*For students entering in Fall 2019 (and beyond): The JDP Steering Committee has endorsed a change to the Cognitive Psychology Requirement to match the new APA standards. All students entering in Fall 2019 and all subsequent years will be required to take the new Cognitive & Affective Psychology course taught at SDSU starting Spring 2020. Students can still take other cognitive psychology classes at SDSU or UC San Diego as electives.

—

Students are required to take a course in Cognitive Psychology.  Although this course may be taken at either university, most students meet this requirement via a UC San Diego course, typically taken in the second or third year of the program. Before registering for a course to meet this requirement, the Program Directors must determine if it is sufficiently broad and general to meet the standard.  Please submit a copy of the syllabus to both the SDSU and UC San Diego Co-Directors for their review before you take any course to meet this requirement.  If the course chosen to meet this requirement is offered for a grade or pass/fail, students are required to take it for a grade.  Pass/fail for most courses only denotes C-level work and C is not an acceptable JDP grade. Note that the time limit to change a grade option at UC San Diego is by the time the new quarter begins. Failing to enroll for the “Letter grade” option by then will require a lengthy CEP committee review and approval by the UC San Diego Dean.

Students typically take the Cognitive Science Seminar (COGS 200) at UC San Diego.  If a student finds another course that he/she believes would better meet training goals, the student must get permission from his/her Guidance Committee and the Program Directors. None of these courses are offered each quarter/semester and some are only taught in alternate years, so a student will need to check both the SDSU and UC San Diego schedules.

NOTE:
Two states (Massachusetts and Arizona) have required additional coursework from program graduates, to augment the three-unit quarter system cognitive psychology class taken at UC San Diego to the equivalent of a three-unit semester class required in their state for licensure. The committee discussed ways that students planning to work in states with different requirements could avoid this often very expensive post-graduation addition of roughly one-and-a-half units of cognitive psychology. It was decided the Student Handbook should caution students to inform themselves about requirements of the state where they anticipate that they will be working, so they can obtain extra class units by adding additional readings, or can take an additional course, prior to graduation. Students will also be reminded that the program is designed to meet APA accreditation guidelines, not individual state licensure requirements. Graduates will be individually responsible for satisfying licensure requirements where they work. (Steering Committee, 11/24/05)
Updated 8/20/2019