Academic Planning
Psychological & Brain Sciences (PBS) encourages all students to take an active approach in planning their own academic coursework, with consideration to timelines for their future goals. Students who have thorough academic plans are able to maximize their time here at UCSB, both on and off campus, and are most prepared to be competitive candidates for internships, employment, and graduate schools.
To be successful planners, students majoring with PBS should keep in mind the UCSB degree requirements. Students may find GE information, college requirements, and downloadable petitions on the College of Letters & Science website. The UCSB General Catalog hosts all major sheets and course prerequisite information. For information about courses required by PBS majors that are not cataloged as “PSY”, please visit the specific academic department website. Most academic department websites include valuable planning information for enrollment into their courses such as projected course offerings, enrollment restrictions, policies, and contact information for their Advisors.
Academic Advising
The Psychological & Brain Sciences (PBS) Department offers academic counseling in a variety of ways. Most student questions can be answered throughout this website, but if a student has a specific need, they are welcome to visit the PBS Main Office in Psychology East, 1814 or email us at advising@psych.ucsb.edu.
PBS has three staff Undergraduate Advisors and two Peer Advisors that are able to help students navigate their academic successes at UCSB. The advisors can also be reached at advising@psych.ucsb.edu.
Students are responsible for planning their own academic paths, but are encouraged to bring their plans to the Main Office or email tentative schedules for review. Please note that Advisors do not create personalized academic plans.
Specific responsibilities are broken down as follows:
Peer Advisors will help students with:
- Enrollment Issues
- Research and Opportunities
- General Major Inquiries
- Change of Major
- Graduate School Inquiries
- Passtime Deadlines
- Major Progress Check
- Course Questions
Staff Advisors can help students with:
- Academic Concerns
- Course Evaluations for Major Credit
- Petitions/Forms (Advisors Signature Needed)
- Departmental Honors Program
- Schedule Review (Schedule Plan Required)
- Education Study Abroad (EAP)
- Double Majoring
- Disabled Student Program (DSP)
- Degree Credit Petitions
- Enrollment Issues
- Other
PBS Advisors are responsible only for Psychology & Biopsychology “PSY” courses. Students should contact the sponsoring departments for questions about other cataloged courses. On the following websites, students should be able to find projected course offerings and waitlist information for these departments:
Biology “MCDB” or “EEMB”:
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) or
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB)
Chemistry “CHEM”:
Mathematics “MATH”:
Physics “PHYS”:
Degree Audit Tool
The Degree Audit is a tool on GOLD that allows you to track your own progress through your academic career at UCSB. The audit will show you a multitude of information including how much of your general education and major requirements have been completed and are left to complete. It will also give you a breakdown of your GPA (cumulative and major), residency requirements, total units left to complete, etc. Please use the PDF instructions below to learn how to run your own audit.
