Undergraduate Advising
The Psychology Advising Office is located in the Social Sciences 2 Building, Room 150. Advising is available Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. In the summer, we provide drop-in advising and appointments through Zoom only. For the most recent updates from your advising team, check out our latest newsletter.
How to get advising support
Email psyadv@ucsc.edu
Emailing psyadv@ucsc.edu is the fastest way to get answers, complete petitions, and get signatures from advisors.
Please allow one to three business days for an email response. We will complete any signature requests within five business days. If you would like to petition to have study abroad courses fulfill major requirements, begin the process at least two weeks before your study abroad deadline.
Drop-in advising
Most questions about major requirements, enrollment, and the major declaration process can be answered through drop-in advising with a peer advisor.
Hours for in-person and virtual drop-in advising are available via our advising calendar. Note that there might be a wait, so be patient. An advisor will assist you as soon as they are able.
Advising appointments
Only after attempting to get your questions answered by email and/or drop-in advising may you schedule a 15-minute appointment with a peer advisor or undergraduate advisor through SlugSuccess.
Appointment slots become available 14 days in advance and are offered on a first-come/first-serve basis. They fill up quickly, so they also go through a vetting process. If you do not provide a detailed explanation of your reason for making the appointment, it will be canceled or addressed by email.
Upcoming deadlines
- Aug. 5-9: Advising Week/Virtual Advising Days
- Aug. 9: Priority enrollment begins (for eligible Frosh and transfer students, including EAP/exchange/visiting students)
- Aug. 10: Part III of Campus Orientation opens (closes Aug. 26)
- Aug. 12-16: Frosh enrollment dates
- Aug. 19- 22: Transfer Student enrollment dates
- Aug. 22: Enrollment closes for everyone
- Sept. 24: Welcome Week via Zoom: 9a.m. – 9:50a.m.
- Sept. 26: Fall quarter starts
- Week of October 7th: Student Experience Panel
- Week before Winter Advising Week (Around 11/7): Faculty Advising Fair & Lunch
Advising calendar
Advising team
Peer advisors
Peer advisors are current undergraduates who are trained to assist students with academic plans, graduation checks, enrollment advice, declaring cognitive science or psychology majors, studying abroad, and questions about majors, courses, and opportunities. Meet your peer advisors >>
Staff undergraduate advisors
Our undergraduate advising staff members are available to assist students with transfer courses, study abroad courses, substitution options, declaration and graduation petitions or appeals, veterans benefits, verification, course recommendations, approaching faculty for research assistant opportunities, graduate school preparation, and signing academic plans.
To better maintain consistency in advising, we’ve assigned each of our undergraduate advisors to focus on a particular group of students, organized alphabetically by last name. If your schedule allows, we recommend trying to schedule your appointments with the advisor assigned to your group.
Advisor for students with last names starting with A-Fa
Appointments available on Thursdays
Advisor for students with last names starting with Fe-Ler
Appointments available on Mondays
Advisor for students with last names starting with Les-Riu
Appointments available on Thursdays
Advisor for students with last names starting with Riv-Z + Global Learning resources
Appointments available on Tuesdays
Psychology and Cognitive Science major requirements
Advising forms
Make a copy of a Sample Academic Plans & Major Worksheet template to your UCSC Google Drive. Sample plans are for students’ personal use in academic planning, and the major worksheets are helpful for tracking your progress. You will receive a link to your Official Academic Plan signed by an advisor when you have completed the cognitive science or psychology major(s) declaration process.
Sample single major academic plans & worksheets
Cognitive Science academic plan & major worksheet
General Psychology (2020-24 Catalog) academic plan & major worksheet
Intensive Psychology (2020-24 Catalog) academic plan & major worksheet
Declaring the psychology or cognitive science major
Students who enter UCSC as first-years are required to be declared in a major by their sixth quarter. Transfer students are required to be declared by their second quarter at UCSC. If you are ineligible to declare, contact your college advisor for next steps. Requirements are determined by the year entered or years enrolled at UCSC. Learn more about catalog rights on the Registrar’s website.
Follow the processes below for declaring your major, depending on your situation. If your request is denied and you need to submit a declaration appeal, please contact an advisor.
Declaring a first major
Step 1
Complete the required courses
Students who select psychology on their UC admissions applications will be considered proposed in psychology until declaration.
To declare a major, you must complete the major qualifications, which are the lower division requirements listed in the General Catalog for our psychology majors and our cognitive science major.
Step 2
Request your Academic Plan
Fill out the Signed Academic Plan Request form to receive a plan with all remaining major requirements.
If you already have a Signed Academic Plan from our department, you do not need to request one again.
If you need an expected graduation term (EGT) review when you declare, this may delay the processing time for your declaration.
Step 3
Petition to declare
After submitting your Signed Academic Plan Request form, submit your Petition to Declare in MyUCSC.
Once you have submitted via MyUCSC, advising will send a follow-up email from psyadv@ucsc.edu.
Advisors review your petition, give confirmation that the major is formally declared, and provide a Signed Academic Plan.
Declaring a second major
Step 1
To declare a second major, you must complete the major qualifications, which are the lower division requirements listed in the General Catalog for our psychology majors and our cognitive science major.
Step 2
Confirm that you have a Signed Academic Plan for your first major.
Reach out to your first major advisor at least two weeks before the declaration deadline to request this.
Step 3
After receiving an updated academic plan, you can submit your Petition to Declare in MyUCSC. Advising will send you a follow-up email from psyadv@ucsc.edu. Advisors review the petition, give confirmation the major is formally declared, and provide an updated Signed Academic Plan.
Changing concentrations
If you are declared in psychology and want to switch between the general and intensive concentrations, fill out the Major/Minor Petition in MyUCSC, and select “update concentration.”
Senior seminar requirement
Students in all of our majors must complete a senior seminar course to satisfy the Senior Comprehensive Requirement and as part of the Disciplinary Communication requirement. Senior seminar courses are designated in the campus catalog with the text “satisfies seminar requirement” or “satisfies the senior comprehensive requirement.” Senior seminar is not an additional requirement, but rather you must select a senior seminar as one of your upper division courses. Students double-majoring in both cognitive science and psychology need only one senior seminar and should select one that is approved for cognitive science.
How to enroll
To enroll in a senior seminar, students must complete our department’s senior seminar survey by the deadline. Surveys and deadline dates are emailed before enrollment to declared students at senior standing (135 units or more) in the cognitive science or psychology majors. All students in the major who complete the survey by the given deadline will be assigned a permission code for a senior seminar by their expected graduation term.
Incoming student information sessions
Each year, the advising team hosts virtual Frosh and Transfer Info Sessions and Welcome Week Presentations for proposed cognitive science and psychology majors about our majors and declaration requirements.
- First-year student information session: Recording and slides
- First-year student welcome week presentation: Recording and slides
- Transfer student information session: Recording and slides
- Transfer student welcome week presentation: Recording and slides
Enrollment assistance
See guidance for resolving common enrollment issues under each of the topics.
Holds on enrollment
The Psychology Department does not place holds. If you have questions regarding the hold on your account, contact the department that placed the hold. Learn more about holds on the registrar’s website.
Prerequisites – Enrollment Error Message
Many Psychology courses have prerequisites. If a course is only available to declared majors, it will be noted as a prerequisite. Students still “Proposed” in Cognitive Science or Psychology cannot enroll in courses restricted to majors. If you get an enrollment error, review the prerequisites, co-requisites, and other restrictions for the class in the Class Search and confirm that your student record reflects your satisfaction with all requisites. Contact the Office of the Registrar to address the error message.
Permission Codes
Do not contact faculty or lecturers requesting permission codes. Declared juniors and seniors who could not enroll in any upper-division courses are eligible to request permission codes from the department. After the first pass enrollment, psyadv@ucsc.edu will email instructions on how to request a permission code(s). Permission codes are not guaranteed.
Taking PSYC 100
Although PSYC 100 is the next course students take after declaring their cognitive science and/or psychology majors, students don’t typically take this course until sometime during their junior year. PSYC 100 requires statistics, pre-calculus, and the Entry Level Writing & Composition requirements (Writing 1 & 2) to be either completed or in progress in the previous quarter at UCSC to enroll.
PSYC 1 Gating
PSYC 1 is a gated course, which means seats are released during each day of enrollment. Check back each day to try to enroll in the class. If you cannot get into the class, remember that you can join the waitlist during your second enrollment appointment. Find information about our campus waitlist process on the registrar’s website.
Other resources and opportunities
- Graduate school and career readiness: Our department’s guide to career and graduate school opportunities will walk you through the types of graduate school programs and preparations like the GRE exam and getting faculty letters of recommendation, as well as resources for planning your career path and getting jobs and internships. You’ll also find helpful recordings of prior workshops.
- PSYCFWD Google Group: Join this Google Group to receive forwarded opportunities shared with our department’s advising team from other departments at UCSC and graduate schools across the state, as well as job, scholarship, research, training, volunteer & internship opportunities. You can unsubscribe at any time.
- Psi Chi Honor Society: Psi Chi is an international honor society whose purpose shall be to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship of the individual members in all fields, particularly in psychology, and to advance the science of psychology. Interested students can apply to join the UCSC campus chapter.