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The Master of Arts Program in Psychology, offered by the Department of Psychology , affords its candidates an opportunity for advanced study of psychological theory and research techniques with the following objectives in mind:

• To ultimately earn a doctorate in psychology - the course work and experience obtained in the Psychology Program is designed to enhance students’ credentials when applying to highly competitive doctoral programs.
• To succeed in business, industry or a research setting - our program’s emphasis on the mastery of statistical and methodological procedures, research experience, and critical thinking produces graduates that are well suited for many careers in business, government, and/or an array of research settings.

Admission Requirements

To be eligible for admission into our program, you must:

Meet all of the University’s graduate admission requirements :

1. Have the equivalent of a U.S. baccalaureate degree
2. Have completed a minimum of 30 semester units in undergraduate psychology
3. Have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the last 60 semester units (90 quarter units) of all college and/or university course work
4. Have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all college and/or university psychology courses taken

Degree Requirements

General university requirements and procedures for completing the Master of Arts degree are described in the Academic Regulations section of this catalog . In addition to these, the following departmental requirements must be fulfilled.

General Program Requirements

1. The student’s combined total of approved undergraduate and graduate work in psychology must be at least 60 semester units, including 30 units for the MA Degree Program.
2. The student must complete at least 30 approved graduate units. At least 27 of these 30 units must be psychology or statistics units; of the 27, at least 24 must be 200-level courses, i.e., up to six units may be from 100-level courses with the program coordinator’s approval.
3. The candidate must complete an acceptable thesis. This thesis will be a quantitative investigation of some degree of originality and of publication caliber.
4. Satisfactory performance on a final examination is required. This examination may be written, oral or both, as determined by the student’s thesis advisory committee. This is typically satisfied through the oral defense of the student’s thesis research.
5. The University requires that all graduate students complete the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR)  as a condition for advancement to candidacy . For graduate courses that meet the GWAR, please refer to the Graduate Admissions and Evaluations website at www.sjsu.edu/gape {www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies}.

Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement

At SJSU, students must pass the Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR) .