Psychology and Counseling Programs Available at the University of Florida
The University of Florida appears in our ranking of the 50 Top Online Bachelor of Psychology Degree Programs.
The Department of Psychology at the University of Florida is just one of the on-campus departments to offer psychology and counseling programs for incoming students. Undergrads can earn a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, which features a general psychology track. In the general track, students will take Developmental Changes, General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology and Psychology of Personality. This is also available with a specialization in behavior analysis or behavioral and cognitive neuroscience.
A new Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program is available online. Students take General Psychology and 12 credits of other introductory courses such as Comparative Psychology, Psychology of Personality, Principles of Behavior Analysis and Sensory Processes. The university will accept transfer credits from students, which lets them graduate after doing just five semesters of work rather than eight semesters.
Available from the university’s College of Education, students can earn a graduate degree in counselor education. This program is available as a Master of Education or an Education Specialist program and as a Master of Arts option for those who want to do a thesis. Students can also complete a doctoral degree in counselor education. The school counseling program includes Counseling Children, Counseling Adolescents, Family and School Interventions and Organization and Administration of Guidance and Personnel Programs. Students will need to take more courses if they do not have a Florida license. The College of Education offers a similar program with a major in mental health counseling too.
In the counseling psychology program, students go through practical training to ensure that they have the minimum skills needed to work with patients. Survey of Developmental Psychology, Seminar in Psychology and Deviant Behavior, Advanced Adulthood and Aging and Current Research Methods in Developmental Psychology are some of the courses available to students in this and the university’s clinical psychology program. Students can do internships with leading agencies across Florida and complete practicums for credit too. In the doctoral programs, the university expects students to do dissertations that will publish before they graduate.
Featured Programs
At the University of Florida, psychology graduate and doctoral students can choose from different specializations based on where they want to work and what they want to do with their degrees. The counseling psychology specialization prepares students for helping patients with mental health issues, while the developmental psychology program focuses on how people age and develop across the human lifespan. Other specializations available from the university include behavior analysis and social psychology.
About the University of Florida
The University of Florida is a large and comprehensive public university in Gainesville, Florida. Known as the University of the State of Florida for many years, it can trace its roots back to four different schools that operated in Florida, including the East Florida Seminary, which opened in 1853. That school merged with three others in 1905 to form the university. Known today as both Florida and UF, it ranks as one of the top 100 colleges in America, according to Washington Monthly, ARWU and U.S. News and World Report. USNWR also ranks Florida as having some of the nation’s best programs in counselor education, clinical medicine, physics, psychology, social sciences and behavior, and neuroscience.
University of Florida Accreditation Details
Florida has accreditation from the American Psychological Association for its doctoral programs in school counseling, counseling psychology, and clinical psychology programs. That accreditation covers the internships and other fieldwork that students do and also applies to the courses that they take. Florida also has regional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
University of Florida Application Requirements
UF has a limited number of spaces available for incoming freshmen and encourages students to apply by the first of November. It does not guarantee that the psychology program will have any remaining space for those who apply after this deadline. Undergrads have until December first to report their academic scores and December 15 to submit their test scores. There is a $35 application fee due whether students apply via the Common or the Coalition Application. UF also requires a response to one of more than 10 essay questions that include topics such as why being a teenager in today’s world is difficult and how a specific event helped shape the student’s life.
Both the university’s graduate and doctoral programs in psychology have the same application and admissions requirements. Students need transcripts that show they took undergraduate classes in social, developmental and cognitive psychology as well as statistics and research courses. A minimum GPA of 3.8 and minimum scores of 160 and 155 on the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE are also required. Florida will accept students with a lower GPA if they maintained a 3.8 or higher GPA over the last two years. Students will provide resumes that show their professional and research experiences and letters of recommendation too. UF looks for students who have research interests that match the available courses.
Tuition and Financial Aid
The cost of attendance for undergrads at the University of Florida is $6,380 per year for tuition and miscellaneous fees. Those students pay an average of $4,470 per year for a meal plan and $5,650 each year for a housing package. Students have the option of living at home if they live within close proximity to the campus. Undergrads cannot live on their own away from the campus until they spend two years on the campus. Financial aid packages go to UF students who use the FAFSA early in the year. They can get scholarships, work-study, grants, and loans.
Financial aid is also available for graduate students who complete the FAFSA. The cost of attendance for graduate and doctoral students is $12,740 per year for tuition and fees. They can choose to live on-campus, but they’ll pay $7,130 for housing and $4,470 for a meal plan each year. Though graduate students qualify for scholarships and loans, they can also qualify for one of the Florida assistantships. These jobs go to students who have high financial need and also demonstrate strong merit. They receive money that they can use for their textbooks and other expenses as well as tuition waivers. The University of Florida allows students to combine financial aid types of cover the total cost of earning their psychology degrees.