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Students interested in pursuing a graduate-level education in psychology or another social-, behavioral- and/or mental-health-science related field should strongly consider acquiring undergraduate research experience. Many graduate programs prefer to admit students who have research experience before beginning their graduate education. For students interested in pursuing a doctoral-level education, this is required by doctoral programs. For students interested in pursuing a masters-level education, this is highly valued.

By acquiring research experience as an undergraduate student, you will gain extensive hands-on experience utilizing the scientific method to conduct original empirical research. This will allow you to develop research skills related to hypothesis generation, method design, data collection, data analysis and dissemination of research findings. These are all skills essential to the success of any student in a research-focused graduate program. 

Further, working on research projects as an undergraduate provides opportunities that would not otherwise be available. For instance, you might have the opportunity to attend a University-funded trip to a professional research conference where you will be able to present the research you conducted, learn about up-to-date research in the field of psychology by professional scientists and network with professional psychologists and graduate students. Further, you may have the opportunity to collaborate with a faculty member in the writing of a manuscript that can be submitted to peer-reviewed research journals.

Acquiring undergraduate research experience also provides you the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member for one or more semesters. This will allow you and the faculty member to work closely together, which is valuable for the purpose of acquiring strong, useful letters of recommendations for graduate programs and jobs later on. 

 

There are various ways you can approach acquiring research experience as an undergraduate student at ºÚÁÏÉç

• You can apply to work as a research assistant with a faculty member on one of the faculty member's research projects (see the "Psychology Program Faculty Members Who Conduct Research with Students" section below for more details). Please note that by working with a Faculty member as a research assistant, you can earn 0-4 PSYC elective credits in an "PSYC 48XX-level Independent Studies" course. 
• You can conduct a Project for Distinction in your senior year, which is an independent research project of your own design that you develop and conduct over a 1-year period under the supervision and guidance of a faculty member (see the "Project for Distinction" section below for more details)
• You can register into a course that requires students to conduct research during the semester (see the "Psychology Research Course Offerings at ºÚÁÏÉç" section below for more details)
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