Tulane vs. WashU for Psychology Research: Which Is Better for Undergraduates?

For an undergraduate whose top priority is psychology research and close access to active faculty labs, Washington University in St. Louis is the stronger choice.

The biggest differentiator is the scale and variety of labs. WashU’s medical-school and hospital affiliations can be especially valuable for students drawn to clinical psychology, psychiatry-adjacent research, neuropsychology, or cognitive neuroscience. Research opportunities can involve behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, computational work, clinical populations, or longitudinal developmental studies, depending on the lab.

Tulane still offers meaningful undergraduate research access, particularly for students who value a smaller department feel and want to connect psychology with public health, community issues, or New Orleans-based research. A proactive student could develop strong faculty relationships there, especially by joining a lab early and staying involved over multiple semesters.

Faculty mentorship will depend heavily on the individual professor and how actively you seek out labs at either school. But WashU provides more breadth, more research infrastructure, and a deeper bench of psychology-related faculty, so it offers the clearer advantage for a student who wants research to be a central part of the undergraduate experience.