Get Involved in High-Impact Practices!

Examples of High-Impact Practices

High impact practices and relevant experiences are those that help prepare you to go into the workforce or to apply to graduate school. Some examples covered on this page are: research assistantships, internships/volunteering/jobs, leadership opportunities, clubs, minors.

 

Research Opportunities

If you are planning on applying to research-oriented graduate programs (e.g., PhD, certain master's programs) or if you are simply interested in seeing whether a career in research is of interest to you, it is important to get involved in research early. Many programs are looking for 1-2 years of research experience (more experience is required for PhD programs).

There are multiple avenues for getting involved in research, such as by applying to a faculty lab (whether in the Psychology Department or other departments), applying to scholar programs, or applying to research opportunities outside of SDSU (e.g., summer research programs, research institutes). Below we have outlined how to find information on open research positions, depending on whether you are looking for opportunities at SDSU vs. outside of SDSU. 

Research Opportunities at SDSU

If you are looking for a research position at SDSU (e.g., offered through the Psychology Department or other departments, affiliated Scholar Programs), please subscribe to the "Research Opportunities at SDSU" Discussion Board. See the following sections for more information on the different avenues by which you can apply to research labs at SDSU. To learn more about the different research topics conducted by Psychology faculty, please see the linked website Links to an external site..

Research Assistant Application Program (RAAP)

Every Fall and Spring semester (and occasionally Summer), our office will reach out to our Psychology faculty to inquire whether their research labs will be recruiting research assistants for the following semester. We will then post a list of research labs that are recruiting assistants at least a few weeks prior to the start of the new semester. Each lab will have unique requirements, application process, and deadline. We typically send out an announcement through Canvas in early January (for Spring research openings) and mid-July (for Fall research openings). 

Scholar Programs Links to an external site.

Participate in a scholar program offered through SDSU CASA. SDSU CASA's mission is to promote the academic development of the next generation of underrepresented research scientists, health professionals, and STEM educators. To achieve this mission, CASA provides students opportunities to participate in faculty research, faculty and student mentoring, course enrichment workshops, travel to scientific meetings, travel to doctoral degree-granting institutions for future study, and research experiences at NIH, other research institutions, and laboratories in foreign institutions.

Interested in current openings in a scholar program?

The Advancing Diversity in Aging Research (ADAR) program at SDSU is looking for new student scholars! The goal of the ADAR program is to successfully prepare students for entry into graduate school programs focused on aging research.

There are many benefits of being a part of this program, including (but not limited to):

  • Working with outstanding researchers, either at SDSU or UCSD. These researchers and their students will help you to learn about research. You would work in a lab environment where you will receive one-on-one mentoring that will foster your development into a successful researcher and become a very competitive applicant for graduate school.
  • Financial assistance for your research development. Undergraduates are paid 15 hours/wk during the academic semesters & 30-40 hours/wk over summer.
  • Travel funds to attend professional conferences.
  • Graduate program application development and personal statement workshops.

Please see the following flyer Download flyer for more information about the program and eligibility criteria.

Independent Outreach to Labs of Interest

If you miss the deadline for applying to research assistant openings through RAAP or scholar programs, you can independently reach out to research labs that you are interested in to see if they may still be accepting research assistants on a volunteer basis. You may be able to apply for a research assistant position via the faculty's lab website or by emailing the lab email (if they have one). You can also email or speak to the faculty member directly, which may be more preferable if you are currently taking or recently took their class.

When communicating with a faculty member (whether via email or in-person), you need to professionally introduce yourself and express your interest in their lab and why. You will want to ask if they have openings in the semester you are interested in. You will also want to ask them if they want you to fill out the RAAP application, provide a CV/resume, and/or provide an unofficial transcript. If communicating via email, you should wait up to 2 weeks to hear back from the professor(s). If they don't respond, you should send a follow up email. If they respond and are interested, you should set up a meeting with the professor(s).

Note that you may not receive PSY 499 credit if you join a research lab after the add/drop deadline for the current semester, but you will have the option of earning PSY 499 credit in future semesters. 

Information on Qualifying for PSY 499 Credit

To qualify for PSY 499 credit, the research assistant opportunity has to be related to Psychology and affiliated with SDSU. We try to extend this opportunity to students who are in labs in other departments that work closely with our SDSU Psychology faculty or if the opportunity is under the Psychiatry department at UCSD, but we can't apply PSY 499 credit to opportunities outside of these areas. If you are involved in a research lab that does not qualify for PSY 499, there may be other avenues by which you can earn units toward your overall degree requirements (e.g., earning 499 credit through a different department, GEN S 200/400).

Please contact the Psychology Advising Office (psychology.advising.sdsu@sdsu.edu) if you have any questions regarding earning PSY 499 for a research assistant position.

Research Opportunities Outside of SDSU

There are limited SDSU faculty-led research opportunities, thus we also encourage you to be open to opportunities outside of SDSU. If you are looking for a research position outside of SDSU (e.g., in local SD areas, remote opportunities, summer research programs), please subscribe to the "Research Opportunities Outside of SDSU" Discussion Board.

 

Internship Opportunities

See the following sections for information on how you may be able to earn course credit (either through PSY or a different department) for participation in an internship.

Internship Opportunities at SDSU

If you are looking for an internship (or similar position) at SDSU (e.g., offered through the Psychology Department or other departments/offices), please subscribe to the "Internship Opportunities at SDSU" Discussion Board. 

Within the Psychology Department

There are a few different options for participating in an internship (or similar position), all of which allow for the ability to earn units toward your Psychology major requirements. Specifically related to information on participating in an internship within the Psychology Department, students may be interested in PSY 491 (Academic or Psychological Counseling Experiences), PSY 494 (Techniques for Teaching & Tutoring in Psychology) and PSY 495 (Field Placement in Psychology). Please see this linked page on how to apply to these internship-related opportunities. 

Outside the Psychology Department

There are many other departments/offices on campus that offer internship-related opportunities. For example, some opportunities include serving as an SDSU Ambassador, peer mentor for various offices (e.g., College of Sciences Student Success Center, Counseling and Social Change Peer Advising). Note that earning course credit may not always be an option for some of these opportunities, and typically students cannot earn both compensation and course credit for the same opportunity. 

Internship Opportunities Outside of SDSU

If you are looking for an internship opportunities outside of SDSU, please subscribe to the "Internship Opportunities Outside of SDSU" Discussion Board. 

Although PSY 495 is the only internship course that the Psychology Department offers (which students can only receive credit in if they enroll in the course and volunteer at one of the agencies as part of the course), sometimes you may find an internship experience outside of SDSU and may want to earn course credit. In this case, there may be another mechanism by which students may be able to earn internship credit, specifically through GEN S 200 and/or GEN S 400. We encourage students to contact the director of General Studies Links to an external site. to see if they can receive course approval for their internship.

 

Psychology-Related Clubs

There are several clubs Links to an external site. that may be of particular interest to psychology majors. 

There are many, many more student organizations at SDSU (300+) outside of psychology that you may want to check out as well. You can find general information about student orgs Links to an external site. as well as visit Modern Campus Links to an external site., a searchable site of orgs by topic. 

 

Complementary Minors for a Psy Major

A minor is not required for PSY majors, but if you have extra units needed to reach the 120 minimum to graduate, you might want to look into a complementary minor Links to an external site..  There are several options that could be relevant depending on your ultimate goals. Some examples include: biology, counseling and social change, human resources, and multicultural proficiency.

 

Professional/Leadership Opportunities

In addition to many of the high-impact practices aforementioned, SDSU also offers other opportunities for professional and leadership development, such as serving on the leadership board for a club, completing a certificate program, and attending a Leadership Summit. These opportunities are typically more short-term, which may be of interest to students who cannot commit to longer running opportunities. 

If you are interested in these types of opportunities on campus, please subscribe to the "Professional and Leadership Development Opportunities at SDSU" Discussion Board. 

 

Job Opportunities

If you are looking for local and remote job opportunities (whether during your time at SDSU or after graduation), please subscribe to the "Job Opportunities" Discussion Board. 

 

Subscribe to Relevant List Servs and Periodically Check Relevant Job Lists 

Although our office does our best to compile and post opportunities for students, we are not always informed when a new position is available (or we do not get a chance to post the opportunity as early as we'd like). To receive the most up-to-date postings on various opportunities, we encourage you to subscribe to list servs that fit your interests. We are aware of the following list servs and/or webpages that manage psychology-related job/research/internship postings: