A Summer Internship in Psychological Research: Preparation of Minority Undergraduates for Graduate Study

Abstract

Graduate departments of psychology often confront the issue of how best to recruit and retain qualified minority students. Because undergraduate students seeking graduate appointments are frequently advised to gain research experience, we use this article to describe an intensive summer internship intended to strengthen the research skills of minority students. The 6-week program served honor students from a Minority Access to Research Careers program sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health. Based on a research apprenticeship model, the internship juxtaposed didactic and experiential research components to provide a breadth of exposure to researchers and topics while achieving in-depth training in research methodology. Interns initially participated in faculty-sponsored research but later developed and implemented their own studies. We concluded that the research internship would prove valuable to all undergraduates considering advanced study in psychology.