There are many steps in thinking about and preparing for graduate school. We encourage you to attend our presentation series, as it covers a lot of these topics, including which graduate degree to pursue, whether you should take a gap year, and understanding what life is like as a graduate student. Joining Northeastern's Psyclub, Psi Chi, or Active Minds is a great way to connect with other students interested in a similar education or career path and expand your involvement in psychology outside the classroom. Don't just take our word for it, see what the American Psychological Association (APA) has to say about it. Additionally, research experience in psychology or related fields is generally required for Psychology PhD programs and some psychology-related Master's programs. As you prepare for graduate school, here are some resources:
Research experience in psychology and neuroscience gives you a glimpse of the daily life and responsibilities of a graduate student. Hands-on research experience helps refine your interests and builds your repertoire of research skills and knowledge that will serve you in graduate school. We recommend you get involved in research as soon as you can while a undergraduate.
Undergraduate Research
Northeastern has a number of research opportunities on- and off-campus. These include research-focused courses, undergraduate research assistantships in psychology and neuroscience labs on campus, and external research opportunities through research co-ops.
Directed Study (PSYC 4991), Independent Study (PSYC 4993), Work Study ($), and/or Volunteer as a research assistant for NU research labs
Honors Thesis in Psychology (PSYC 4971) *you do not have to be an Honors student to conduct an honors thesis project
Summer Undergraduate Research
Can't fit research into your semester or want to keep doing research over the summer outside of Northeastern? Check out these summer research opportunities:
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Undergraduate Summer Research
American Psychological Association (APA) Undergraduate Summer Research
National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
Post-Graduate Research
If you don't have the opportunity to get research experience during your undergraduate degree or would like to gain more experience post-graduation, taking a gap year is a great option. Many people serve as paid research assistants, commonly also called project coordinators, research technicians, or lab managers, during their one or more gap years. The umbrella term for these research jobs is post-baccalaureate positions (or post-baccs). We recommend you apply to positions that participate in research related to what you want to study in graduate school. Methods for finding post-baccs include cold emailing faculty members with whom you would like to work (keep email brief and include CV), regularly checking online job posting forums, and searching for Twitter (X) posts from labs and faculty members looking to hire. Here are some commonly used websites for finding post-bacc job postings:
Harvard Mind, Brain, Behavior Research and Other Opportunities
Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Job Board
Here's a guide for applying to post-bacc positions made by one of Northeastern's own PhD students. This guide has helped many students get post-bacc positions in research!
Check out APA's advice on getting a paid post-bacc position.
General Tips
Making the most of your research experience:
Explore different topics - find what areas excite you and even ones that do not interest you
Be open to new experiences and research methods
Conduct your own independent projects
Present your findings at regional, national, and/or international conferences
Aim for authorship on a poster presentation for a conference or on a manuscript for publication
Identify what are the authorship requirements in every lab you join before you begin your research project (this is different in every lab!)
Embrace learning opportunities and setbacks
Find a mentor (e.g., graduate student, post-bacc, post-doc, faculty member) in the lab
As you gain research experience or other important working experience and accrue skills and knowledge, it is important to consider what career you wish to pursue in the future and how graduate school can help you achieve that end goal. The list below is certainly not exhaustive, but it gives an overview of common careers paths for people with a psychology degree.
Applied Career
Clinical/Counseling work
School Psychology
Psychiatry
Academic Career
Teaching professor
Teaching professor with research commitments
Professor who directs a research lab with some teaching commitments
Industry Career
UX Research
People Analytics
Behavioral Science
Data Science
Biotech/ "Bench" Science