Psychology

Majors & Minors
Psychology

Psychology

"This major has helped me in many ways. And it's helped me help others. I’m forever grateful for that. It made me realize some things about how I acted and how other people acted, and to be respectful of everyone’s behaviors. We’re all human and everyone works differently. It’s a good program to understand how to work with other people.”

Psychology major Riley Circello wants to improve people's work experience

You should major in psychology if:

You are analytical and love diving into the details.
You want a career that lets you help people.
You want to understand why people do certain things or act certain ways.

In psychology, we study humans (and non-human animals), their actions, and what influences their behavior. Majoring in psychology gives you an incredible range of career opportunities and possibilities — all because you have a deep understanding of people.

You’ll learn about psychology as a science, research methods and statistics, and various fields of study within psychology. Our program explores clinical psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, neuropsychology, quantitative psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology.

Psychology majors can contribute to research activities in our research labs, including opportunities to conduct your own research and work alongside our faculty experts.

Customize your psychology degree by choosing one of our two concentrations:

General Psychology
Pre-Medical Psychology

Psychology at UL Lafayette

What's Psychology Like?

Lab & research work
Group work & collaboration
Writing
Math
Presenting
Internships

Psychology research labs

Our psychology research explores communication, sense of belonging, life-span development, trauma, and more.

Life as a Psychology Major

Psychology in the community

We apply theories and conduct research to make people’s lives better. with children, families, incarcerated people, survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and individuals with developmental disabilities in our city — giving you the opportunity to help others while learning more about psychology.

Hands-On Research Experience

Our research interests range from to . Partner with faculty to get hands-on experience in our research labs and present research findings at scholarly conferences at the local, regional, national, and international levels — which are valuable experiences if you want to go to grad school or medical school.

Student Organizations

Connect with students and professionals in our campus-based chapters for the Psi Chi national psychology honor society, the Psychology Colloquium, National Alliance on Mental Health, Actively Moving Forward, and V-Day Lafayette.

Opportunities to Participate

Our students are involved in leading research projects — and they also participate as research subjects. Participating in research this way gives you a better understanding of how research should be conducted.

Concentrations in Psychology

Psychology professor in front of class at UL Lafayette

General Psychology Concentration

Explore psychology and all of its sub-disciplines in our psychology major. With this concentration, you’ll be prepared for graduate school or pursue a career at agencies that provide psychological services.

UL Lafayette psychology pre-med student in a lab

Pre-Med Concentration

Our pre-med concentration is designed to prepare you for medical school. This concentration requires additional courses in biology, physics, math, and chemistry. With these courses, you’ll also earn a minor in chemistry.

Psychology Courses According to Students

Freshman Year Sophomore Year Junior Year Senior Year

PSYC 200: Psychology Science

with Dr. Brooke Breaux

We're learning a myriad of things. We're learning a lot about ethics and the right ways to conduct research, types of research, and at the same time we're participating in surveys and experimental research. And also we're doing some alternative psych research, which is reading some scientific journal articles and taking quizzes on it. It's quite the class — it’s a lot of information packed in.”

Emie Bourg, psychology major

PSYC 340: Theories of Personality

with Dr. Amy Brown

It’s all about everyone’s personality and all the types of personalities. It really brought light to a lot of things I didn’t know before. You know how everyone takes personality tests? It puts into words how you feel and how you behave. It’s different from any other course you would take — you learn a lot about yourself and it makes you see someone else’s side of the story and you can understand where they’re coming from."

Riley Circello, psychology major

PSYC 455: Human Psychological Development

It was astonishing how much we learned about human nature and how we develop throughout our lifespans. Truthfully, I believe that everyone who is looking to become a parent should take this course. In fact, I loved it so much that I have all the lectures downloaded to my computer so that I can go back and listen to them again.”

Krista Malley, psychology major

PSYC 435: Principles of Learning

I was able to apply what I’ve learned in this class to real-life situations. I have a little brother, and he’s 7. We were talking about punishments and I found it really funny to learn that and to go home over Thanksgiving and apply that to him and it work. I was able to get him to do what he was supposed to do because I took what I learned in the class and applied to him. It really opens your eyes. I wish all classes were like that – stuff that I can actually apply to my life."

Kiara Martin, psychology major

Careers in Psychology

Emily Broussard

"Not only has my experience in the psychology department helped me to understand people with intellectual disabilities, but it has also taught me that my educational background in psychology can be applied anywhere, especially in the realm of teaching."

Psychology '15

English Language Arts teacher

More about Emily

Careers in Psychology

Social Worker
Licensed Mental Health Service Provider
Researcher
Professor
Industrial/Organizational Consultant

Program Requirements

Admissions Requirements

To major in psychology, you must meet the University's admissions requirements.

See the full admission requirements.

Graduation Requirements

To graduate with your bachelor’s degree in psychology, you must earn a “C” or better in all psychology courses.

for your psychology degree.

As a psychology major, you are also required to complete an 18-credit-hour minor, with at least 6 hours at the 300- or 400-level.

In addition to the requirements for the psychology major, students in the pre-med concentration have to take some additional courses:

3 semesters of Biology (with labs)
5 semesters of Chemisty (with labs)
3-4 semesters of Physics
an additional trigonometry-based Math class.

All pre-med concentration students declare a minor in chemistry, which offers the most direct path to fulfilling all medical school requirements and meeting specific minor requirements.

The curriculum requires 131-134 credit hours to complete.

for the pre-med concentration.

Note that all critical courses must be completed before you can take the MCAT exam. You should take the MCAT between your junior and senior year, if you plan to apply to medical school during your senior year. To be competitive for medical school, you must have a very high (3.5 or higher) GPA — both overall and in major/pre-med courses specifically.

If you are not a psychology major, you can choose to minor in psychology.

The psychology minor requires 18 credit hours of courses, including 6 credit hours at the 300 or 400 level.

for a psychology minor.

Resources

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Psychology

Psychology major Riley Circello wants to improve people's work experience