Psychology Home | Contact Us | Undergraduate Office | Graduate Office | Faculty | Alumni | News | Seay| HomePage | UT Search

First-Year Requirements

Description

General Considerations

First-Year Requirements

Second-Year Requirements

Third-and-Fourth Year
Requirements

Admission to Candidacy

Teaching Experience

Faculty and Research Interests

Graduate Students

Fellowships in Developmental Psychology

Childrens' Research Lab

Course Work

First-year students take three organized (lecture or seminar) courses and an independent research course (PSY 390) each semester. All first-year developmental students will take the two developmental program core courses and (except in unusual circumstances) two statistics courses. The developmental core courses are: Fundamentals of Cognitive Development (PSY 394N) offered in the fall semester and Fundamentals of Social and Personality Development (PSY 394K) given in the spring semester. At least one of the remaining courses needs to be a departmental "core" course.

Research Apprenticeship

Each student's involvement in research begins during the first semester under the supervision of his or her developmental faculty advisor. The particular research activities to be engaged in are open to negotiation between the student and advisor. But, in general, it is expected that this research will be preparatory to the student's second-year project (see below). This year should, however, be regarded-by student and advisor alike-as an exploratory year.

Area Meetings

The developmental area holds biweekly colloquium meetings during the academic year. The meetings consist of presentations from students, faculty, or others about on-going developmental research; all developmental graduate students are expected to attend. These meetings serve a variety of important functions such as broadening one's knowledge about developmental psychology, refining research skills, providing a forum for exchange of ideas, and learning how to effectively present research.

Advising

At the end of the first semester, students may consult with the area head if they wish to change advisors in anticipation of the second-year project. Under normal circumstances, the advisor during the second semester of the first year will supervise the second-year project.

Second-Year Project Prospectus

On the first Monday in May, a one- to three-page prospectus of the student's proposed second-year project is due (see below). That prospectus, outlining the research problem, rationale, hypotheses, and tentative design should be turned in to the student's advisor.

Updated 2 October 2008
College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas Austin
Report broken links, problems and outdated information
Privacy Statement