Academic Expectations

SUNY General Education Requirements
SUNY University has general education requirements which comprise of ten study areas.
These study areas are Basic Communication, Mathematics, American History, Other World
Civilizations, Foreign Language, Social Sciences, Humanities, The Arts, Natural Sciences, and
Western Civilization. For a student to graduate, they must have thirty credits in at least seven of
these study areas and two competencies. The two competencies are information management and
critical thinking. It is hoped that these study areas will provide students with important
knowledge and skills that they need regardless of their professions.
I have taken numerous units that fulfill these requirements. In the list below, I have
provided the general education requirement and how I have fulfilled it.
 Basic Communication: Research and writing for professional programs and Introduction
to college writing.
 American History: Politics and Government in the US
 Mathematics: Statistics and Probability
 Other World Civilizations: The Caribbeans
 Foreign Language: Elementary Italian I and Elementary Italian II
 Social Sciences: Introduction to microeconomics, Introduction to macroeconomics,
Ethnicity, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, and Introduction to Social Work.
 Humanities: Introduction to Philosophy
 The Arts: Basic Music Theory
 Natural Sciences: Stars, galaxies, and the universe.

My competence is information management which I acquired from classes in Introduction to
Microcomputers.
Of these study areas, the ones that I found most significant for my future work as a psychologist
are Introduction to social work (Social Sciences) and Statistics and Probability (Mathematics).
The former was significant because it gave me insights on handling different groups of people
and how to bring about changes to communities. Statistics and Probability was significant
because as a psychology researcher, I will need to be good at data analysis and interpretation
when doing my research work.
Concentration
For one to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology degree from SUNY Empire
State College, they need to have completed nine courses. In addition to Introduction to
Psychology, Human Development: Introductory, and Statistics for the Social Sciences, the
degree program requires one to complete these courses successfully:
Social Psychology: Other people usually influence the actions, feelings, and thoughts of
people. This course examines this relationship and its relevance in understanding individual
behaviors in social contexts.
Abnormal Psychology: The course discusses psychopathology and other behavioral
deviations and how they are determined by psychological, social, environmental, and biological
factors. It also looks at various theories that explain abnormal behavioral and mental functions
and the implications of these theories on therapy.
Biological Psychology: Human behavior has a biological basis. In particular, this course
looks at the working of the nervous system when it controls the sense and behaviors of people.
The course discusses various outcomes for humans when the nervous system malfunctions.

Cognitive Psychology: The course looks at how people receive information from the
environment and how they process it. It examines matters such as memory and learning,
attention, perception, decision-making, language, thinking, and attitudes of people.
Cultural Psychology: The course examines the relationship between the psychological
process of people and their cultures. It is based on the fact that culture and mind are two
connected entities and that just as culture shapes people, people also shape culture.
Social Science Research Methods: This course examines various research approaches and
techniques that researchers can use to gather and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data.
All of these courses will certainly help me become a competent psychologist. However, I
believe that given my professional goals, the courses that will be of the highest value to me
biological psychology, social psychology, statistics for the social sciences, social science
research methods, and cognitive psychology.
Biological and social psychology will be valuable to me because of the nature of my
work. As a person who works with an agency providing services to children with autism and
other developmental delays, I must understand not only the psychological situations of the
children but also how their conditions affect their social interactions with other children and
other members of the society. It will also help me to understand how their condition affects their
parents, their primary caregivers. Biological psychology will enable me to understand how the
behaviors of an autistic child are affected by biological processes in their bodies that have
malfunctioned, thus resulting in their autistic condition. Social psychology, on the other hand,
will help me to understand and explain how people’s reaction to the children’s condition affects
not only the behavior of the children but also of their parents.

Since I plan to further my studies in Psychology to Masters and doctorate levels, I believe
that lessons from statistics for social sciences and social science research methods will be of
great value. These two courses will help to research various areas of psychology that are of
interest to me, such as human development. Additionally, I plan to be a psychology teacher later
in my career. As a teacher, I will need a deep understanding of cognitive psychology in order to
help my students get motivated and learn better and faster.
Comparison of Programs
I compared course requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree at SUNY Empire State
University with those of the University of Washington. I noticed that the course is mostly
similar. However, the courses required by the University of Washington are more than those
required by SUNY Empire State University (Department of Psychology).
In conclusion, no doubt, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree at SUNY Empire State
University will help me achieve my professional goals. The courses that it offers for the degree
program have all the information that I need for my professional growth. I hope to complete this
degree program and become a competent professional psychologist.

References

Department of Psychology (n.a) Bachelor of Arts Psychology Courses. University of
Washington. Retrieved on 3 rd March, 2020 from
https://psych.uw.edu/undergraduate/prospective-students/graduation-requirements

Academic Expectations