Undergraduate Thesis

[Household6]

Hi all,

I was wondering if any current or soon-to-be enrolled Ph.D. program candidates can offer any advice on undergraduate theses.

Did you do one? If so, why? If not, why not?

If you did one, did it help?

Was your research funded? How does funded research look on an application?

Thanks in advance for your responses!

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[buzzworm]

Hi all,

I was wondering if any current or soon-to-be enrolled Ph.D. program candidates can offer any advice on undergraduate theses.

Did you do one? If so, why? If not, why not?

If you did one, did it help?

Was your research funded? How does funded research look on an application?

Thanks in advance for your responses!

I did one. In my case it was required, but I'd like to think I would have chosen to do it even if it hadn't been.

There are a lot of reasons to do an undergrad thesis. First of all, in many cases, you choose what you study. That means you can pick something you're really interested in and delve into it, which is a kind of latitude you're not often given as an undergrad. And although the process of running the study, analyzing the results, and writing up a huge research paper was stressful at times, I consider my thesis to be my biggest academic achievement so far. It feels really rewarding.

Beyond the personal reasons for doing a thesis, it will look good on your resume if/when you apply to grad school. I've had a number of interviewers ask about mine, and my impression is that they appreciate seeing that I've shown my ability to ask (and answer) research questions. Doing independent research is different from working on an established researcher's project.

I also found that in grad school interviews, talking my thesis gave me an opportunity to show my excitement about psychology. I'm really interested in the topic I studied, and I think that comes across when I talk about it -- which I think is something that potential advisors like to see.

My research was not funded, though I imagine it would look good if yours were.

Hope this helps!

 

[Household6]

Buzzworm; thank you so much for your candid response.

I am enjoying working on my thesis. It is a lot of work and it comes with a lot of stress and hassle but I know that when it is all over, I will be glad that I decided to do it. I just want to make sure that I don't make things too complicated for myself.

I recently received news that my research will be funded. I am extremely excited. However, it does add a little pressure; external expectations have a funny way of doing that!

Again, thanks for your feedback.

 

[deadmau5]

I think this is becoming a "requirement".

 

[lexicon]

Hi all,

I was wondering if any current or soon-to-be enrolled Ph.D. program candidates can offer any advice on undergraduate theses.

Did you do one? If so, why? If not, why not?

If you did one, did it help?

Was your research funded? How does funded research look on an application?

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Disclaimer: I'm not applying until next year so this is just opinion!

I think the undergraduate thesis is extremely important to have when applying to graduate school, for several reasons
(1) It shows your seriousness as a scholar/researcher
(2) You build strong relationships with your committee members (or at least your chair) which helps for letters of recommendation.
(3) You get to explore your personal interests and challenge yourself.

With the extreme emphasis placed on an applicant's research experience, I think everyone who can do an honors thesis (provided s/he can do it well) should do one.

I have funding and an undergraduate fellowship. While this certainty isn't equivalent to a bunch of NIH/NSF grants, it does show that you're willing to go above and beyond to get outside funding and that your research is well thought out enough to beat other UGs who applied for the same awards

 

[CounselingGirl]

Hi all,

I was wondering if any current or soon-to-be enrolled Ph.D. program candidates can offer any advice on undergraduate theses.

Did you do one? If so, why? If not, why not?

If you did one, did it help?

Was your research funded? How does funded research look on an application?

Thanks in advance for your responses!

I am an applicant, but I figured I'd comment.

I didn't do an undergrad thesis. I changed my major to Psychology right before my senior year, so I didn't have the time. I at least managed to get in 1.5 years of work as a research assistant in 3 labs.

I applied to 10 schools for a PhD in Counseling and got invited to interview at 5. So far I have been wait-listed at 2, with no rejections or acceptances yet.

I am pretty sure that one of the schools I was wait-listed at picked the other applicant over me because he had a thesis and I didn't.. and we were applying to work with a professor with a hands-off mentoring style. That reason makes the most logical sense in my mind, because the professor and I talked well over the allotted time for the interview and got along very well. I think he just wanted someone with that extra experience because it suited his mentoring style.

So, if given the option, I'd certainly do an undergrad thesis. I would've done one if I could have. But not doing one does not guarantee you wont' be invited to interview anywhere. A good GPA and good letters of recommendation can make up for it a little, like it did for me.

 

[PsyDWannabe]

Yep, pretty much everything everybody has said so far

 

[bmorepsych]

Something to think about...
If you can get involved in a research study and use their data, aka a secondary data analysis. This can be really good, especially if it's an ongoing study.

I'm using data from the first wave of a longitudinal study and it's great because now I've become a member of the research team (for the 2nd wave happening now) and I've gotten involved in scoring of a large battery of tests. This can be really good because you can focus on making connections, getting more research experience, and doing your independant work at the same time (w/o start-up stuff like IRB).

I'd recommend it.

 

[PhDToBe]

For the record, although I agree that doing an undergrad thesis is definitely great and should definitely be considered, I got into two clinical psych ph.d. programs (one that very "highly-ranked") without having done one.

I did have other research experience, as well as clinical exposure to many patient populations, and some testing experience. I also took a year off, and have gotten excellent experience in my field.

Just don't want people to think it's a complete requirement!

 

[Wildcat06]

For the record, although I agree that doing an undergrad thesis is definitely great and should definitely be considered, I got into two clinical psych ph.d. programs (one that very "highly-ranked") without having done one.

I did have other research experience, as well as clinical exposure to many patient populations, and some testing experience. I also took a year off, and have gotten excellent experience in my field.

Just don't want people to think it's a complete requirement!

I didn't do a senior thesis and am at a top research-oriented clinical program. HOWEVER, I (along with PhDToBe) am the exception in my program and probably across the world of clinical psych. If you have the opportunity to write a thesis, do it. It can only help you.

I didn't do a thesis because a) psychology was not primary major in undergrad, and b) my GPA in my first couple years was not high enough to qualify me for honors (I worked REALLY hard to fix my GPA prior to graduation). But honestly, neither of these were very good reasons and if I'd known at the time I'd be applying to psych grad school I'd go back and do one in a heartbeat.