The B.A. degree with honors provides recognition for outstanding achievement in formal course work and research. Students considering applying for honors should begin discussing possible research topics with a faculty sponsor (and research mentor, if different from the sponsor) in the fall semester of their junior year. The requirements for a degree with honors include those for the regular B.A. degree, plus the following:
- A minimum grade point average of 3.5 or better in psychology (200.XXX) courses through the semester before the student graduates.
- A public presentation (poster or talk) at a recognized student research or professional conference either on campus (e.g., DREAMS, Woodrow Wilson, ASPIRE, PURA) or off campus (e.g., APA, APS, VSS, SPSP). The presentation must be on the research conducted specifically for honors (e.g., research for 200.200 or 200.201 does not count).
- The support of a sponsor for honors research. The sponsor must have a full-time faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins and either a primary or a joint appointment in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Sponsors can sponsor research conducted under the direct supervision of another principal investigator (e.g., a faculty member in the School of Medicine).
- Completion of two 300- or 600-level psychology courses, in addition to those required for the Psychology major. These courses cannot be an independent study, research or internship credits, or a readings course. These additional courses can count toward the 120 credits required for graduation.
- Completion of six credits of research beyond research credits counting toward the major.
Please see the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences website for the application process details.
Undergraduate Academic Awards
The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences offers two undergraduate academic awards.
- G. Stanley Hall Prize is awarded for outstanding achievement by an undergraduate in psychology.
- Julian C. Stanley Award is given to the psychology major who most closely approximates Dr. Stanley's personal and professional standards of excellence.

