San Diego State UniversityDepartment of Psychology

M.S. Program Requirements

The Master of Science degree requires a minimum of 38 units of graduate-level course work, including required courses and electives. The required courses are designed to provide students with a thorough background in the major theories and findings in their chosen emphasis (i.e., Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation or Industrial/Organizational Psychology), including research methods and statistics in psychology.

Students should take advantage of their electives to effectively supplement the curriculum offered in the Applied Psychology program. Students in Industrial/Organizational Psychology may find courses in Business, Economics, Educational Technology, and Law particularly relevant for their elective. Students in the Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation concentration have their choice of three electives, and are expected to use those electives to pursue a focused specialization. Relevant courses may be found in Social Work, Public Health, Education, and Public Administration. All students should consult with their major advisor to design a program of study that best matches their interests. The program of study must receive final approval from the Graduate Advisor.

Core Requirements

1. Priority for registration in courses is given to students for whom the course is required on their Official Program.
2. Keep in mind that some courses are only offered in the Fall, some only in the Spring, and some in alternate years.
3. Students may take additional courses, which are not part of their Official Program. These courses will appear on the students' transcript.
4. All graduate students must demonstrate satisfactory performance on the departmental statistics placement exam prior to enrolling in PSY 670A. Before the beginning of the Fall semester, all students will be sent information for review purposes detailing the concepts and statistical content sampled by the exam.
5. Which courses are taken in the first semester depends on any deficiencies that might have been identified, the student's time schedule, assistantship limitations, and necessary prerequisites for the courses.
6. Students are urged to complete all their required courses prior to enrolling in electives.

An essential component of graduate training in Applied Psychology is an internship experience, which provides students with an opportunity to apply their classroom training in an actual field setting and gain new skills. The Community Liaison (Lorah Bodie-Austin, LS-165, 594-0193, laustin@psychology.sdsu.edu) works closely with students during the internship experience, initially by assisting with resume preparation and providing contacts in local businesses and human service organizations, and later by conducting follow-up with students and internship sites to assess progress. Parallel to this effort students work on developing leads for possible internships. After companies have been identified, students work with the Community Liaison to take the steps necessary to secure an interview.

There are two criteria to be met for an opportunity to meet the requirements of an internship: 1) it must be related to the student's degree objectives, and 2) the site supervisor needs to be a specialist in organizational development, human resources, industrial/organizational psychology or organizational behavior. Interns work with other psychologists and practitioners in the field, while working under the direct supervision of an internship site supervisor. Students in both emphases are required to work a minimum of 300 hours in an approved internship site to earn 6 units of credit (two 3 unit 791 or 792 courses). The internship can be completed entirely during the summer or students can work part-time (15-20 hours per week) for two semesters. For more details regarding the internship process refer to the Student Internship Guide.

All Master's students are required to complete and present a thesis, involving the design of an original empirical study, data collection, analysis, and a write-up of the study hypotheses and findings. The thesis must fulfill the requirements of the Graduate School , described in the Graduate Bulletin. Students work closely with a Thesis Committee Chair to develop an original empirical project, which is evaluated and approved by a committee chosen by the student and his/her advisor. Students work independently during all aspects of the thesis, including design, data collection, analysis, and write-up. A final report is written by the student, approved by the Thesis Committee, and submitted to the Graduate School for credit towards the Master's degree.