• Deadline for students to submit applications -- March 8th, 2013
• Deadline for both students & Faculty to submit rankings -- March 22nd, 2013 
• Matching decisions announced -- Mid-April, 2013

 

Eligibility:  The completion of PSYC 300/6.0 by April 2013 with a minimum grade of C+, unless you participated in exchange during the 2012-13 academic year; a GPA of 2.60 in PSYC 202/3.0 and PSYC 203/3.0 and PSYC 300/6.0; and a minimum PSYC GPA (not including supporting Science credits) of 3.30 (equivalent to a B+), following submission of winter term grades.

Please note that not all students who meet the minimum criteria will be accepted into the thesis option.  Because PSYC 501 is an intensive course of study, involving a significant amount of one-on-one interaction with a Faculty supervisor and access to departmental resources, we can only accept a limited number of students (approximately 55-60). Acceptance is based on academic performance in Psychology courses. 

Application steps:

1)  If you are interested in completing a thesis, please fill out the PSYC 501 application form HERE. 

2) Identify Faculty members with whom you would like to work. The list of Faculty available to supervise is HERE. Look at their websites. Download and skim their papers. Write to them, and ask to meet with them to find out more about their research, and about possible thesis projects. We ask you to consider six potential supervisors who would be acceptable matches for you. That might seem like a lot, but see point 6.   

3)  By Friday March 8th you should submit the application form to each and every Faculty member with whom you are interested in working with. Send it also to Allison Horwood, the Undergraduate Assistant, at ug.psyc@queensu.ca.

4)  Over the next few weeks, Faculty members to whom you applied, may contact you for an interview.  By March 22nd, Faculty members will advise next year’s 501 coordinator of the students they are prepared to take.

5)  By Friday March 22nd, you should have a list of potential supervisors, and be comfortable listing them in order of preference with the one you would most like to work with numbered 1. Fill out the PSYC501 supervisor ranking form found HERE. This can be done either before or after you have met with your potential supervisors, but MUST be submitted no later than March 22nd.

6)  Between March 22nd and the 3rd week of April, the 501 coordinator will work out the matches. After Faculty have noted who they are prepared to take, your preference (i.e. the order in which you ranked potential supervisors on the supervisor ranking form) is the primary consideration in assigning students to supervisors – we will do the best we can to match you with a thesis supervisor as far up your list as possible. Some research areas are much more popular than others, however, and no one can supervise more than three thesis students. Many people will not get their top choice, or maybe even their second or third choice, depending on who they have listed. It is in your interest to check out potential supervisors from a few different areas. We will never assign you to someone that you haven’t listed on your application – if a match isn’t possible given the list you’ve submitted, you will be contacted by next year’s 501 coordinator, Dr. Janet Menard, who will work with you to find an acceptable match.

7)  You will hear sometime in the middle of April who your thesis supervisor will be. Note that this does not guarantee that you are eligible to take PSYC 501.  Eligibility will be determined by the Undergraduate office and communicated to you via email in June.

8)  If you have any questions, please contact either Dr. Janet Menard at menard@queensu.ca or Allison Horwood at ug.psyc@queensu.ca.