About Psi Chi

Psi Chi is the National Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. Membership is open to graduate and undergraduate men and women who are making the study of psychology one of their major interests, and who meet the minimum qualifications.

Psi Chi serves two major goals?one immediate and visibly rewarding to the individual member, the other slower and more difficult to accomplish, but offering greater rewards in the long run. The first of these is the Society's obligation to provide academic recognition to its inductees by the mere fact of membership. The second goal is the obligation of each of the Society's local chapters to nurture the spark of that accomplishment by offering a climate congenial to members' creative development. For example, the chapters make active attempts to nourish and stimulate professional growth through programs designed to augment and enhance the regular curriculum and to provide practical experience and fellowship through affiliation with the chapter. In addition, the national organization provides programs to help achieve these goals, including national and regional conventions held annually in conjunction with the psychological associations, research award competitions, and certificate recognition programs.



Requirements for Membership

Undergraduate student applicants to Psi Chi:

  • Must be enrolled as a student at your school
  • Must have established a GPA at your school
  • Must be at least a second-semester sophomore
  • Must be enrolled as a major or minor in a psychology program or a program psychological in nature that is equivalent to a psychology major
  • Must have completed at least 9 semester hours or 14 quarter hours of psychology courses at your school
  • Must have an overall GPA that is in the top 35% of their class based on rankings within sophomore, within junior, and within senior classes (if the cut-off for the top 35% is below 3.00, the applicant must have an overall GPA of at least 3.00 on a 4-point scale)
  • Must have a psychology GPA that is at least 3.00 on a 4-point scale
  • Undergraduate students who have transferred to a new institution and are interested in becoming a Psi Chi member must meet the requirements listed above, plus complete one semester at the new institution to establish a GPA and complete 9 hours of psychology courses at the new institution.


Graduate student applicants to Psi Chi:

  • Must be enrolled as a graduate student at your school in a psychology graduate program
  • Must have established a GPA at your school
  • Must have an overall GPA of at least 3.20 on a 4-point scale in all graduate courses, including psychology courses
  • Graduate students who have transferred to a new institution and are interested in becoming a Psi Chi member must complete one semester at the new institution to establish a GPA in addition to the above requirements.

 

**Undergraduate or graduate students transferring to a new institution who are already a Psi Chi member may transfer their membership to the new institution's Psi Chi chapter by making contact with the Psi Chi faculty advisor, completing a Transfer of Membership form, and having the advisor sign and forward the transfer form to the Psi Chi National Office.


Faculty who are chapter advisors or who want to join Psi Chi:
The Psi Chi Constitution (see Article XII, Section 7) requires that all Psi Chi faculty chapter advisors be members of Psi Chi. If you are not a Psi Chi member, please send your membership registration form and fee as soon as possible.

  • Psi Chi National Council policy requires that faculty chapter advisors be full-time faculty members and hold a doctoral degree in psychology.
  • Psi Chi National Council policy requires that faculty members who want to join Psi Chi must be full-time faculty members at your school and have a doctoral degree in psychology or a psychology related field.



How to Join Psi Chi?

You can join Psi Chi through the national chapter by using the following link: https://www.psichi.org/page/JoinToday