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Transfer


Emory University considers you a transfer student if you have already graduated from high school and also completed one year as a full-time student (or are in the second semester of your first complete year as a full-time student) in a degree-seeking program at another two-year or four-year college or university.

FAQs

You have received credit for the material presented in Psych 111:  Intro to Psychology II.  

It means that you should not take Psych 111 on the Emory campus; that would be 6 hours of academic credit for 3 hours of work.  Emory frowns on this and we do not recommend it.  You may take Psych 110:  Introduction to Psychology I. 

If you took the AP/IB class and either did not take the test or did not score high enough to get academic credit, then you may take Psych 111 or Psych 110.  AP/IB credit is equivalent to Psych 111 based on content, the material covered in the class and on the test.

If you have questions about transfers, course equivalencies or study abroad:

Dr. Elizabeth Kim
Director of Undergraduate Outreach & Pedagogy 
Elizabeth.Kim@emory.edu

If you have questions about research, internships, honors:

Dr. Andrew Kazama
Director of Undergraduate Research
akazama@emory.edu

Questions about all things Undergraduate Psychology Degree at Emory? 

Lorenza Houser
Senior Program Coordinator
lhouser@emory.edu

The short answer is that it is possible for courses taken at other institutions to count toward the psychology major. For information on how to make this happen, look at the answer to the FAQ below to learn how to receive departmental approval for such courses.

A maximum of four psychology courses may be transferred from a previous educational institution to apply toward the psychology BA or BS major at Emory. The BA and BS psychology majors both have additional (outside-of-psychology) courses that count toward the major. For these courses, there are specific provisions for the BA and BS regarding how many of these outside-of-psychology courses may count toward the major.

· For the BA major, a QTM 100 equivalent course taken at another institution may count toward the major.

· For the BS major, three (3) outside-of-psychology courses taken at another institution (this may be a QTM 100 equivalent course or courses that fulfill the Quantitative and Methodological Courses Requirements or the Interfacing Science Courses Requirements) may count toward the major.

A one semester introductory course is given the equivalence of PSYC 111. You should not take PSYC 111 on the Emory campus and may enroll in PSYC 110.  However, if your previous school had a 2 semester introductory sequence and you took the natural science component, it is possible you will receive credit for PSYC 110 instead of PSYC 111. This is only possible for programs with a 2 semester introductory sequence.

  •  Psych 110 is the more neuroscience-oriented component of the introductory sequence. It covers the organization and operation of the nervous system as it pertains to behavior and its cognitive underpinnings.
  • Psych 111 is the more social science oriented component of the introductory sequence. It covers research design, social psychology, social and emotional development, personality measurement and theory, psychopathology, and therapeutic interventions.

Students may take either Psych 110 or Psych 111 as their first course in psychology. Both Psych 110 and Psych 111 are required for the psychology major.

There are a series of steps to complete in order for your transfer courses to be approved to count toward your psychology major at Emory.

  1. You must receive College approval for your course. If the College approves your course, it will be listed on your OPUS transcript, and on the Emory Evaluation of Credit you received from the Office of Admission. If the College does not approve the course, it cannot count toward the major.
  2. Once the College has accepted your course, then you need to submit information about the course to the psychology department. In order for the course to be accepted by the department you will need to submit the following materials to Lorenza Houser in the Psychology Dept. Main Office either in hard copy in Room 270 in the PAIS building or via e-mail at lhouser@emory.edu.     
  •  A course syllabus. You need to have a syllabus, not the course description, from when you took your course. Courses cannot be considered without a syllabus. We are interested in the content of the course and course requirements, not just the name of the course.
  • A transfer form. The form needs to be completed for each class you wish you have considered for the major.

 The department’s Curriculum Committee will look over your submitted paperwork and make a determination about if and how the course may be applied to the major. You will be contacted by email with the committee’s decision.  It is best to complete this process as early as possible in your first semester on campus.


A maximum of 4 psychology courses may be transferred from a previous educational institution to the psychology major at Emory. In addition, a QTM 100 equivalent course may be transferred to the psychology BA major. For the BS major, three outside-of-psychology courses (these may include a QTM 100 equivalent course, and/or courses that fulfill the Quantitative and Methodological or Interfacing Science courses requirement) may be transferred to the major.

A good place to begin would be with either PSYC 110 or PSYC 111. These are the introductory classes and will give you a broad overview of a portion of the discipline of psychology. Often, completion of one of these courses, or its equivalent, is a prerequisite for taking higher-level classes. You may then enroll in classes that are interesting to you.

Almost everything you might need to know about the psychology major is on the website and you can find the answers to lots of your questions. If you have a specific question not answered on the website, you may ask your favorite psychology professor or contact the department. Lorenza Houser, Academic Degree Program Coordinator Senior, is a good resource. 

Lorenza Houser Headshot

Academic Degree Program Coordinator Senior

Lorenza Houser
PAIS | Room 270

We advise to wait a bit longer to make a decision about your major. The key to a successful undergraduate experience is to keep an open mind about academic disciplines and to sample from as many related fields as possible before selecting a major.

Premature determination of the major and career goals will limit the possibilities for meaningful exploration in these areas. Psychology is concerned with behavior; a number of other disciplines, such as political science, sociology, neuroscience and behavioral biology, anthropology, economics, philosophy and religion, are also concerned with behavior, but from a different perspective.

Therefore, it would be a good idea to take classes in some of these areas as well as psychology before making a decision about a major. You will be happiest and get the most out of your undergraduate education if you are patient enough to be certain that you are making an informed choice about your academic major