Psychology Ph.D. Requirements

Admission Requirements

The applicant must meet the School of Graduate Studies’ current minimum general admission requirements as published in the graduate catalog.

1. A four-year bachelor’s degree from a recognized college or university. For U.S. degrees, accreditation must be by one of the six regional accrediting associations.
2. Satisfy the School of Graduate Studies’ English Language Proficiency requirements as published in the graduate catalog.

Applicants are recommended to have a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 3.20 for all undergraduate work.

Applicants are also encouraged to have a year of biological science (biology, physiology, etc.), a semester of college algebra, and a general background in other social and natural sciences.

Personal Statement

Applicants are required to submit a personal statement. Applicants should use their personal statements to tell us about themselves and to describe why they are applying to the program, what kind of research they would like to do at UND, which faculty member(s) they see as a potential research advisor, and what they would like to do after earning their degree.

Curriculum Vitae

Applicants are required to submit a CV that lists applicants’ educational and work experiences. Particular attention will be given to scholarly activities. Therefore, the CV should include 1) a listing of all research assistantships, including the semesters they occurred and a brief description of responsibilities, 2) a listing of all publications and research presentations, 3) a listing of all other scholarly activities, such as an independent thesis, research conducted through a McNair/TRIO scholarship, and any research awards sought or obtained.

Quantitative Skills Coursework

Applicants must include either in their CV, or as a separate document, a listing of all the courses they have taken in which quantitative reasoning skills have played a significant role (for example, any course in math or statistics), along with the letter grade earned in each course.

Degree Requirements

Students seeking the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of North Dakota must satisfy all general requirements set forth by the School of Graduate Studies as well as particular requirements set forth by the Psychology Department.

1. Minimum of 60 credit hours beyond 30 credits from Masters degree work is required for the Ph.D. (minimum of 90 credit hours total).
2. Maintenance of at least a 3.0 GPA for all classes completed as a graduate student.
3. Completion of “Scholarly Tool” coursework to develop skills in research design including:

   Course List

   Code	Title	Credits
   PSYC 541	Advanced Univariate Statistics	3
   PSYC 542	Multivariate Statistics for Psychology	3
   PSYC 543	Experimental Design	3

4. Completion of an empirical dissertation.
5. Graduate students in the general-experimental psychology Ph.D. program are required to meet a number of eligibility criteria to take comprehensive exams and establish candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. An assessment will be conducted after the student successfully completes all of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in general psychology. To remain in the Ph.D. program and proceed on to comprehensive exams, dissertation research, and remaining coursework, the student must have
   1. earned a cumulative graduate grade point average of at least 3.5;
   2. completed his or her M.S. degree within three years of enrollment;
   3. gained the approval of a majority of the core and associated faculty of the General/Experimental psychology doctoral program.
      
      Students failing to meet one or more of these requirements will be terminated from the Ph.D. program in general-experimental psychology.
6. Completion of the comprehensive examination for the Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology.