Getting Involved
Getting involved and gaining experiences outside the classroom is essential and will aid in becoming more competitive in the job market or being admitted to graduate school. Students have many opportunities to get involved in the diverse areas of psychology. One important way is to become involved in Psychology Club and Psi Chi.
- Everyone that is a psychology major or minor is already considered to be in the Psychology Club. Emails will be sent periodically to students about different upcoming events. If you do not receive these emails, contact Dr. Brian Hock (hockb@apsu.edu).
- Psi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology (http://www.psichi.org/). Students must apply; the application can be found on this page: https://www.apsu.edu/psychology/psi-chi.php). A student must have completed 9 credit hours of Psychological Science courses as well as have a 3.0 GPA overall and in the major.
Internship
If a student is interested in obtaining a job after the Bachelor’s degree, it is critical to obtain a Field Experience, which is analogous to an internship. Students may find their own in an area of their choice but also may email Dr. Pica for a list of previous field experiences. Students may either volunteer or take course credit (PSYC 4850: Internship) while performing an onsite field experience. Students wishing to receive course credit must identify a faculty advisor to supervise and have a minimum GPA of 3.0.
Research Experience
If a student is interested in applying to graduate school after a Bachelor’s degree, it is critical to obtain Research Experience. Several faculty members are conducting research at different times. If you are interested in working with a specific faculty member, ask them if they have any current research projects that you could help with. You can do this at any time during the semester but will most likely wait until after your second year. Research projects may go through various phases at different times, so there's virtually always one just getting started. Professors very rarely announce these projects in their classes, so take the initiative and ask. You can look at faculty web pages to see their research interests or look at the research board in the hallway by the main office. Students may volunteer or receive course credit through either PSYC 4641-4643: Research Experience or PSYC 4840: Honors: Research. The Research Experience courses are for students helping out with a research project developed by others, whereas the Honors: Research course requires the student to develop their own research project and carry it out. Students doing Honor’s: Research do not have to be in the Honor’s Program but must have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA and a Faculty Mentor.