Psychology

Why Major in Psychology?

Are you fascinated by the human mind and human behavior? Choosing to major in psychology offers an opportunity to explore this exciting topic while also building skills applicable to a variety of careers. Our expert faculty provide a hands-on, personalized, and inclusive education tailored to your goals through electives and different degree options for completing the psychology major. In addition to what you'll learn in the classroom, lab, and field, majoring in psychology at Slippery Rock offers abundant opportunities to foster leadership skills and build a community of like-minded peers. Psychology students have explored the world of scholarship through student research, conference presentations, and laboratory-based internships.

Psychology and neuroscience students are encouraged to get involved in campus organizations like Psi Chi and Psychology Club that foster student-led events like Brain Awareness Week. Through collaboration with the Psychology Department, psychology majors build connections through tutoring, networking, and mental health advocacy. For example, SRU’s Reflections group fosters community outreach around body image. 

What Will You Learn?

In the Psychology program at SRU, you'll study the major aspects of human behavior and gain insight into how individuals function in their daily lives. You'll learn about core principles such as: history of psychology, abnormal, social, and developmental psychology, psychological testing, learning and neuroscience. Then, our psychology curriculum delves into specialty topics with additional offerings in all of these areas. 

You can also focus your psychology degree around a specialized concentration in Developmental Psychology or Neuroscience. Additionally, both our Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science curriculums offer a multitude of electives in clinical and counseling psychology, social psychology, and gender and multicultural studies.

Careers In Psychology

Studying human behavior and mental health can be applicable to a variety of entry-level careers, or graduates can utilize their skills to continue their education in a graduate program. Psychology majors can utilize their analytical, writing, and quantitative skills in fields such as: 

• Social and Human Services 
• Entry-level Counseling 
• Education and Early Childhood Intervention
• Business, Sales, and Management
• Labor Relations 
• Criminal Justice and Law

Successfully prepared by our comprehensive psychology program, SRU students have gone on to graduate programs in Law, Medicine, Clinical and Counseling Psychology, School Psychology and Guidance Counseling, Social Work, Occupational Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies. The range of careers available to psychology majors results in a supportive alumni network that stretches across Pennsylvania and nationwide. 

SRU offers a number of accelerated psychology degrees allowing undergraduate psychology students to obtain both a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in an accelerated time frame. A sampling of these fast-tracked programs are: 

• BS in Psychology—MA in Student Affairs (3+2) 
• BS in Psychology—Pre-Counseling Degree (3+3) 
• BS in Psychology—Pre Occupational Therapy (3+3)
• BS in Psychology—Pre Physician Assistant (3+2)
• BS in Psychology-MA in Psychology at Chatham University
• BS in Psychology—MS in Counseling Psychology at Chatham University

With the variety of paths a psychology major can pursue, a bachelor’s degree in psychology provides numerous transferable skills—how to understand and predict behaviors of individuals and groups in addition to data interpretation and scientific writing.

Earn your Psychology degree at SRU!

The Psychology program at Slippery Rock University builds students’ analytical and scientific skills as they study the human mind. Students majoring in Psychology at Slippery Rock University can earn a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree, with a variety of career-building program options. Interested in learning more? Request more information today!