Questions and Answers about the PSY Scholars

Who is eligible? 

Students are typically recruited as incoming freshman.  Students that plan on majoring in Psychology and have a high school unweighted GPA of 3.5 or above are invited to apply.  In addition, undergraduates who excel during their first year in the department may be invited to apply.

What are the advantages of being a Scholar?

Psychology Scholars receive a variety of unique academic opportunities including smaller more intensive sections of the standard required classes. This allows for more interaction with faculty and other students. There is also an opportunity for getting involved in research with departmental faculty as early as the sophomore year. Psychology Scholars will also have unique academic privileges including earlier priority for class registration, opportunities to present their data at local, regional or national meetings and the possibility of enrolling in advanced seminars. 

Are there additional course requirements? 

The majority of scholars courses are taken during the first 2 years at UK and these are similar to those required for all majors although they are taught in smaller sections with a greater emphasis on discussion, interaction and writing.  The expectation is that you will take the scholar sections of these 200 and 300 level courses. 

There are additional research opportunities, and there is only one additional course requirement.  All scholars are required to do a year-long, mentored capstone project in their senior year. This could be a lab experiment, an observational study, a community project, a scholarly review paper or some unique project formulated by the student and mentor. This is typically done during the senior year and may also be used for other requirements (ie if students are also in the Honors College as an example).  

1. PSY 495/496 Senior Honors Thesis Research or Senior Internship Field Based/Community Based Education (8 hours).  In addition to the research or internship component, this course involves a weekly group meeting with a faculty member.