Congratulations on being accepted into the University of Iowa’s Honors Program!

I am the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Because you indicated an interest in majoring in psychology, I wanted to email you with my congratulations and to share that psychology is one of the more popular majors for students in the Honors Program for several reasons.

Psychological science has been called a “hub science,” which means that psychology connects to many other disciplines and careers. For example, psychological science has become increasingly important in medicine, where many medical conditions have human behavior as a root cause. Because of this connection to behavior, about 25% of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) asks about psychological foundations of behavior.

Similar connections can be found to business, education, and even engineering.

The psychology major at Iowa will prepare you for whatever you have planned for yourself. The skills in the major include those that are valued by employers and postgraduate programs. Some of those skills, identified by Association of American Colleges and Universities, include critical thinking, effective communication, and problem solving.

Outside the classroom, psychology majors hone these skills by participating in undergraduate research, internships, and study abroad opportunities. All of these activities will fulfill requirements for the University of Iowa Honors Program.

If you have any questions about the Honors Program, please visit the program’s website or email honors-program@uiowa.edu. If you have questions about the psychology major, please visit the department’s website. Congratulations again!

Sincerely,

Prof. Paul Windschitl, Ph.D.

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

University of Iowa