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“Choose your own adventure” is how Kateri McRae, psychology department chair, describes getting a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the ���Ĵ�ý.

The most popular undergrad degree at DU, the psychology program is perfect for students with wide interests, offering them flexibility to pursue a double or even triple major in other disciplines. With one of the lowest numbers of required classes of all undergraduate programs at DU, the psychology major makes it easy for students to tack on other areas of study.

“We think of psychology as the most flexible major and the easiest to combine with other fields of study—and it gives you the most general overview of all of the different sub-fields in psychology,” McRae says. “You can design what's most meaningful for you.”

Flexibility is just one of the perks of studying psychology at DU. Read on to learn more about why DU’s psych students love the program.

Small classes, mentors that make a difference

McRae says one of the advantages of studying psychology at DU is the small class sizes that offer students a chance to work closely with faculty.

“At bigger schools, you’ll have professors who are well known as the experts in their fields, but they're also not asked to teach very much or to engage with students on an individual level,” she says.

Lili Hauser is a fourth-year student majoring in psychology. She says her relationships with professors are what helped her formulate the idea for her senior thesis. Hauser took a course called Drugs and Behavior with associate professor Tim Sweeny—and it all fell into place from there, she says.

“I ended up talking to Dr. Sweeny toward the end of the course, and he was like, ‘You’re welcome to join my lab,’” she remembers. “And then I joined the lab, and now we're working on a thesis together.”

Hauser says her professors are a large part of what has made her time in the psychology program so special.

“I think it's like, the small class size and the availability and kindness of a lot of the professors,” she says. “They are people that I want to talk to. I want to hear more about them. They’ll take time out of their day to send me materials if I ask for them, or they'll come and sit down for office hours.”

Senior psychology major Gavin Hood says one of the things he values most about DU’s psychology program is the availability of mentor-mentee opportunities.

“I’ve had many meaningful mentors in the department, both short-term and long-term,” Hood says. “I really valued their attention to my goals, willingness to share their experience, knowledge and wisdom, and commitment to steering me the right way.”

Diversity of opportunities

The psychology program offers undergraduates the opportunity to apply for the distinction program, in which students gain experience in research methods in honors seminars while working toward a senior research project in collaboration with a faculty member.

“DU’s program is special because it has opportunities that are different from other schools,” says third-year psychology major Katie Lamberton. “The distinction program is one of the biggest benefits—that ability to learn really intensive psychology stats, and paper writing, and manuscript drafts, and poster presenting. It’s something that I think all undergrads that are wanting to go into grad school should have under their belts.”

DU offers both a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science in psychology. While the BA is the most common pathway, McRae says, the BS is ideal for those interested in the scientific study of the mind and behavior. BS students are required to earn a minor or second major in natural or computer science or mathematics.

“There are a lot of psych majors who are really interested in what we call ‘pre-health professions’—pre-med, pre-nursing, pre-physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy,” McRae says. “Often, those folks choose the BS route because they have a lot of math or chemistry requirements as part of the prerequisites for those graduate programs, and so our BS fits really nicely into those.”

High-quality research alongside faculty

Hauser, Hood, and Lamberton have all had the opportunity to participate in research with faculty members—something they may not have been able to do at a bigger school.

“Normally, from my understanding, undergrad psychology majors are paired with graduate students versus the actual primary investigator of the lab,” says Lamberton. She was able to conduct child and family psychology research alongside associate professor Angela Narayan, whose Promoting Resilience in Offspring and Targeting Early Childhood Trajectories (PROTECT) Lab is one of 20 psychology research labs available to students.

“We’re looking at five-minute speech samples of parents, specifically mothers, talking about their infants at 12 months and trying to see if that correlates with developmentally appropriate expectations,” Lamberton says.

Hood also works with Narayan in the PROTECT Lab, helping to examine early childhood experiences, intergenerational transmission of trauma, parent-child relationships, and more.

“My thesis focuses on feelings of centeredness, or how much you felt like you belonged and were unconditionally accepted, loved, and supported by your childhood family,” Hood says.

Undergraduates are also often awarded summer research grants, McRae says.

“It’s pretty rare for undergraduates to publish in peer-reviewed journals, but that happens quite a bit at DU, and I've seen undergraduates publish with faculty members in a two-author paper,” she says. “So, the amount of individualized attention, small group attention, is really a lot more like you’d get at a smaller school, but you're doing the quality of research you would usually find at a bigger school.”

For more information on DU’s undergraduate psychology programs, visit .