By discussing the job market and graduate school, Psi Chi helps psychology undergraduates prepare for their future

Psi Chi, a national psychology honor society, helps members prepare for life after graduation by introducing them to potential career paths and graduate programs.

Although the organization is not well known around campus, it is becoming more familiar to psychology students, said Trevor Swanson, president of the organization.

From opening up their own counseling firms to pursuing PhDs, psychology undergraduates have a variety of options available to them upon graduation. Psi Chi’s goal is to expose them to all of these options, Swanson said.

“I hope Psi Chi benefits students in a variety of ways, but mostly in preparing for graduate school,” said Kenneth Leising, one of Psi Chi’s three advisors. “We lay out the steps to apply and what you should be doing each year as an undergraduate to be prepared.”

Besides preparing for graduate program entry tests such as the GRE and discussing the job market, Psi Chi provides psychology students with a sense of fellowship with those who have similar interest, Leising said.

Students in Psi Chi can get to know their psychology professors better and work closely with them to determine what area of psychology they are interested career-wise, Leising said. Members can also gain research experience in labs.

“We want to promote psychology as a profession and help the next group of psychologists become successful,” Leising said.

Outside of the classroom and research labs, Psi Chi connects psychology to the community by organizing a monthly philanthropy, Swanson said.

The organization is currently accepting supplies and donations to the WARM Place, a grief support center for children in Fort Worth.

Psi Chi also holds its annual Psych Week, which promotes awareness of mental health and psychology in the spring, Swanson said.

Both Swanson and Leising said they hope to see Psi Chi grow even more in the future.

“My personal vision for Psi Chi is to have a broader impact within TCU students and get the word out about what we’re doing in Psi Chi, because it’s fairly exclusive,” Leising said.

Psi Chi meets monthly and meetings are open to all students, but to become a member students must be a psychology, neuroscience or child development major.

In addition, applicants must have a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or above and a 3.4 or above in the major. They must also have at least nine hours of psychology courses completed.