Program Overview

Ph.D. in Psychological Science with a Concentration in Clinical Psychology

The Ph.D. in Psychological Science with a Concentration in Clinical Psychology is a comprehensive program that requires students to meet core course requirements, specialized coursework, and clinical training. This includes clinical practica and a one-year internship.

Program Requirements

Students in the clinical Concentration are required to take:

• Six departmental core courses
• Eight clinical core courses
• Five breadth courses The additional clinical core courses and breadth courses in the clinical Concentration are required for APA accreditation. Students in the concentration are not required to choose a minor.

Clinical Concentration Core Course Requirements

To complete the clinical Concentration, students must take the following clinical core courses:

• PSCIC200: Evidence-Based Treatments
• PSCIC201: Clinical Assessment and Interviewing
• PSCIC202: Cognitive and Neuropsychological Assessment
• PSCIC203: Professional Issues and Ethics in Clinical Psychology
• PSCIC204: Practicum in Clinical Psychology
• PSCIC215: Evidence-Based Psychological Treatments II
• PSCIC216: Adult Psychopathology
• PSCIC217: Psychological Assessment

Breadth Course Requirements

Students must also complete the following breadth courses:

• PSCIP214: Seminar in Social Psychology
• PSCIP217: Life-Span Development or PSCIP220: Developmental Psychology: Theories and History
• PSCIP226: Emotion in Psychology or PSCIP250: Emotion, Reasoning, and Memory
• PSCIP273: Biobehavioral Aspects of Health and Illness or PSCIC233: Neuropsychophysiology of Self- and Emotion-Regulation

Advancement and Completion

Students complete a supervised research project during their second year, culminating in a paper that may form the basis for a publication. They take a written comprehensive examination the summer before their third year, demonstrating mastery of the principles of social ecology and major theoretical, substantive, and methodological issues in the study of their major specialization and in the psychology of human behavior. All students must advance by winter quarter of the fourth year. The normative time for completion of the Ph.D. with internship is six years, but students are encouraged to complete their dissertation within five years. Students must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. in Psychological Science no later than their seventh year of study, adjusted for any approved leaves of absence.

Final Defense and Employment Opportunities

All Ph.D. students in the Psychological Science program are required to pass a final oral defense of the dissertation. Graduates of the program can find employment in academic institutions, research organizations, government policy institutes, health care and human services settings, and private sector employers. The Ph.D. Program in Psychological Science specializes in the training of researchers, not in the training of clinical practitioners.