Our Clinical Science program includes a core set of required experiences, coupled with a flexible curriculum designed to meet your specific needs. The curriculum serves our longstanding goal of providing integrative training, in which students draw on multiple perspectives (e.g., biological, clinical, cognitive, developmental, social) in their research on clinical problems. You might choose to complete a dual Ph.D. in Clinical Science and in the Program of Neuroscience or Cognitive Science. Or, you might work in more than one area of Psychology within the context of a single degree. To earn a Ph.D. in Psychology requires a minimum of 90 credit hours, a standard set by the College of Arts and Sciences and University Graduate School.
You will form an Advisory Committee, consisting of your mentor and at least two other faculty members, during your first year. The committee assists you to design an individualized training plan, while ensuring receipt of adequate breadth, depth, and quality of training.
Our training model is sequential, cumulative, and graded in complexity. In the first two years, you will take four core courses, a semester of advanced statistics, a course on research methods and professional and ethical issues, and write at least one grant. You will also complete a first and second year research project in collaboration with your mentor, which must be in written form.
In the summer after your second year, you take qualifying exams, which assess your core competencies in clinical science. Our clinical students also take one advanced clinical seminars, at least one year of internal practicum, several additional years of practicum, a course on the teaching of psychology, an additional advanced statistics or methods course, and complete at least three courses for a minor concentration. In the fifth and sixth year, you conduct your dissertation research and complete your internship.
The College of Arts