Psychology Peer Advising

The Psychology department offers a wide range of places for students to earn Practicum credit (PSY 409), and students are encouraged to sign up and get real life experience! Practicum is similar to an internship; you earn a specific amount of credit depending on the total of hours spent at the approved practicum sites. You can use the credit that you get for practicum to satisfy up to four credits of your required eight elective credits. Practicum credit also counts for upper division psychology credit.

Here's how to do it.

1. If you are a declared psychology major, you will automatically be added to the Psychology Major Group on Blackboard. Sign in Blackboard and click on the PSYCH Major link. There are a lot of resources listed and there is a current and complete listing of all approved sites, ranging from working with children, to working with the seriously mentally ill, to working with the juvenile justice system.

2. Contact the sites you are interested in working with, print out the contract provided, and take it to the program.

3. Bring the signed contract to Christina Sheppler for approval for credit. Christina’s office is room Straub 325 and her phone number is 346-1980.

What is research?

Research opportunities for undergraduates can be found on the Blackboard Course Site. If you are a declared psychology major, you will automatically be added to the Psychology Major Group on Blackboard. Sign in Blackboard and click on the PSYCH Major link. Being a research assistant (and earning PSY 401 credit) is highly advised for any student interested in going to graduate school! As a research assistant you will assist specific faculty members (GTF’s or professors) with their research. The descriptions of the tasks completed for each research position vary with the subject matter and faculty member.

The projects are fun, good experience, and can lead to further opportunities such as honors thesis or employment opportunities.

What is the honors program in psychology?

Students with good records who plan to pursue a career in psychology may consider applying to the departmental honors program at the end of their sophomore year. The honors program centers on an independent research project, which the student develops and carries out under the supervision of a departmental committee. Information about admission criteria and how to apply is available from the department.

The honors program in psychology usually takes about a year to complete. It is recommended that you start your honors program before your senior. You must be approved by Lou Moses or by phone, 346-4918, in order to sign up for honors classes. In the honors program you must take PSY 412 (Applied Data Analysis). This course is only offered in the fall and winter of each academic school year. It is also highly recommended that you take all of the one credit honors seminars (PSY 490, 491, 492) that are offered (there is one offered each term). The seminars are not mandatory, but many students say they were very helpful. As an honors student you will need to get at least one faculty member to advise you in conducting your study (if you want a GTF to advise you, you will also need to find a professor as a second advisor). If you are interested in more information on the structure of the honors program contact Lou Moses.

What is a peer advisor?

Peer advisors are students with psychology majors who hold office hours (room 141) to advise other psychology students about classes, graduation requirements, major requirements, and address other concerns or questions. You can become a peer advisor by applying at the end of each academic school year. Peer advisors will be chosen based on the application and an interview. Some perks of being a peer advisor are meeting new people, getting a good grasp on what the psychology department has to offer and what the graduation requirements are, it’s good for applying to graduate school, helping other students, and earning upper division credit that can be used as psychology elective credit. The amount of office hours that a peer advisor holds depends on the number of credits the advisor selects each term. Being a peer advisor is a year long requirement. If you are interested in becoming a peer advisor stop by the office during spring term to find out more information.

What 400 level classes should I take?

This really depends on what you are interested in. Just make sure you take at least two 4 credit science psychology classes (from list “C” on your major/minor degree checklist), two social science psychology classes (from list “S”), and two additional 4 credit psychology elective classes. If you are looking for classes in a specific concentration of psychology you can check out the list of recommended courses for undergraduate concentrations in specific areas of psychology under the University of Oregon’s Psychology Department. You can also find the descriptions of the classes listed by going to this website.

What is Psi Chi?

Psi Chi is a nationally recognized psychology honor society for college students. The purpose of Psi Chi is to encourage excellence of scholarship in all academic fields, especially psychology. As a member of Psi Chi you will receive a newsletter every term and attend meetings once a month. To become a member you must meet fill out an application from the peer advising office, applications are available in the beginning of each term. Stop by the peer advising office for more information on the application deadlines. If you are looking into going to graduate school it is recommended that you become a member of Psi Chi. For more information send an email to the UO Psi Chi chapter President, Leslie Straight, the UO Chapter's website, or the National's website.

How do I find out about Graduate Schools?

There are grad files at the peer advising office full of information on different graduate school across the nation. The career center on campus also has some information on grad schools. One of the best ways to find psychology grad schools is to go to our links page and find a list of search engines to all the schools offered, their concentrations, programs offered, and requirements.

What is the GRE?

The GRE psychology test is an exam many graduate schools require students to take in order to get admitted. It is comparable to the SAT’s for the college level. Test scores are projected to show student’s knowledge on psychology given emphasis to many undergraduate programs as preparation for graduate school. The tests are standardized so scores allow comparison of students from different colleges with different undergraduate programs. The test offers two subscores with questions from three content categories: experimental or natural science, social or social science, and general (history of psychology, applied psychology, statistics, etc.). Many students take the GRE a year before they plan on applying to grad school. You can take the test more than once but there is a test fee each time you take it. There are many books that offer study guides and practice tests for the GRE. Psi Chi offers a mock test as well as the Office of Academic Learning Services which also offers a course on how to take the test.

Created by Alysia Cox 2004. Maintained by Kurt Sevits, Psychology Peer Advising.