Graduate Program: Requirements

Departmental requirements for all graduate students

The department has a set of requirements that apply to all graduate students in our programs. Unless students have successfully petitioned for special consideration, the following requirements apply to graduate students in each of our three subareas (i.e., brain and cognitive, clinical, social and developmental). In addition, specific subareas may have addition requirements above and beyond these requirements (see below).

Graduate students are expected to be continuously involved in research throughout the course of their training program. Research involvement begins immediately with a faculty supervised research apprenticeship or a faculty sponsored project of the student's design. Later, students may collaborate with other students on a project. For the master's degree, graduate students must satisfactorily complete: (a) a course in Research Methods, (b) two courses from the department's graduate statistics offerings, and (c) a master's thesis.

In addition to appropriate coursework in their subarea, all students are required to take two seminars outside of their specific program (of the six programs offered in the department). The comprehensive examination must be passed prior to working on a dissertation. Finally, students are expected to obtain some type of teaching experience, which includes enrolling in a seminar in teaching and pedagogy. In the first two years of the program, teaching involvement ordinarily entails assisting faculty in undergraduate courses. In the third and fourth years (usually following the completion of one's master's thesis), many students are supported by teaching associateships that carry responsibility for instructing either laboratory sections of statistics and methods courses, or small sections of introductory courses. Regardless of whether students intend to pursue a position requiring teaching following the graduation, we believe that this experience assists students in developing effective communication skills that are invaluable in any job setting.

Additional requirements for specific subareas: Clinical

For students in the clinical program, there are additional program requirements that have been established by the clinical program and the American Psychological Association . Students should consult the clinical curriculum for further information. Satisfying the minimum requirements of the program, however, is only a start toward becoming an active researcher, that is, someone who is part of the community of psychologists committed to understanding problems in the field. Much of students' education and training takes place in informal settings, which include daily discussions with other students and faculty, reading current journals, attending conferences, and presenting their work to the field. Each year, a substantial number of students present papers at national and international conferences and have papers accepted for publication in scholarly journals.

In addition, students are expected to attend weekly colloquia, which are presented by eminent scholars, researchers, and therapists. These visits give students the opportunity to interact with visitors in a variety of formal and informal settings.

Additional requirements for specific subareas: Social

In addition to the general department requirements outlined above, students who began their studies in the social graduate program prior to August 2001 have several requirements before receiving their Ph. D.s, including completing five graduate seminars in social psychology and two additional graduate seminars outside of the social area (from the five other programs: clinical, developmental, cognitive, psychobiology, and human factors).

For graduate students who began their studies in social psychology beginning in August 2001 (or later), students are required to complete six graduate seminars in social psychology, at least three of which must be core social seminars (i.e., Psy 630 offerings). The remaining three seminars may be core seminars (i.e., Psy 630s) or more topical seminars (i.e., Psy 730s). In addition to the social seminar requirement, social graduate students must also complete two additional graduate seminars outside of the social area (from the five other programs: clinical, developmental, cognitive, psychobiology, and human factors).

For all social students, the comprehensive examination must be passed prior to working on a dissertation. All social students are expected to obtain some type of teaching experience, which includes enrolling in a seminar in teaching and pedagogy. Except under exceptional circumstances, social graduate students will not undertake teaching assignments where they are the instructor of record until after they have completed their master's theses.

Satisfying the minimum requirements of the social program, however, is only a start toward becoming an active social psychologist. Each year, numerous social students present papers at regional (e.g., MPA), national (e.g., APS), and international conferences and have papers accepted for publication in scholarly journals. In addition, all students are expected to attend weekly social brownbags (SPRIG; Social Psychology Research Interest Group) and colloquia, which feature eminent scholars and researchers in social psychology. All students in the social program are also expected to not only attend weekly meetings of SPRIG, but to also present their research ideas at these meetings.