The department offers programs designed for students seeking completion of the Doctor of Philosophy degree with a major in psychology. Concentrations are available in clinical psychology (clinical neuropsychology, psychopathology and affective disorders, family and health psychology); cognition and neural systems (neurobiology of learning, memory and aging, cognitive and computational neuroscience, neurophysiology, psychopharmacology, perception, memory, psycholinguistics, cognitive neuropsychology, cognitive development, consciousness studies, environmental cognition, and knowledge representation); ethology and evolutionary psychology (animal behavior, behavioral evolution, and development); social psychology (the self, motivation, social cognition, intergroup relations); and psychology, policy and law (mental health and health policy, mental health criminal justice interactions, analysis of policies and laws). In addition, there are two areas of concentration in which students may minor: environmental psychology, and measurement and field research.

Applications will be able to apply online starting August 1st each year. The deadline for receipt of completed materials is December 15. Applicants may be required to submit scores on the aptitude and advanced (psychology) tests of the Graduate Record Examination. Psychology, policy and law concentration applicants interested in concurrently pursuing the J.D. degree must apply separately to the College of Law.

Admission Policies and Procedures:
The Clinical Program

To review our program’s data regarding number of applicants, acceptance rates, and applicants’ GPA and GRE scores, please see Student Data.

Applicant selection process
An admissions committee evaluates the credentials of every graduate applicant and makes recommendations regarding the selection of students. Although programs in the Psychology Department enjoy autonomy with regard to admission, all recommendations for admission must be approved by the head of the Psychology Department and by the Graduate School.
A short-list of applicants is produced through this review procedure, and these applicants are invited for an interview with faculty and students. The purpose of the interview event is twofold: (a) we want the applicants to experience the atmosphere of the program first-hand and to become clearly aware of who we are, what are our training goals and expectations, and (b) our faculty and students want to assess the likely scholarly, research, and clinical promise of the applicants so that the best admission decisions can be made. The department underwrites the cost of the visit, paying half the airfare, offering lodging with existing students, and providing meals. Although not required, this visit offers prospective students an excellent opportunity to meet with faculty and students and learn of the many offerings within the program and department. Most applicants visit during a designated weekend, along with applicants from other programs within the department. Feedback has suggested that this is a very popular format, as applicants get to meet and socialize with current students. After this visit, or occasionally following telephone interviews in lieu of that visit, the admissions committee confers to review feedback on all applicants and to decide on the applicants who will receive offers. We try to balance the composition of incoming classes to achieve diversity in research interest, age, cultural background and other dimensions of individual differences.

Offers of admission and acceptance procedures

The Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology (CUDCP) has adopted a set of procedures designed to facilitate the Graduate Admissions process by spelling out expectations of both applicants and programs during this stressful time. Our program respects these principles and follow the CUDCP-adopted guidelines listed below.

1. The policies listed below should be available to all students applying to CUDCP-member graduate programs.
   
2. To facilitate the decision making for students, training programs should inform students as soon as possible that they have been excluded from consideration for admission.
   
3. A student can expect to receive offers of admission to programs over a considerable period of time. The timing of offers to students is largely determined by the University's review schedule, which is a strictly internal matter. Regardless of when the offer is made, students are not required to respond to the offer before the decision date of April 15 (or the first Monday after April 15, if April 15 falls on a weekend), except as specified in Section 6 below.
   
   1. Offers are usually made in writing prior to April 1st. Between April 1st and the decision date, universities may choose to facilitate the process by making offers to students over the phone when a position comes up. These verbal offers are official, but should be followed up by a written confirmation (within 48 hours via e-mail and an offer letter shortly thereafter).
      
   2. Offers, once made, cannot be withdrawn by the university until after the decision date and then can be withdrawn only if the student fails to respond to the offer by the decision date.
      
   3. A program may make an offer after the April 15th decision date if it still has one or more open slots. Offers made after the decision date should clearly state how long the student has to decide on the offer. The student should be given sufficient time (at least a week) to visit a program before making a decision.
      
4. Offers with funding are treated like any other offer. There should be no stipulation by the University that the offer carries funding only if the student accepts by a specific date that precedes the decision date described above.
   
   
5. The Director of Clinical Training or the designated person in charge of graduate admissions should make every effort to inform students on the alternate list of their status as soon as possible.
   
   1. The procedure of designating all students who have not been offered immediate admissions as alternates is inappropriate. The University Training Program should have a procedure for identifying those students who clearly will not be offered admissions.
      
   2. A reasonable designation of the student's position on the alternate list is encouraged (e.g., high, middle, or low on the alternate list). If such a designation is used, the operational definition of "high on the alternate list" is that, in a normal year, the student would receive an offer of admission (but not necessarily funding) prior to the April 15 decision date.
      
      
   3. Once the class has been filled, students on the alternate list should be informed that they are no longer under consideration for admission. Students who were designated "high on the alternate list" should be informed by phone.
      
6. A student should not hold more offers than they are seriously considering. Holding multiple offers ties up slots, preventing programs from making offers to other students. This is a complex principle operationalized in the points below.
   
   1. It is legitimate for students to want to visit a program, if they have not done so already, before making decisions among top offers. Such visits should be scheduled as soon as practical after the offer of admission is received. If after a visit to a program the student decides that the program is rated lower than a program that the student has already been offered admission to, the student should inform the lower rank program that they will be declining their offer.
      
      
   2. Whenever possible, the student applicant should inform training programs by phone of a decision, following up within 24 hours with a written confirmation of that decision.
      
      
   3. Once a student has accepted an offer of admission to a Graduate Training Program, the student should inform all programs in which they are currently under consideration that they are either declining outstanding offers of admission or no longer wish to be considered for admission. Students should contact by phone those programs that have offered admission or have the student high on the alternate list. These phone calls should be followed up within 24 hours by a written confirmation. For programs for which the student is on the alternate list but not high on the alternate list, a letter withdrawing their application mailed within 48 hours is sufficient notification.
      
7. It is the responsibility of the Director of Clinical Training or the designated person in charge of graduate admissions to keep students informed of changes in their status. Ideally, the student should be informed immediately by phone and with a follow-up letter. Offers of admission or offers of funding for students already offered admission should be made over the phone with a follow-up e-mail and letter.
   
   
8. The current policy statement of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology allows students to resign offers they previously accepted up to the April 15th decision date by submitting the resignation in writing. The purpose of this policy is to avoid pressure on students to accept offers before they have heard from other schools. Although withdrawing an acceptance is legitimate, it is not good form. A much better approach is to accept a position only if you intend to follow through on your commitment. Students have the right to hold offers as described above if a preferable offer is still possible.
   
   1. As stated in 6 (c), once a student has accepted an offer, the student should notify other Universities immediately that he or she has accepted another offer.
      
      
   2. Except in very unusual situations (e.g., serious illness or major personal problems), a student who accepts an offer of admission is expected to start the graduate program the following fall unless other arrangements have been made with the Director of Clinical Training. Training lines are severely limited and failing to use a line once it has been offered prevents other qualified students from obtaining training.