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Degrees & Majors

Clinical Psychological Science

Bachelor of Science in Clinical Psychological Science

About

Our Bachelor of Science in Clinical Psychological Science degree is designed for highly motivated students who want to pursue a career in mental health care, clinical science research, and related fields.

Through academic and applied experiences, you will develop an in-depth understanding of clinical psychological science—a psychological science aimed at promoting health and well-being as well as measuring, understanding, preventing, and reducing human suffering.

Our coursework will introduce you to the breadth of activities our field engages in across the translational spectrum—from translating basic laboratory science to human application and from proving efficacious treatments to implementing these interventions to maximize public health impact.

You will learn a broad array of research methods, psychological theories, and cutting-edge findings from psychological and brain sciences subdisciplines (e.g., cognitive science, developmental psychology, behavioral neuroscience) with the potential for human application.

Through the coursework in these subdisciplines, you will learn about methods, frameworks, and findings in data analytics and modeling, life sciences, and public health and policy that can be leveraged to address pressing psychological problems.

In your applied experience, you will integrate knowledge and skills spanning the translational spectrum and apply them toward research with the potential for human application or patient care in mental and behavioral health service settings.

Depending on your choice of advanced courses or labs, you can gain the following knowledge and skills:

  • A scientifically grounded understanding of clinical psychology, including treatment development, implementation, and evaluation; psychopathology; and assessment.
  • An understanding of various brain regions, their functions, and their roles in development and treatment of psychopathology.
  • An overview of the potential causes of disorders including depression, autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.
  • An understanding of the importance and role of developmental processes in risk and protective factors for psychological health and suffering.
  • Basic laboratory skills allowing you to pose and then answer questions about brain and behavior using rigorous methods that adhere to ethical principles.
  • Analytical skills to frame applied questions in a way that facilitates searching for solutions, scrutinizing research, and identifying and understanding evidence-based practices with public-health implications.
  • Communication skills that enable you to make presentations at regional or even national conferences and, perhaps, to write a senior honors thesis.
  • Should you want to apply to medical school, you can choose a set of courses that provide a solid foundation for the MCAT.

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