Psychology, Bachelor of Arts | Benedictine | Chicago (2024)

College: College of Liberal Arts
Department: Psychology
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Campus: Both Lisle Campus and Mesa Campus

Requirements - Major

All majors are required to complete 41 credit hours with a grade of “C” or better. This includes a departmental core of:

¹

or any department approved course

²

PSYC4351 Research Methods in the Social Sciences must be completed at Benedictine University.

³

Exclusive of PSYC2250 Basic and Applied Statistics

⁴

Exclusive of PSYC4351 Research Methods in the Social Sciences and PSYC4395 Senior Thesis.

See Also

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Internships require a minimum GPA of 3.000.

Concentrations

Acceptance into the Pre-Physical Therapy or Pre-Occupational Therapy Concentration

A student will gain acceptance to the Pre-OT/PT concentration by completing either BIOL1197 Principles of Organismal Biology or BIOL1198 Principles of Biology and CHEM1113 General Chemistry I with a grade of “C” or better in each of these courses, and receiving no more than a total of two “W,” “D” or “F” grades in these courses. A transfer student will gain acceptance by meeting these requirements through equivalent transfer courses. Transfer students must complete their first two semesters with no more than two “W,” “D” or “F” grades in science lecture courses to be accepted to the degree program.

If it is determined at any time that a student cannot gain acceptance to the Pre-OT/PT program or cannot graduate with a Pre-OT or Pre-PT concentration, the student will be required to change his or her major to psychology without the concentration.

Psychology majors with concentrations in Pre-Physical Therapy or Pre-Occupational Therapy must complete at least 81 semester credit hours in this interdisciplinary program. It includes:

Recommended courses: Practicum HLSC2291 Medical Terminology; and First Aid. PSYC4351 Research Methods in the Social Sciences must be completed at Benedictine University. If a 2000-level transfer course is determined to be equivalent to a 3000-level course at Benedictine University, an additional 3000-level course may have to be completed in order to meet graduation requirements. (Note that the Natural Science core is fulfilled by this program’s requirements.) There are 41 semester credit hours required in Psychology (see the list above).

Note: Students who plan to major in two or more of the following programs: psychology, sociology, and/or criminology, must complete a capstone course for each major. Students have the following options:

1. Complete 4395 twice, once for each program (ex: PSYC4395 Senior Thesis and SOCL4395 Senior Thesis).
2. Complete 4395 for one program and an internship (PSYC4397 Psychology Internship, SOCL4397 Sociology Internship, or CRIM4390 Internship) in the other program.
3. Complete 4395 in one program and a research practicum in the other program (PSYC3352 Research Practicum, SOCL3352 Research Practicum, or CRIM3352 Research Practicum).

Note: If you desire to teach psychology, you may also earn an endorsem*nt in Social Science-Psychology by completing the Illinois State Board of Education licensure requirements for this endorsem*nt.

Psychology & MCP 3+2

Students who major in psychology and who plan to complete the Master’s in Clinical Psychology (MCP) program at Benedictine can apply to the Psychology & MCP 3+2 program. High school seniors will apply to the Psychology & MCP 3 + 2 Program at the time of their admission to the University. Requirements to apply will include a high school GPA of 3.200 and one letter of recommendation from their high school psychology instructor or advisor. Applicants will be interviewed by the MCP program director in the summer before their first year to determine their suitability (maturity and motivation) for the program and the profession and will be conditionally admitted to the 3+2 program before the start of their fall semester.

Those students who are accepted to the 3+2 will then complete a psychology major, all general education requirements along with elective credits completing at minimum 90 hours by May of their junior year. Students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.000 to remain in 3 + 2 program. Application to the graduate program will be finalized with the submission of all application materials currently required of MCP applicants (career goals, autobiographical statement, and 3 additional letters of recommendation) by February of their junior year.

Current BU psychology majors who wish to transition to the 3 + 2 program must begin the application process and sit for an interview before the start of their junior year. They must also be on track to complete the required 90 hours of undergraduate coursework and complete the application process by the end of their junior year. Students must maintain a minimum of a 3.000 GPA to be eligible to complete the application process. Those students who have met the requirements and successfully completed the application process by May of their junior year will be formally accepted into the MCP program and will begin MCP coursework in the summer after their junior year.

Students will complete 30 credit hours of Masters-level Clinical Psychology coursework by May of their 4th year. These 30 credit hours are taken for graduate credit as part of undergraduate degree record and will satisfy up to the final 30 hours of their undergraduate degree as elective credits. After conferral of their undergraduate degree these 30 credit hours of MCP coursework will also be transferred to their graduate degree record to count towards the MCP program. Thus, by May of their 4th year, students will have completed at minimum120 hours toward their BA degree in psychology and will have completed their first year as an MCP student. Students must apply for undergraduate graduation through MyBenU during Fall of their fourth (senior) year at the latest to graduate in Spring of their senior year. After one more year of full- time enrollment, these students will graduate with an MS in Clinical Psychology in spring or summer of their 5th year of enrollment at the University. For students that have completed more than 90 credit hours before starting their MCP coursework, they must only complete a minimum of 120 credit hours total to be considered eligible for their undergraduate psychology degree. In such cases students may apply for earlier undergraduate graduation and may apply less than 30 credit hours of Masters-level Clinical Psychology coursework towards their undergraduate degree.

Students in the Psychology program will achieve the following student learning outcomes (SLO):

Student Learning Outcome 1: Demonstrate informational competence by formulating a research topic, conducting a literature search, selecting valid and appropriate sources, and accurately summarizing selected literature.
• University SLO: 4. Information Fluency

Student Learning Outcome 2: Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of key concepts, theories, and theorists needed to gain acceptance to a graduate program or to be employed in and entry level job that requires a social science degree.
• University SLO: 1. Disciplinary Competence and Skills

Student Learning Outcome 3: Effectively and professionally communicate research both orally and in writing at the college level using APA style.
• University SLO: 3. Communication Skills

Student Learning Outcome 4: Recognize the proper application of descriptive and basic inferential statistical techniques and use computers to conduct and interpret data analyses
• University SLO: 5. Analytical Skills

Student Learning Outcome 5: Understand and apply psychological principles in the cognitive and biological sciences, formulating and evaluating questions involving the mind/brain or information processing.
• University SLO: 1. Disciplinary Competence and Skills

Student Learning Outcome 6: Understand and apply psychological principles in the clinical / behavioral sciences, formulating and evaluating questions involving different therapeutic approaches and techniques used to treat a variety of disorders.
• University SLO: 1. Disciplinary Competence and Skills