Cognitive Science B.S.

Information and Policies

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the cognitive science major should demonstrate competency in:

• Application of knowledge with critical thinking skills. Students should be able to use critical thinking to evaluate and interpret evidence, and to apply cognitive science concepts, theories, and research findings to individual, social, and cultural issues.
• Application of research methods with values and integrity. Students should be able to apply basic research methods in cognitive science, with sensitivity to ethical principles.
• Communication skills. Students should be able to demonstrate effective communication skills following professional conventions in cognitive science appropriate to purpose and context.
• Awareness of methodological and theoretical diversity. Students should be able to understand the complexities of cognition using neural, embodied, social, and/or technological approaches.

Academic Advising for the Program

The Psychology Department has an advising office located at 273 Social Sciences 2, (831) 459-2002, psyadv@ucsc.edu. The advisors assist students in obtaining information regarding major requirements and petitions, course planning, substitution of transfer courses for advance enrollment, careers, and graduate schools. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the advising office throughout their college career. Transfer students are encouraged to consult the Transfer Information and Policy Section.

Acceptance to the Cognitive Science Major

Students are admitted to the University of California, Santa Cruz with a "proposed major" in most cases, and later petition to officially declare the major. Admission to UC Santa Cruz does not guarantee acceptance into a particular major. Students must declare a major by the end of their second year or equivalent (six quarters or 90 cumulative credits). Junior transfer students must declare a major no later than the deadline during their second quarter at UCSC. Learning about and preparing for the major should be primary goals for students.

Getting Started in the Major: Frosh

Students interested in pursuing the cognitive science major should complete PSYC 20, the statistics requirement, the calculus mathematics requirement, and the computer programming requirement. These classes should be taken for a letter grade. After completing these four lower-division required courses, students may petition to declare the cognitive science major subject to the grade requirements described in the Major Qualification section below.  Students are recommended to fulfill major qualifications as early as possible to avoid delays in the major declaration and enrollment processes. Refer to the Requirements and Planners section below, and consult with a department advisor early to begin the process toward the completion of major qualifications and major declaration.

High school students considering cognitive science as their university major find that the best preparation is a solid general education in English writing, mathematics at least through precalculus, biological and physical sciences, and social sciences.

Transfer Information and Policy

Transfer Admission Screening Policy

The following courses or their equivalents are required prior to transfer, by the end of the spring term for students planning to enter in the fall:

• Minimum grade of C (2.0) in a course articulated to a UC Santa Cruz calculus course (AM 11A/ECON 11A, MATH 12A/MATH 12B, MATH 19A/MATH 19B, or MATH 20A/MATH 20B). (An AP Calculus AB score of 4 or 5, or Calculus BC score of 3, 4, or 5 can be substituted.) 

• Minimum grade of C (2.0) in a course articulated to UCSC's PSYC 2, Introduction to Psychological Statistics, or STAT 5, or STAT 7 & STAT 7L, Statistics. (An AP Statistics score of 4 or 5 can substitute for PSYC 2 or STAT 5.)

• Minimum grade of C (2.0) in a course articulated to one of the following UCSC programming courses: ECE 13, CSE 13S, CSE 20, or CSE 30.

A minimum GPA of 2.8 must be obtained in the courses listed above.

In addition, the following courses are recommended prior to transfer to ensure timely graduation:

• PSYC 20, Cognition: Fundamental Theories

Prospective students are also encouraged to complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) or to complete all UC Santa Cruz general education requirements before matriculation.

Getting Started in the Major: Transfer Students

Students are admitted to UC Santa Cruz with a "proposed major" in most cases, and later petition to officially declare the major. Admission does not guarantee acceptance into a particular major, although transfer students' records are screened for preparation for many majors at the time of admission. In order to successfully transition to UCSC, Junior transfer students must be formally declared by the deadline in their second quarter of enrollment. Students are advised to set up and check their UCSC email regularly, make contact with their major advisors, submit course descriptions for articulation purposes, and consider taking summer session courses prior to their first fall quarter.

Transfer students who satisfy the requirements of the screening policy can declare the major at any time after matriculation at UC Santa Cruz. See the How to Declare the Major Section.

Major Qualification Policy and Declaration Process

Major Qualification

Students may petition to declare the cognitive science major once they have completed the lower-division requirements (PSYC 20, the statistics requirement, the calculus requirement, and the computer programming requirement). For students to be admitted to the major, they must have a 2.8 or higher cumulative GPA in the lower-division requirements and receive a C or better in each of the courses. Transfer students may substitute equivalent courses from other institutions. Students not meeting the grade requirements in the lower-division courses may take any of the listed alternatives as substitutions; the department will use the highest grade to compute GPA.

Appeal Process

Students who did not satisfy the major admission requirements but believe that there are extenuating circumstances concerning their performance in the foundational courses may file a written appeal describing these circumstances; however, such appeals are rarely granted. Appeals may be filed by emailing psyadv@ucsc.edu. The department will notify the student of the decision within 14 days of the receipt of the appeal.

How to Declare a Major

Students should submit a petition to declare as soon as they complete the major qualification (MQ) courses or reach their declaration deadline quarter, whichever comes first.

Students petitioning when the campus declaration deadline is imminent (i.e., in their sixth quarter, for students admitted as frosh), will either be approved, denied, or provided with conditions (e.g., completion of some courses with certain grades) that will be resolved within at most one more enrolled quarter, even if they have not completed MQ courses.

To petition to declare the major, students should follow the instructions on the department's website.

Letter Grade Policy

All lower-division courses required for major declaration have to be taken for a letter grade.  In the instance that they are taken for Pass/No Pass, a Pass grade will be accepted, but will be considered as equivalent to a C in the 2.8 GPA calculation requirement.

Course Substitution Policy

Students who want to fulfill requirements with courses taken at other colleges must petition for the substitution of their transfer courses at an orientation session or at an appointment with the department advisor. PSYC 100, Research Methods in Psychology, and the senior seminar must be taken at UC Santa Cruz. Students planning to transfer to UC Santa Cruz should check with the advising office of their present college, or refer to assist.org.

Double Majors and Major/Minor Combinations Policy

Students wishing to pursue double majors or a major/minor combination are encouraged to meet with an advisor to create an academic plan to do so.  

Global Learning

Up to three Global Learning courses may be approved for the major and prior course approval is recommended. Global Learning courses equivalent to less than 5 quarter credits (i.e. 4 or 4.5 quarter credits) should be discussed with a psychology undergraduate advisor to ensure major requirements are still met. Please review this webpage if you are considering studying abroad and want to try to obtain approval for such courses to count toward the major.

Honors

Honors in the cognitive science major are awarded to graduating seniors whose UC Santa Cruz grade point average is a 3.6 or higher in psychology courses (1-189).

Highest honors in the major are reserved for students who meet the honors criteria as well as successful completion of a senior thesis, or whose UC Santa Cruz grade point average is a 3.9 or higher in psychology courses (1-189).

Research, Field Study, and Other Educational Opportunities

The Psychology Department offers a range of educational opportunities, including opportunities for undergraduate research and field study. For more information, see the department's educational opportunities website.

Requirements and Planners

Course Requirements

The undergraduate degree program in cognitive science is a program offering a course of study leading to the bachelor of science (B.S.) degree. Fifteen courses (77 credits) are required. Because some courses have additional prerequisites, students should read the descriptions of courses carefully, noting the prerequisites for courses of interest to them.

Lower-Division Courses

Introduction to Cognition

Take the following course:

Statistics

Choose one of the following courses:

Calculus

Choose one of the following courses:

Computer Programming

Choose one of the following courses:

Upper-Division Courses

Take the following course:

Core Courses

Students must complete a course from three of the four following areas:

Perception

Neuroscience

Language

Memory

Electives

Cognitive Psychology Electives

Students must complete three additional upper-division psychology courses.

One Senior Seminar:

Seminar courses are psychology courses identified within the General Catalog by their course descriptions containing the phrase “satisfies seminar requirement,” and are numbered PSYC 119A-Z, PSYC 139A-Z, PSYC 159A-Z, and PSYC 179A-Z.

Students can access a full list of courses on the department’s website. Upper-division courses and their catalog descriptions are grouped within each of the subfields

Plus two additional courses from the following list:

Interdisciplinary Electives

Students must complete four interdisciplinary electives from lists of courses pre-approved by the Psychology Department, at least one of which must be upper-division. The electives fall into four groups: Evolution; Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction; Linguistics; Philosophy. Three of the four electives must be selected from the same group. Students are responsible for planning their course of study to complete any necessary prerequisites for electives they wish to take. Possible sequences of interdisciplinary courses, including prerequisites, are given below.

Group 1: Evolution

Group 2: Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction

Group 3: Linguistics

Group 4: Philosophy

Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement

Students of every major must satisfy that major's upper-division Disciplinary Communication (DC) requirement. The DC requirement in cognitive science is satisfied by completing PSYC 100, Research Methods in Psychology, and one of the seminar courses offered by the department (listed above)

Comprehensive Requirement

UC Santa Cruz requires that every student satisfy a senior exit/comprehensive requirement prior to graduation. cognitive science students will satisfy this requirement by receiving a passing grade in a senior seminar which is also part of the DC requirement (see above). To ensure that all students can meet the seminar requirement, students are encouraged to enroll in only one senior seminar. Students would only be allowed to enroll in additional seminars after all who still need to fulfill their seminar requirement have enrolled.

Planners

The tables below are for informational purposes and do not reflect all university, general education, and credit requirements. See Undergraduate Graduation Requirements for more information.

Following are two recommended academic plans for frosh, and one for transfer students to complete the cognitive science major. Plan 1 (for frosh) assumes typical curriculum selections. Plan 2 (for frosh) includes two additional interdisciplinary prerequisites, which some students find they need in order to take the upper-division courses they desire. Students who place out of MATH 2 and MATH 3 do not need these courses, which are otherwise prerequisites to calculus, PSYC 2 and PSYC 100.

Frosh Plan One

* WRIT 2 should be taken in or before spring quarter of the second year.

The courses listed above will satisfy the SR, and DC general education requirements. All other GE requirements have to be satisfied.

Frosh Plan Two

* WRIT 2 should be taken in or before spring quarter of the second year.

The courses listed above will satisfy the SR, and DC general education requirements. All other GE requirements have to be satisfied.

Transfer Plan