Departmental Honors Program

• Applicants must have an overall minimum UCLA GPA of 3.50 as of Winter 2023.
• Applicants must be Psychology, Psychobiology, or Cognitive Science majors and must have all of the preparation courses for their majors completed by the end of Summer 2023. Accepted participants must begin their projects during Summer 2023, with the assistance of a faculty advisor (however, there is no summer class enrollment).
• Applicants must earn a B or higher in PSYCH 100A and 100B. Note that eligible students may have these courses in progress during Spring and Summer 2023 — list “IP” for your grade if that is the case. Applicants who took these courses P/NP from Winter 2020 through Summer 2021 must have earned a Pass grade to be eligible and can list “P” to reference this.
• Applicants must be regularly enrolled UCLA students for the entirety of the 2023-24 academic year and be available to attend the departmental honors seminar in-person on UCLA’s campus during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Students who will be away from UCLA for one or more quarters during the regular academic year (due to studying abroad, UCDC, etc.) are not eligible to participate in the program.

• Find a Psychology Faculty Advisor who will sponsor your research project for the 2023-2024 year. They must be Psychology Department Faculty. Faculty not listed on this document will not be eligible to serve as advisors for this program. Your sponsor needs to be available during Summer 2023 to provide assistance with the IRB process. You must secure a Faculty Advisor prior to submitting your application.
• You do not need to have a full project organized when applying, but you should have a general topic in mind, a tentative plan, and you should select a faculty member in an area related to your topic. The following list can help you get started: Psychology Faculty. Please make sure to note who is eligible to serve as an advisor by using this list.
• Part of the application includes a projected time line for the completion of your project and thesis paper. Your advisor will help you estimate these dates before you submit your application.
• You will also provide an (approximately) 500-word statement of purpose describing why you want to participate in this program, what you hope to study and accomplish, and why you feel that you are qualified to complete a research thesis project, including detailed descriptions of any previous research experience.

Applicants are selected based on their research experience and their overall GPAs. Probability for selection depends on the competitive level of the applicant pool, which varies each year. We will select about 25 students for each cohort annually.

Decisions will be emailed to applicants in mid-June.