Honors in Psychology
We encourage qualified students to apply for admission to the Honors College.
The process for becoming a psychology honors student is relatively simple if a student meets the basic requirements. In order to be considered for admission, a student must:
- Be admitted to the Honors College
- Have a 3.5 GPA overall in their psychology courses
- Have a psychology faculty member who is willing to mentor the student as they work on an undergraduate honors thesis
Students should download and complete the application for Honors in Psychology. The application must be signed by the faculty member, who is pledging to provide mentorship on the thesis.
Requirements for Graduating with Honors
Once accepted as an honors student, there are several things a student needs to do to graduate with honors in psychology. These include:
- Maintain status in the Honors College
- Complete PSYC 497, PSYC 498 and PSYC 499 for a total of 9 credits, with grades of A in all three courses
- Complete an honors thesis
- Maintain a GPA of 3.5 overall and in the psychology major, and complete all other requirements for the B.S. in Psychology
How to Register for Honors Thesis Credit
The first step in preparing to do an honors thesis is to find a faculty member willing to be a mentor for your thesis project. The best way to do this is to get involved with research before the spring of your junior year by doing a Research Internship (PSYC 494) or Independent Study (PSYC 492). This way, you can explore an area of research that interests you, and a professor will get to know your work.
Students generally start work on their honors thesis during the spring semester of their junior year, and continue throughout their senior year. During this time you would sign up for the three-course sequence: PSYC 497, PSYC 498 and PSYC 499. Typically, you would enroll in these courses during three successive semesters, although it is possible to take two courses in one semester. The most typical sequence is to take PSYC 497 junior year, and PSYC 498 and 499 senior year.
At the beginning of each semester, the honors coordinator will verify with your faculty mentor that you are actively working on your honors thesis, and will confirm the class for which you should be enrolled. The honors coordinator relays this information to the associate director of psychology advising and undergraduate academic operations, who will then email you with permission to enroll and instructions on how to enroll.
Completing an Honors Thesis in Psychology
An honors thesis is a research project that you design, run, write up and defend like a master's thesis under the supervision of a faculty mentor. An honors thesis provides an opportunity to do your own research, learn about an area in an in-depth way and work closely with a professor in the Department of Psychology. Completing an honors thesis is a great way to make your application to graduate or professional school stand out.
Undergraduate honors theses committees will have three or more full-time faculty members on the committee. Only faculty members may serve as committee members. One member will be the departmental honors thesis coordinator and one member will be the student's faculty mentor. The third member may be selected from within or outside of the Department of Psychology but must be a full-time faculty member at the University.
The thesis document should follow the latest edition of the American Psychological Association guidelines. Students should write a document that proposes to use data that already has been approved for use by the VCU IRB, or if data are to be collected, will be submitted for approval by the VCU IRB. Consistent with expectations for our master's theses in the department, the undergraduate honors thesis proposal should have the following sections:
- Introduction – to include a description of the relevant literature, the conceptual basis for the study, and a statement of the problem; hypotheses or research questions
- Proposed Method
- Participants
- Measures or Materials
- Procedures
- Data Analysis Plan
- References
- Appendix with consent / assent forms, measures
Once a student and their faculty mentor have worked through drafts of the proposal and the faculty mentor has agreed it can be distributed to other committee members, a thesis proposal meeting can be set. For undergraduate honors proposals, these meetings typically are 60-90 minutes.
Students should submit an electronic copy of the proposal to all committee members at least two weeks prior to the scheduled proposal date unless other arrangements have been made. If a committee member requests a hard copy of the proposal, students must provide one.
This proposal meeting is open to all VCU faculty, psychology graduate students, other honors in psychology students, and friends of the presenter. The meeting must be announced in the departmental calendar at least one week prior to being held. The student’s faculty mentor serves as the chair of the committee. The committee chair may request that non committee members leave at any point during the meeting, as appropriate. All committee members should be present at this meeting, and the chair must be present. No more than one member may be absent, and they must be represented by proxy or by written comments that normally would be submitted prior to the meeting. Meetings should be scheduled in one of the department meeting rooms or an acceptable alternative. If the proposal does not meet with the committee's approval, they may elect to hold an additional proposal meeting. Approval of the thesis proposal by the committee must be unanimous.
There is no set format to the proposal meeting, but typically students will make a powerpoint presentation on their research project for 15-20 minutes. This is followed by questions from the committee, generally with audience members out of the room. Once all questions have been asked and answered, the student is asked to leave the room for a short amount of time while the committee deliberates. The student then is called back into the room and either is informed that their project can proceed, advised regarded needed changed to the project, or failed an another proposal meeting date is set.
Similar to the proposal meeting, once a student and their faculty mentor have worked through drafts of the final document and the faculty mentor has agreed it can be distributed to other committee members, a thesis defense meeting can be set. For undergraduate honors thesis defenses, these meetings typically are 60-90 minutes. Students should submit an electronic copy of the document to all committee members at least two weeks prior to the scheduled defense date unless other arrangements have been made. If a committee member requests a hard copy of the document, students must provide one.
This defense meeting is open to all VCU faculty, psychology graduate students, other honors in psychology students, and friends of the presenter. The meeting must be announced in the departmental calendar at least one week prior to its being held. The student’s faculty mentor serves as the chair of the committee. The committee chair may request that non committee members leave at any point during the meeting, as appropriate. All committee members should be present at this meeting, and the chair must be present. No more than one member may be absent, and they must be represented by proxy or by written comments that normally would be submitted prior to the meeting. Meetings should be scheduled in one of the Department meeting rooms or an acceptable alternative. Approval of the final thesis by the committee must be unanimous.
There is no set format to the defense meeting, but typically students will make a powerpoint presentation for 15-20 minutes. This is followed by questions from the committee. At the defense, audience members may or may not be out of the room. Once all questions have been asked and answered, the student is asked to leave the room for a short amount of time while the committee deliberates. The student is then called back in to the room and is given feedback on their performance
Following the thesis defense, the student should make any changes to the final thesis document that have been requested by his or her chair or any committee member. A hard copy of the thesis, printed one-sided, should be delivered to the honors coordinator prior to the last day of the semester in which the defense has taken place.
Graduating With Honors in Psychology
Students who have met all requirements for graduating with honors in psychology receive special recognition at our psychology diploma ceremonies in December and May, including being the first undergraduate students to walk across the platform. Their achievements also are noted on our psychology website and are touted in other publication outlets.