Overview

The Honours programs (B.A. and B.Sc.) are designed for students who would like to concentrate their studies or pursue graduate work. Honours students are required to submit an undergraduate thesis (Psychology 499A/B) in their graduating year. The thesis should demonstrate the student's competence in Experimental Psychology. Students typically work closely with a faculty member on the thesis; all of our current faculty are listed on the People section of our Departmental website. A list of past thesis topics illustrates the breadth of topics.

Admission

There will be one intake to the Psychology Honours program each year. Students who would like to be considered for admission to these programs must submit a completed online application form by March 15 for Fall semester registration (NOTE: the online application link will become active early in the Winter 2025 semester for Fall 2025 semester applications).

If it is determined that you are eligible for admission to the Psychology Honours Program, you will then need to find an honours supervisor. Students may not be admitted to the program until a faculty member has confirmed their supervision of your honours thesis. An event will be organized in the Fall semester to meet potential supervisors. If you have any questions about how to be find an honours supervisor, please contact the Deputy Head.

Eligibility

As of Winter 2024, to be eligible for admission, students must have successfully completed Psychology 2910, 2911, 2520, and 2930 and a minimum of 12 CH in Psychology major (restricted) courses at the 3000- or 4000-level by the end of the semester in which the student is applying, and have obtained in these courses a grade of "B" or better, or an average of 75% or higher. Students who fulfill the eligibility requirements compete for a limited number of available spaces.

Note: as admission is highly competitive, satisfying minimum course grade requirements does not guarantee a successful admission. The minimum average is used to determine eligibility for inclusion in the applicant pool, from which admission to the honours program will be determined as follows:

To determine admission to the honours program, a student’s academic average will be calculated in 2 different ways:

1. The course grades that a student received in all of their senior- level psychology major and neuroscience major courses will be averaged. (Senior- level refers to all courses numbered 2000 and above.)
2. The course grades that a student received for all of their MUN courses to date will be averaged (i.e., a cumulative GPA).

The higher of these 2 averages will be used to determine a student’s position on the list of students who are eligible for admission.

Note that the actual average that is used to determine acceptance to the Honours program will vary each year, depending on the pool of applicants.

Preference will be given to students who are starting their final year of the Psychology/BHNR major (i.e., third-year or later students), as these students need to begin their Honours program in the Fall semester in order to graduate on time. This means that we may accept some applicants going into their final year who have slightly lower averages than some applicants earlier in their programs.

Applications are due March 15, and will be evaluated following the availability of winter semester grades. If an applicant has an approved exam deferral for any required winter semester courses, their application may still be considered for eligibility, but any deferred exam in a required course should be written no later than early May in order for the application to the Honours program to be considered.

Students should be notified of their acceptance to the program via email, prior to the beginning of registration for the Fall semester. While general advice may be given regarding the Honours program course(s) that are required to complete in the upcoming academic year, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they are familiar with their particular Honours program requirements, as per the Memorial University Calendar regulations at the time of program admission.

A total of at least 120 Credit Hours must be completed in order to graduate with a BA, BSc, BA (Hons), or BSc (Hons).

Additional information on the major and Honours programs can be found in the Calendar here: https://www.mun.ca/regoff/calendar/sectionNo=SCI-1626

AND

Additional course information can be found in the Calendar here: https://www.mun.ca/regoff/calendar/sectionNo=SCI-1702)

Please direct any questions to the Undergraduate Advisor or the Deputy Head.

Registering for Psychology 499A

The Honours dissertation/thesis is normally completed in the final year of a student’s program. Only students who are beginning their thesis research register for Psyc 499A.

There are 3 steps to the registration process for 499A:

1. Find an Honours thesis supervisor (see below).
2. Ask your supervisor to send an email to the Academic Program Manager/Undergraduate Advisor (psychundergradadvisor@mun.ca) indicating that they have agreed to supervise your Honours thesis.
3. At that time, you will be instructed how to add Psyc 499A. Most students can add the course via Self-service, once you have been given specific permission in Banner to do so (attempting to register for the course before you get this over-ride will be unsuccessful). In some cases, you might be required to complete a Course Change form instead. The Honours Coordinator (listed as the course instructor), as well as the Undergraduate Advisor, can help if you are having difficulty.

Behavioural Neuroscience and Joint Honours

The Department also offers Honours in Behavioural Neuroscience (B.Sc.) as well as several joint Honours programmes. Students who are admitted to these programmes should meet with the Deputy Head as soon as possible to ensure that their proposed plan of study will satisfy all requirements for the degree.

Honours Supervisor

Students should refer to our current list of faculty and approach a member whose interests might be similar to yours.  Please contact the faculty member directly to ask whether or not they are accepting honours students, and/or to discuss possible honours projects.