Honors Program

The Honors Program is an Emory College program intended to give a highly qualified group of students more extensive experience in conducting behavioral research. Students with an overall average of at least 3.5 in the first three years and with at least a 3.5 in the major subject will automatically be notified in the Spring of their junior year that they are eligible to participate, and will be invited to a meeting which will fully explain the program.

During the senior year, each Honors student in Psychology conducts an independent research project. In concert with a faculty advisor from the Psychology Department, the student collects and analyzes data, prepares an Honors thesis based on the data, and defends the thesis in front of a committee of three faculty members. This committee recommends Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors to be granted to the student’s degree. During Commencement weekend, Honors students will participate in a college-wide Honors ceremony.

Students must arrange to work with a faculty advisor before the beginning of their senior year. Normally, an arrangement should be reached before the end of the student's junior year. Faculty members almost always give preference to students whom they know - either from volunteer work in their laboratory or from a small class. Students who think they may be eligible and interested in the Honors Program are therefore encouraged to get to know a faculty member during their sophomore and junior years. Volunteering in a professor's laboratory also assists students in making more informed decisions about whether or not to participate in Honors.

Honors students must have completed the Statistics and Laboratory Methods classes by the end of their junior year. In the fall of their senior year, Honors students enroll in Psychology 495A, and receive 4 hours of credit for participating in this weekly class. In the spring, they may receive variable credit under Psyc 495BWR for continuing work on their Honors project. Honors students are also required to take a graduate level course in Psychology during their senior year.