within these minimum requirements, each cluster has required courses:

Biobehavioral Cluster Courses

Required Graded Coursework: 

  • 304 - Advanced Statistical Methods I
  • 305 - Advanced Statistical Methods II
  • 315 - Biobehavioral Proseminar (see note 1)
  • 311 - Seminar in Learning Theory
  • 316 - Neuropsychopharmacology
  • 319 - Neurobiology of Learning & Memory
  • 330, 350, or 3XX – A breadth course (3 credits) from a core area of General/Experimental Psychological Science outside of your area of specialization. This may be fulfilled by Proseminar in Experimental Social Psychology, Developmental Proseminar, or an approved social or developmental graduate seminar (please contact the course instructor to verify suitability of any non-Proseminar courses).
  • 3XX - Three electives (3 credits each)

Required Additional Credits:

  • 393-Advanced Professional/Research Seminar (Biobehavioral Cluster; 8 semesters of 1 credit/semester)

Additional Requirements:

  • Students will attend Biobehavioral Cluster meetings each semester for the entirety of their enrollment in the program
  • Students will be continuously involved in research, typically for 20 hours per week
  • It is expected that students will submit at least two papers to peer reviewed journals before receiving their Ph.D.

Developmental Cluster Courses

Required Graded Coursework:

  • 304 - Advanced Statistical Methods I
  • 305 - Advanced Statistical Methods II
  • 350 - Developmental Proseminar
  • 315 or 330, or 3XX - A breadth course (3 credits) from a core area of General/Experimental Psychological Science outside of your area of specialization. This may be fulfilled by Biobehavioral Proseminar (see note 1), Proseminar in Experimental Social Psychology, or an approved social psychology graduate seminar (please contact the course instructor to verify suitability of any non-Proseminar courses).
  • 303 - Seminar in Psychological Research Methods
  • 3XX - One additional advanced statistics course (e.g., 306 or 307)
  • 3XX - Two additional Developmental seminar courses
  • 3XX - One elective (3 credits)

Required Additional Credits:

  • 393 - Advanced Professional/Research Seminar (Developmental Cluster; 8 semesters of 1 credit/semester)

Additional Requirements:

  • Students will attend Developmental Cluster meetings each semester for the entirety of their enrollment in the program
  • Students will be continuously involved in research, typically for 20 hours per week
  • Students will submit at least two first authored papers to peer reviewed journals before receiving their Ph.D.

Social Cluster Courses

Required Graded Coursework:

  • 304 - Advanced Statistical Methods I
  • 305 - Advanced Statistical Methods II
  • 330 - Proseminar in Experimental Social Psychology
  • 315 or 350, or 3XX - A breadth course (3 credits) from a core area of General/Experimental Psychological Science outside of your area of specialization. This may be fulfilled by Biobehavioral Proseminar (see note 1), Developmental Proseminar, or an approved developmental psychology graduate seminar (please contact the course instructor to verify suitability of any non-Proseminar courses).
  • 3XX - One additional advanced statistics course (e.g., 306 or 307)
  • 3XX - Two additional Social seminar courses
  • 3XX - Three electives (3 credits each)

Required Additional Credits:

  • 393-Advanced Professional/Research Seminar (Social Cluster; 8 semesters of 1 credit/semester)

Additional Requirements:

  • Students will attend Social Cluster meetings each semester for the entirety of their enrollment in the program
  • Students will be continuously involved in research (plan on 20 hours per week)
  • Students will submit at least two papers to peer reviewed journals before receiving their Ph.D. At least one of them must be first authored by the student.

General/Experimental Teaching Requirement

Each student is required to obtain faculty-approved experience teaching in psychology. The minimum way to meet this requirement is through completion of two approved teaching experiences.  It is allowable for students to complete one experience twice (e.g., guest lecture for two weeks rather than one) to satisfy the teaching requirement. If you have questions about whether a particular teaching experience fulfills the requirement, please contact the General/Experimental director.

 

Approved Teaching Experiences

  1. The equivalent of one week (i.e., 3 50-minute sessions or 2 75-minute sessions) of guest lecturing, with faculty feedback on each lecture and development of exam questions or assignments related to the lectures.
  2. Serve as a Teaching Assistant in PSYS 053, PSYS 054, PSYS 304, or PSYS 305.
  3. Teach or co-teach a course, with faculty feedback on at least one lecture.

Please note that this is the minimal amount of teaching experience necessary to make it through the Ph.D. program. We strongly encourage you to complete more than two of the requirements listed and/or seek out more opportunities to get even more experience and make yourself more competitive on the job market. Please consult with your advisor to tailor teaching experiences to your goals and interests.

 

Potential Additional Teaching Opportunities

  1. Complete the UVM Graduate Teaching Program
  2. Develop an annotated course syllabus, including course assignments, policies, course objectives, and grading criteria.
  3. Mentor two or more undergraduates in your lab by setting up a course of learning and a syllabus. For maximum benefit to you, this mentoring would go beyond the research supervision that typically occurs in research labs, and should include regularly scheduled meetings, a reading list, and graded academic products.
  4. Complete a Readings and Research project with a faculty member focused on readings regarding teaching in psychology. The Readings and Research could involve a teaching practicum component involving guest lectures, managing discussions, and/or other teaching activities in a psychological science course. Note that this requirement requires significant supervision by a faculty mentor, and thus depends on faculty mentor availability and interest.