The M.A. in Psychology provides students with the study of human behavior. Graduate training in Psychology entails in-depth exploration and understanding of the core foundations of the biological bases of behavior, the social bases of behavior, the acquired bases of behavior, and the individual bases of behavior. As a scientific discipline, the study of psychology also requires competence in research methodology, statistics, and critical thinking. Psychology is an applied discipline, with applications in clinical health and mental health settings, business settings, and educational settings. Students completing a master’s degree in Psychology will be prepared to pursue careers related to their concentration at the master’s level or to pursue advanced training at the doctoral level. There are two areas of concentration in the master’s program: Counseling-Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Industrial-Organizational. Students seeking to complete the M.A. degree in Psychology must meet the general University requirements, the Department of Psychology graduate core requirements, and the specialized requirements of the student’s chosen area of concentration. 

Admission Requirements

Application deadlines for each concentration will be posted on the Department of Psychology's website. Applications completed after the published deadline may not be reviewed in time to enroll in the desired semester.

In addition to the University graduate admission requirements described in the Admissions section of the catalog, the department bases decisions for regular admission on a holistic review of credentials in which the following criteria are used to assess the potential success of each applicant:

• Undergraduate institutional GPA
• Psychology undergraduate GPA
• Grades received in undergraduate major coursework
• Submission of letter of intent.
  • Applicants should refer to the department website for information regarding what each concentration requires to be included in this letter of intent.
• Submission of two letters of reference, at least one preferably from a former instructor
• Program prerequisites
• Field experience or skill sets
• Oral Interview and current resume if applying to the Counseling specialization

The following are the minimum admission requirements:

• A bachelor’s degree in psychology (preferably) or a bachelor’s degree with the completion of at least general/introductory psychology, research methods in psychology, three semester hours of statistics, and a psychology course in the area of intended master’s emphasis (e.g., Abnormal Psychology if applying for the counseling concentration). Any of these requirements may be waived if the student demonstrates competence in the area. Although a student may be admitted with deficiencies, the requirements must be fulfilled before the student is admitted to any 6000-level course. In addition, certain graduate courses have specific undergraduate prerequisites.
• If admitted, students who do not have an undergraduate degree in Psychology may be required to take prerequisites for particular graduate courses. For example, these students should complete EXP 4404 Psychology of Learning, or its equivalent, before taking EAB 5705 Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.
• If admitted, students who have an undergraduate degree in Psychology are considered to have met the prerequisites for courses in the graduate core.

Non-Degree Students

The department may be petitioned to apply up to 12 sh earned at UWF as a non-degree student toward the M.A. degree if the student is later admitted into the graduate program. See the Non-Degree Seeking Status policy.

Degree Requirements

In addition to general University requirements, students seeking the M.A. in Psychology must meet the requirements listed below.

Graduate students should develop their degree plans with their academic advisor during the first semester of graduate work. All students must complete University requirements and a planned degree program (42 sh for Industrial-Organizational Psychology Specialization, 60 sh for the Counseling-Licensed Mental Health Counselor Specialization) with at least a 3.0 GPA and with these stipulations:

• Courses outside the Department of Psychology (except required courses) may only be taken with approval of the program coordinator.
• All students must complete PSY 6217 Research Design in Psychology; EXP 5735 Experimental and Correlational Statistics for Psychology or a program coordinator approved elective and at least one course from each of the four core areas.

All graduate students must receive a B- or higher in all graduate coursework. If a student receives a C+ or lower in a psychology graduate course, they must repeat the course or an equivalent approved by the program coordinator and department chair.

With the program coordinator's approval, a student may apply a maximum of 6 sh of graduate work taken at another University toward the degree. With the approval of the department chairperson, a maximum of 10 sh of transfer credit may be accepted toward the degree.

All master’s work must have been taken within six years preceding completion of the degree requirements or the student will be required to retake any expired coursework.

Graduate students cannot withdraw from more than 2 classes. If withdrawing from 2 classes, those 2 classes cannot meet the same program requirement. Exceptions may be made for medical or other extenuating circumstances with the approval of the program coordinator and department chair.

In order to switch tracks, students must meet with the program coordinator of both tracks. Students must also submit a new letter of intent describing their career goals and how the track will help them in their pursuit of these goals. Students will be re-evaluated for the new track based on their current class performance and new letter of intent. Students who receive approval to switch tracks must meet with an advisor from the new track to review degree requirements. Students may apply for a track change only once.

Psychology Graduate Core (18 sh)

Students must complete one course in each area as identified by their specialization.

Toward the end of graduate work, the student must have an integrative experience consisting of 6 sh of one of the following courses:

A maximum of 6 sh of supervised research, thesis, or internship credit may be counted toward the total sh degree requirement.

Consistent with the University's Continuous Enrollment Policy for Thesis Students, students registered for thesis or internship must be continuously enrolled at UWF after they have registered for their first capstone credit hour. A student may satisfy the intent of continuous registration by registering for thesis credits, supervised research, internship, or graduate coursework. Students who fail to do so will receive a warning letter from the department chair suggesting that they may be removed from the program or required to start their Capstone project over.

Once a student has registered for six hours of thesis or internship, that student must show continued satisfactory progress. After the first semester (following the completion of six hours) students are enrolled, any students who fail to make satisfactory progress will receive a warning from their faculty advisor stating that they must show satisfactory progress in the next semester or potentially be removed from the program. Thesis students must also meet with their committee to discuss how they plan to complete the project if allowed to remain in the program. Following a second semester in which students fail to make progress, a letter will be sent to those students by the Department of Psychology Chair. This letter will detail the milestones that MUST be met by the end of that semester. If the student fails to meet the milestones (as judged by the student's committee) after the third semester, then the student will receive the grade of "U" and will not be permitted to continue in the program. Students may petition for a waiver under extraordinary circumstances such as health issues or other life crises.

Students doing an internship are required to submit a portfolio and/or paper, depending on the specialization, as described in the Psychology Graduate Student Handbook. Upon completion of the thesis or internship, the student must present an oral defense to a master’s committee of at least two psychology faculty members.

Counseling Psychology-Licensed Mental Health Counselor

The Licensed Mental Health Counselor option is a 60 sh program with requirements comparable to the requirements established by the Florida state board for licensure as a Mental Health Counselor. Attainment of the degree does not entail conferral of the license, which is governed by the state licensing board. This degree option focuses on meeting current licensure requirements, preparing the graduate for a career as a licensed mental health counselor, and requires completion of specialty coursework and a total of 1000 hours (9 sh) of practicum/internship field placement in a mental health setting.  Upon graduation from the licensure option, the individual should be in a position to qualify to register with the state licensing board as an intern and to obtain the two year post-degree supervised experience required by the board for licensure.

In addition to the 18 hours of core requirements (four Bases of Behavior (12sh - Counseling students take PCO 6216 Theories of Individual Counseling  to meet Individual Bases of Behavior portion of the core and PCO 6278 Multicultural Counseling to meet the Social Bases of Behavior portion of the core), Research Design (3sh), and Graduate Statistics (3sh)), Licensed Mental Health Counseling students must complete 42 hours from the following:

Concentration (15 sh)

Application (9 sh)

Elective (3 sh)

Licensure Courses (15 sh)

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Concentration

The M.A. in Psychology provides students with the study of human behavior within the framework of the core foundations of the bases of behavior, as in the biological, social, acquired, and individual bases of behavior. To accomplish these proficiencies, the 42 semester hour Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Concentration provides active learning of these bases of behavior through personnel psychology and organizational psychology courses. Additionally, research methodology and design, data analysis and interpretation, and applied utilization of skills complete students’ training for those who seek employment at the master’s level in organizational settings as well as those who wish to pursue a doctoral program.

Completion of Masters Program Requirements for the I/O Concentration include the following required Core and Concentration courses:

Core Requirements (18 sh)

Concentration Requirements (9 sh)