Honors Program

The Honors Program in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscienceoffers students completing the Psychology or Neuroscience major an excellent opportunity to get involved in research. The program is for students with strong academic records who wish to devote a substantial amount of time in their senior year to a senior honors thesis.

Further Information

For more information, contact the Director of the Honors Program, Karen Rosen (karen.rosen@bc.edu).

2023–2024 Graduate Student Contacts


Program Details

Requirements and Due Dates

Junior Year

November 1: Honors Program Application to Participate
April: Submit your thesis proposal to your advisor and second reader.
April (Registration for Fall): Submit aSyllabus/Contract Formfor PSYC4495 and PSYC4496.
May 1:Honors Thesis Proposal Approval Form

Senior Year

PSYC4495 Senior Honors Thesis I (3 credits)
PSYC4496 Senior Honors Thesis II (3 credits)
One 5000-level PSYC course (3 credits)

April: Submit your thesis to your advisor and second reader.
May 1:Honors Thesis Approval Form

Library Thesis Submission

The BC Library encourages each student writing a thesis to submit it online. Instructions can be found on their website.

Registration

The University requires a written, signed syllabus/contract between the instructor and student for all non-scheduled undergraduate courses.

Syllabus/Contract for Individually Arranged and Non-scheduled Courses

The form should be completed and signed by both instructor and student, and then the student should bring it to theDirector of Undergraduate Studies for approval. Because the thesis courses require the instructor’s permission, students must register through the department's main office (psychoffice@bc.edu) with a fully signed syllabus/contract.

During registration for the fall, submit a syllabus/contract form for both parts of the thesis course. You do not need to submit a second contract during registration for the spring; however, you will need to contact psychoffice@bc.edu and request to be registered for the second course once your spring registration opens.

Restrictions

No Teaching Assistants

These courses cannot be used as compensation for teaching assistant duties.

Student Employees

If you are enrolled in Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, or a thesis course, you cannot be paid for the same work. Thus, you would not be hired as an employee for the same semester that you are enrolled in the course.

Put another way, if you are an employee in a lab and also enrolled in Undergraduate Research, Independent Study, or a thesis course in that lab, the work you are doing for pay must be entirely separate and unrelated to the work you are doing for credit.

If the two kinds of work are indeed separate, your advisor needs to email us to explain the differences between the work.

Honors Societies

Psi Chi

Psi Chi is a national honor society whose purpose is to encourage, stimulate, and maintain excellence in scholarship of individuals studying psychology. At ֱ College, we in Psi Chi achieve these goals for our members by designing trips to various institutions practicing psychology, as well as arrange for guest speakers to meet with our members and discuss topics of general interest. Additionally, members of Psi Chi contribute to the Psychology Department as a whole by implementing programs to encourage participation in research among undergraduates.

Nu Rho Psi

Nu Rho Psi is the national honor society in neuroscience, which fosters excellence in neuroscience scholarship and research. ֱ College's chapter of Nu Rho Psi works to support undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in neuroscience while increasing public scientific awareness by providing a support network, grant and award opportunities, community outreach, and professional development events. Nu Rho Psi also helps undergraduates to find research opportunities both on and off campus.

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