Declaring the Psychology Major: An Archival,General Model from an Urban University

Abstract

The records of 806 psychology majors were analyzed to determine their academic profiles at the point of acceptance to the program. Seven descriptive categories adequately encompassed the students' background: (a) direct entry from high school, (b) internal transfer from within the university, (c) external transfer from outside the university, (d) transfer who pursued the major elsewhere, (e) short-term returnee, (f) long-term returnee, and (g) prior degree earned. The number, age, gender, and academic characteristics of the students within these seven categories are reported. Of more general interest, a prototype of the “traditional” psychology major is proposed; based on a certain subset of the records at hand, a generic model of the curricular path to the psychology major is offered.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bean

J. P.

Metzner

B. S.

(1985). A conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition. Review of Educational Research, 55, 485–540.

Griggs

R. A.

Jackson

S. L.

Meyer

M. E.

(1989). High school and college psychology: Two different worlds. Teaching of Psychology, 16, 118–120.

Grobman

A. B.

(1988). Urban state universities. New York: Praeger.

Halpern

D. F.

(1988). Assessing student outcomes for psychology majors. Teaching of Psychology, 15, 181–186.

King

D. J.

(1982). Undergraduate education in psychology in the 80s: A view from the dean's office. Teaching of Psychology, 9, 6–9.

Kulik

J. A.

(1973). Undergraduate education in psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Lunneborg

P. W.

(1986). Assessing students' career needs at a large state university. Teaching of Psychology, 13, 189–192.

Lunneborg

P. W.

Wilson

V. M.

(1982). Job satisfaction correlates for college graduates in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 9, 199–201.

Malin

J. T.

Timmreck

(1979). Student goals and the undergraduate curriculum. Teaching of Psychology, 6, 136–139.

10.

McGovern

T. V.

Hawks

B. K.

(1986). The varieties of undergraduate experience. Teaching of Psychology, 13, 174–181.

11.

Richardson

R. C.

Jr. Bender

L. W.

(1985). Students in urban settings. Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Higher Education.

12.

Titley

R. W.

Vattano

F. J.

(1972). Psychology as a “major” step from high school to college. Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 20, 133–138.

13.

Titley

R. W.

Vattano

F. J.

(1976). A case of tentative choice: The freshman psychology major. Vocational Guidance Quarterly, 25, 126–129.

14.

Ware

M. E.

Meyer

A. E.

(1981). Career versatility of the psychology major: A survey of graduates. Teaching of Psychology, 8, 12–15.

15.

Woods

P. J.

(1979). The psychology major. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.