Have a Question?

Concentrations in the Psychology Major

As a Psychology student, you will select a concentration prior to the start of your third year. Choosing one of our two designed concentrations, or designing your own Flex Path concentration, allows you to tailor your degree to your exact future aspirations. 

We strongly recommend supplementing your concentration with one of our many minors at the college.

Our Exciting Hands-on Concentrations:

Health and Well-being

While a background in psychology can take you into almost any industry, directly focusing on mental and emotional health is a very popular career path—after all, it's why many students choose psychology in the first place. The relationship between physical health and psychological wellbeing is also a fascinating field, which offers many innovative career opportunities.

Dive into fascinating topics like the psychology of relationships, the science behind health psychology, how to use music or writing to improve wellbeing, and how to utilize scientific approaches to assess and increase wellbeing of different populations. With our Health & Wellbeing concentration, you will develop your analytical skills and build a toolbox of traditional and contemporary resources that can be implemented in a variety of career settings. Through courses in this concentration, you can:

  • Learn more about the skills and the different approaches that a psychologist can use to increase wellbeing—exploring different approaches to counseling, music therapy, expressive writing, etc.
  • Learn how to build, evaluate, and apply different types of interventions, targeting health and wellbeing-related problems. For example, your classes will help you reflect on interventions targeting stress management, emotion regulation, the role of attachment styles to promote healthy relationships, different approaches to music therapy, and behavioral modifications, just to name a few.
  • You will also able to pursue research opportunities as well as intervention-based professional internships linked to the field of emotional wellbeing, healthy aging, and health psychology.

Students will choose four of the classes from this list:

Social Change/Social Impact

Recognizing and working with the interconnectedness of identity and social change is an integral part of creating lasting impact on your communities and on the world. This is for the student who really wants to make an impact and use their degree to create better communities and a better world! 

The Social Change/Social Impact concentration will give you insight into the intersections of culture and social justice, while equipping you with the tools to move into careers where you will create real and impactful change in the world.

  • Improve your mediation skills and identify new practices for addressing conflict management.
  • Identify bias in yourself and others that can unconsciously contribute to systemic oppression, and create avenues to transform that bias into a form of conscious empowerment.
  • Understand how psychology plays a role in activism, law, policy, and other potential career fields.
  • Learn how to build, evaluate, and apply different types of interventions, targeting specific societal problems and using the science of psychology to impact change. For example, your classes will help you learn how to develop interventions targeting social tension broadly and to create societal improvements related to issues around gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. You get to put your passion for social justice to practice.
  • You will also be able to pursue research opportunities as well as intervention-based professional internships linked to improving communities and creating a better world around you.

Students in this concentration will take two of the following classes:

And take two of the following courses:

Flex Path

Perhaps your passions and career goals don't fit the structure of an established concentration. The Flex Path concentration allows you to work closely with a Psychology faculty member to specifically customize your degree focus to your personal desires. You will receive tailored support to design your ideal curriculum with the intent of maximizing your résumé to fit with your long-term goals. 

We strongly suggest pairing this concentration with a minor, and we will help you select the most suitable one. Psychology is one of the most diversely implemented degrees in the market today. Whether you decide to pursue law, join a corporation, work for the FBI, become a senator, launch your own start-up, become a researcher, work in human resources, become a marketing specialist, etc.—the Flex Path concentration will ensure you are equipped with the necessary skill set to do so.  

Students in this concentration will work with their advisor to choose four Psychology courses at the 300- and 400-levels.