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Future Graduate Students

Thank you for your interest in graduate study in the Department of Psychology at West Virginia University. On the web pages in this section of the Department of Psychology’s web site you will find materials describing our five doctoral programs (Behavior Analysis, Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical, Clinical Child, and Life-Span Developmental) and our Professional Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology (PMA) program, as well as information and links to the forms needed to complete your application.

Each year approximately 300 people apply to our graduate programs, but only four each are accepted into the five doctoral programs noted above and one to four in the PMA program. We thoroughly review each application to determine the best match between each applicant’s qualifications and interests and the training opportunities we offer.

Students admitted into graduate programs in the Department of Psychology are generally expected to have scores on the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning components of the Graduate Record Examination that are minimally at or above the 50th percentile. Across all students admitted recently, the median percentile score on the Verbal Reasoning component has been 78 and on the Quantitative Reasoning, 70. Admitted students generally have cumulative grade-point averages around 3.5 or higher (where 4.0 = A). They have also had relevant experiences and interests that are compatible with those of program area faculty.

Please carefully read our program descriptions. If our programs interest you, go to West Virginia University’s Office of Graduate Education and Life web site: http://grad.wvu.edu/. There you will find the forms that you need to complete to apply for admission. For a checklist of the items needed to complete your application, click on this link: to be filled in once an address is assigned

Note that the deadline for completing the application, including the submission of GRE scores, is December 15 for the doctoral programs and March 1 for the PMA program.

I suggest you begin the application process early. Your application will be reviewed by the appropriate program area Admissions Committee, composed of faculty and graduate student representatives. Doctoral applicants who pass an initial screening will be invited to attend the Department’s Interview Weekend, which generally is held the third weekend in February. Applicants for the Professional Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology will be interviewed in late spring. Doctoral applicants will be informed of acceptance or wait-listing no later than April 1, and of rejection somewhat later. These dates are later for applicants to the PMA program. All applicants to doctoral programs are considered automatically for financial aid in the form of graduate assistantships. In the past all of our doctoral students have received financial aid.

We are pleased that you are interested in our program. On behalf of the faculty and students of our Department, I wish you the best of luck in your pursuit of a career in psychology.

Barry Edelstein, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Training