Psychology courses

What are psychology courses?

If you want to understand what motivates people to behave in a specific way, nature and causes of
behavior, how to deal with such a behavior, strategies to maintain psychological and social health,
then psychology courses are waiting for you. It is a dynamic field of research, where the quest to
seek wider knowledge has given birth to new research possibilities, new understandings, new
revelations and new applications to human mental processes.

The field of psychology vastly deals in exploring concepts such as cognition, behavior, perception,
emotion, intelligence, motivation, personality, motivation, intra and interpersonal relationships,
memory, states of consciousness, individual and group processes and so forth. The milestones of
the psychologists studying these concepts have made a strong impact and benefitted the society at
great lengths.

Widely, the objectives of these courses are to utilize research method

 To understand the field of psychology both historic and current;

 Critically evaluate psychodynamic and humanistic approaches;
 To attain better understanding on the biological and behaviorist approach;
 To understand and evaluate development of human attitudes and behaviors
 To assist and understand social influences and utilize them in problem solving which benefit
humanities, social and natural sciences.

List of Psychology Courses:

1. Degree courses in Psychology

a. Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
b. Bachelor of Arts Honours in Psychology
c. Bachelor of Arts Honours in Applied Psychology
d. Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Psychology and English
e. Bachelor of Arts in Crimonology and Psychology
f. Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Law
g. Master of Arts in Psychology
h. Master of Arts in Applied Psychology
i. Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology
j. Master of Arts with Honours in Psychology
 k. Master of Arts in Philosophy and Applied Psychology
l. Master of Philosophy in Psychology
m. Master of Philosophy in Counseling Psychology
n. Master of Philosophy in Applied Psychology
o. Master of Philosophy in Child and Adolescent Psychology
p. Master of Arts in Childhood and Youth
q. Master of Science in Forensic Psychological Studies
r. Master of Science in Psychology

Job Prospects

Those with bachelors degree can be eligible for jobs in universities, colleges, primary and
secondary schools, vocational rehabilitation centers, and community health centers.
Psychologists with master’s degree are employable in government agencies, private
institutions, industries, hospitals or can work with some doctoral level candidates under
supervision.

Many hospitals, private and public industries with more than 500 employees, defense
services, educational institutions, sports authorities and institutions, commercial and
industrial companies forensic departments, high intensity therapy centres, social services,
the media, police forces, the National Probation Service and prison, welfare organizations,
advertising companies, rehabilitation centres, research organizations, marketing companies,
financial organisations and guidance centers and so forth need to have psychologist or a
counselor, compulsorily.

Other jobs opportunities where your degree would be useful include:

 Actuarial analyst
 Advertising account planner
 Advice worker
 Careers adviser
 Counsellor
 Data analyst
 Forensic accountant
 Human resources officer
 Market researcher
  Physician associate
 Play therapist
 Psychotherapist
 UX analyst

Eligibility Criteria

Degree Courses

Most of the universities and institutions invite candidates with a minimum of 40 – 50 percent marks
in aggregate or equivalent grade point average and above in the pre university course or the +2 level
of education to apply for a psychology course.

Master Degree Courses

Minimum eligibility for this course is a graduation degree in any stream from any recognized
university. However, there are some reputable institutes that allow entry to the students having an
honors degree in psychology or psychology as a subject in graduation.

Skill set required

Students with analytical thinking, compassion and patience can take this course and further develop
themselves. Sense of ethical responsibility and problem solving capabilities are some other
attributes which go well with this course.

Duration:
A graduation course in psychology is a 3 year program.
Post graduation is of 2 years and during the course, specialization in many areas of psychology is
available.

Admission Procedures:

a. Admission for Degree courses

The admission to basic degree course in Psychology program begins after the results of
intermediate examination or the pre university examination are declared. The admission
procedure for regular college is generally through a cut off list which is published by the

concerned university. The general procedure for admission is

 Getting the Universities release Application Form (Online/Offline

 Cut off Percentage/CGPA Announcement by the respective colleges
 Personal Interview
 Admission Formalities begin

Universities offering undergraduate courses, ideally, announce the beginning of

application process in the month of May and June. After the first phase is over where
interested candidates fill the application forms, universities announce cut offs required
for admission to the program.

Many colleges consider the scores of entrance test conducted at national or college level for taking
admissions to Masters in Psychology. Further, students have to go through personal interviews also
after clearing the entrance test to get admission.

There are universities like Christ University, Banaras Hindu University, which apart from a
certain weightage to marks scored in 10+2 or the intermediate exams, also conduct
entrance test for admission to the program either at university level or institution level.
Whereas Institutions like IIPR conduct Personal Interview, along with the entrance test,
to assess the candidate's Subject Knowledge, Aptitude, Communication skills, Attitude
and Overall Suitability to the course.

Top colleges offering Bachelors in Psychology course are listed below:

Name of the Institute Location

Christ University Bangalore

Loyola College Chennai

Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal

St Stephen’s College New Delhi

 Lady Shri Ram College for Women Delhi

Fergusson College Pune

Jai Hind College Mumbai

St. Xavier’s College Ahmedabad

St Xavier’s College Mumbai

Loreto College Kolkata

b. Admission for Masters Degree or Post Graduate Degree

Admission for Master degree in many of the institutes is offered on the basis of their marks
in the qualifying graduation course. Admissions in several institutes is also done through the
performance in the departmental level or University level merit based entrance test and
personal interview, together with marks obtained in the qualifying degree examination.

There are more than 1500 Colleges for Master’s Degree, few institutes facilitating
Masters in Psychology are listed below:

Name of the Institute Location

Lady Shri Ram College for Women Delhi

Loyola College Chennai

Fergusson College Pune

Modern College of Arts Science and Commerce Pune

St Stephen’s College New Delhi

Indraprastha College for Women New Delhi

 National Post Graduate College Lucknow

Mithibai College of Arts Mumbai

Shri HK Arts College Ahmedabad

c. Admissions for MPhil and PhD Courses

Admission for a PhD course is done through the performance in the departmental level
merit based written entrance test and personal interview, together with marks obtained in
the qualifying master degree or post graduate degree examination. Admission procedure
and mode selection for MPhil is through distance education, however, may vary from one
institution to another.

Institutions like IIT conduct their own entrance test with a syllabus to entice the eligible
candidates with or without the psychology background. The topics range from general
psychology, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Industrial and Organizational
Psychology, Research methods and Statistics in Psychology, etc.

Duration of the courses:

Most of the educational institutions offering psychology courses are regular courses, which
have regular classes conducted along with continuous assessment criteria. The courses
offering regular classes run to duration of three years for degree level courses, two years for
Master degree and MPhil and 3+ years for PhD as it involves very elaborate and extensive
research in their chosen areas.

Mode of Study or Delivery Type

Although most of the institutes offer regular degree, master degree and doctoral courses
in Psychology, there are several institutes in the country which offer courses through
correspondence for students who cannot afford to attend the regular classes for various
reasons. This facility of correspondence provides students with regular reading material
and a few contact classes, so that the students can come at regular intervals to meet the
corresponding teachers to clarify their doubts and for better understanding on the topics
of the subjects.

While Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) remains one of the top
universities for distance education, there are other universities as well which offer this
course in the correspondence mode. Some of the universities which offer Bachelors in
Psychology in distance mode are:

 School of Open Learning, University of Delhi

 Annamalai University, Tamilnadu
 Nalanda Open University
 Bangalore University
 Karnataka Open University, Karnataka
 Uttaranchal Open University
 Tamilnadu Open University
 Dr B R Ambedkar Open University
 Osmania University
 University of Mumbai

Fee Structure:

Type Fee Structure Range Fee Structure Range

(Regular/per year) (Correspondence/per year)
Graduation courses Rs.2000 – Rs. 200000 Rs.2000 – Rs.30000
Post Graduation /Master Rs. 13000 – Rs.800000 Rs.2000 – Rs. 20000
Degree courses

The fee structure of the course varies from university to university and from city to city all
over India.

Skills for your CV

Studying psychology can enable you to acquire transferable skills including:

 written and verbal communication, including report writing and presentation;

  information technology;
 handling of data/statistics;
 analytical research;
 problem solving;
 the ability to work in teams.

The scientific aspects of your psychology course, and your knowledge of human behaviour
and motivation, ability to critically analyse a problem, formulate a considered response,
create an argument and generate new ideas lend themselves well to careers in the creative
industries, the legal sector, government administration and education and provide useful
tools for careers in healthcare, law enforcement, finance, IT and research.