As noted in the Program description, the Psychology, Policy and Law Program (PPLP) trains scholars interested in academic, research, or policy careers who will produce conceptually, theoretically, and methodologically sophisticated scholarship in the psychology, policy and law interface. In order to accomplish this, The Department of Psychology in cooperation with the College of Law offers graduate training in this area leading to:

• the Ph.D. degree
• the J.D. - Ph.D. as concurrent degrees, or
• post-doctoral study or Visiting Scholar Status.

Students applying for the PhD. degree need to complete the application for graduate study in the Department of Psychology, specifying the Psychology, Policy and Law Program as their selected Program of study. Students in this track may also apply to major jointly with any other program within the Department of Psychology (Clinical Psychology; Social Psychology; Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology; Cognition and Neural Systems; Cognitive Psychology).

Students applying for this track need to complete two admissions applications. First, they need to complete the application for graduate study in the Department of Psychology, specifying the Psychology, Policy and Law Program as their selected Program of study. Students in this track may also apply to major jointly with any other program within the Department of Psychology (Clinical Psychology; Social Psychology; Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology; Cognition and Neural Systems; Cognitive Psychology). Second, students need to concurrently apply for admission to the College of Law.

Criteria for Admission to the Ph.D. or Ph.D. - J.D. Tracks

Admission to our program is very competitive, but we do not set formal thresholds for admission to the Ph.D. or Ph.D. - J.D. tracks. When reviewing applications, we consider the totality of each application, including

• Overall grade point average,
• Grade point average in psychology,
• Graduate Record Examination scores (Verbal, Quantitative, Analytic, Psychology subject test),
• Law School Aptitude Test if applying for the concurrent degrees,
• Research experience,
• Scholarly interests,
• Career goal,
• Personal statement, and
• Letters of recommendation (particularly from faculty who you have worked with in some scholarly capacity).

Occasionally, students who were not undergraduate majors in Psychology seek admission to the Program. In such cases, the student does not have to take the Psychology subject test for admission, but will be required to take additional Psychology course work as part of their graduate training if admitted to the Program.

Persons interested in post-doctoral study or in spending time in residence as a Visiting Scholar need to contact the Program Director (Bruce Sales) and the particular faculty that they are most interested in working with.