Students may declare the Pre-Cognitive Science major once they have established a prep GPA by taking at least one prep course for a letter grade at UCLA and have an average prep GPA of 2.5 or higher.
All of the following Procedures and Requirements will be strictly enforced:
- A C or better is required in each preparation course. All courses must be taken for a letter grade.
- An overall grade-point average of 2.50 is required in the preparation courses.
- All of the preparation courses must be completed by the end of the summer following a student’s 3rd year at UCLA.
- Repetition of any preparation course more than once results in automatic denial of admission to the major.
- Repetition of more than any two preparation courses results in automatic denial of admission to the major.
Students who fail to meet any of these preparation requirements will be changed from Pre-Cognitive Science to Undeclared.
| Preparation Courses for the Cognitive Science Major |
|---|
| Life Sciences 7A or 15* or Physiological Science 3 |
| Mathematics 31A & 31B or Mathematics 3A & 3B & 3C |
| Philosophy 7 or 8 or 9 or 23 or 31 |
| Physics 1A or 5A or 10* or 11* or Chemistry 14A or 17* or 20A or Linguistics 1 or 20* |
| Program in Computing 10A |
| Two courses from: Program in Computing 10B or 10C or 15 or 16A or 20A or 30 or 40A or Psychology 20A or 20B or 30 or Statistics 20 or 21 |
| Psychology 10 |
| Psychology 85 |
| Psychology 100A** |
| Psychology 100B** |
The Advising Office recommends that students take the Program in Computing courses and Psych 85 as soon as possible.
Life Science 30A & 30B & one of Life Science 40 OR Stats 13 can be used to satisfy the Math prep requirement for the pre-major. Please contact the Psychology Undergraduate Advising Office to submit a petition upon completion of the three-course series.
Computer Science 31 & 32 can be used to satisfy PIC 10A, 10B and 10C credit for the pre-major. Please contact the Psychology Undergraduate Advising Office to submit a petition upon completion of the courses.
*Recommended course.
**Must be declared Pre-Cognitive Science to enroll.
Cognitive Science Major Requirements
Students may declare major standing once all preparation courses are complete, with final grades posted. You may request a major change form via Message Center on myUCLA.
An overall grade point average of 2.00 (C) is required in the upper division major courses. The Core, Laboratory, and Elective courses must be taken for a letter grade.
| Three (3) Core Courses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Select three courses, one from each box: | ||
| Psychology 115* | Psychology 120A or 120B | One course from: Psychology 124A-K |
* Psych M117A & M117B & M117C will count in lieu of Psych 115 and two Cognitive Science Electives. Students will not receive any Cognitive Science elective credit unless all three classes have been completed. Petition the Undergraduate Advising Office upon completion of the series.
| ONE (1) Laboratory Course: |
|---|
| Select one course |
| Psychology 111, M116A (previously 116A), 116B, 121, 186A, 186B, 186C, 186D or Computer Science 161* |
| FOUR (4) Elective Courses* (EACH MUST BE A MINIMUM OF 4 UNITS) |
|---|
| Select four courses from the following list: |
| Anthropology 124Q, M 124R, 136A, M150 |
| Communication 115, 118, 119, 122, 126, M127, 129, 130, 131, 155 |
| Computer Science 111-CM186 |
| Linguistics 103-185B |
| Math 110A-171 |
| Music Industry M103 |
| Neuroscience 102, M145, C177, 180, 181, 182 |
| Philosophy 124-138, 154, C154B, 170, 172, 174, 180, 181 |
| Psychiatry M182 |
| Psychology 110, 111, 112A-E, M116A, 116B, 118, 119A-Y, 120A, 120B, 121, 124A-K, 130, 133B, 133C, 133E, 135, 137A, M137B, 137G, 142H, 161, M166, 186 A-D, 191CH** |
| Statistics 100A, 100B, 100C, 101B, 101C, 115, C161, C180 |
*Please verify your eligibility to enroll in these courses and confirm you have taken the necessary prerequisite courses. This information can be found in the Schedule of Classes.
**Prior approval by the Psychology Advising Office is required. If 191CH is used as an elective, it cannot be used towards the Fieldwork/Research requirement as well.
| Two (2) Fieldwork/Research Courses |
|---|
| Two quarters of fieldwork and/or research in cognitive science (Psych 195B and/or Psych 196B). |
Fieldwork and research may only be taken on a P/NP basis. With prior approval of the Psych Advising Office, students can also use independent study (Psych 199 or 191CH) with a cognitive science professor toward this requirement.
For information on planning your degree and sample program plans, see here. Please note that these are sample guidelines, and that every student’s program plan will differ depending on course availability, scheduling, timing of the decision to pursue the major, and previous credit received. We strongly recommend students work with the department and College to plan their own personal programs.