Ph.D Program

General requirements for the PhD program in Psychology: Two quantitative, data analysis or modeling classes, one research methods + ethics course; 3 core courses. Additional courses as needed. Coursework should be completed within the first 3 years of the PhD program.

 

The Department of Psychology requires students complete three core courses from the lists below. Statistics courses may not fulfill both the core and statistics requirement. One graduate core course from an outside department with permission from course instructor, student’s supervisor, and graduate adviser. Please submit the Non-Psychology Core Course Petition for approval and notify Graduate Program Administrator, Kimberly Terry, once you have done so.

Select at least one course from the following:

PSY 380F Evolutionary Psychology

PSY 383T Principles of Sensory & Behavioral Neuroscience*

PSY 385P Fundamentals of Social Psychology*

PSY 387S Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience*

PSY 395S Fundamentals of Developmental Psychology*

 

Select up to two courses from the following:

PSY 382V Neural and Computational Basis of Vision

PSY 383C Functional Neuroanatomy

PSY 384Q Advanced Applied Statistics I (Does not fulfill both stats and core requirement)

PSY 384S Advanced Applied Statistics II (Does not fulfill both stats and core requirement)

PSY 384T Structural Equation Modeling (every other year)

PSY 386D Multivariate Pattern Analysis of Neuroimaging Data (every other year)

PSY 387C Human Language Processing

PSY 391N Learning and Memory

PSY 394V Theory and Explanation in Social Psychology (every other year)

PSY 396 Advanced Behavior Pathology*

-One graduate core course from an outside department with permission from course instructor, student’s supervisor, and graduate adviser. Please submit the Non-Psychology Core Course Petition for approval and notify Graduate Program Administrator, Kimberly Terry, once you have done so.

 

* APA required for Clinical students.

 

Quantitative Courses:

All students are expected to take two quantitative (statistics) courses. At least one quantitative course must be taken during the first year. Most first-year students will take PSY 384M-Advanced Statistics: Inferential. The graduate areas may specify which courses should be taken and impose additional quantitative requirements.

First Year: First year students must take at least nine hours of course work per semester. During the first year, at least one course must be a departmental core course, at least one must be a statistics course, In addition, all students are expected to become involved in research activities during the first year. Areas may require their students to register for the research course (390), area seminar courses, and to take additional courses or seminars as deemed necessary for the education of the student.

Teaching Assistants, Graduate Research Assistants and Fellows: All students employed by the University as a TA, GRA, or on a full fellowship must take at least nine hours of coursework each semester that will count towards the graduate degree. (3 hours in summer session).

Entering students complete a research methods plus ethics course.

Courses:  Areas may require their students to take certain courses. Some of these required area courses may overlap with the departmental core courses.

Many areas have research or paper requirements.

See Areas of Study for more information. 

Courses:  Areas may require their students to take certain courses. Some of these required area courses may overlap with the departmental core courses.

Many areas have research or paper requirements.

See Areas of Study for more information. 

All students complete an end of year evaluation with their supervising mentor. Coursework and research progress are taken into account. Progress of all students is discussed annually by the Department of Psychology Graduate Studies

The ten courses (30 hours) required for the MA degree must include: a core course from two of the core course content areas; a statistics course; and the thesis courses (698A and 698B). The thesis courses may not be taken simultaneously. Core courses in the core content areas that do not include the student’s own graduate study area may be counted as supporting work courses. An empirical thesis is required. 

The Graduate Adviser’s office has a policy statement, Admission to Candidacy, which you should consult; it describes the departmental and Graduate School requirements and procedures for admission to candidacy. The required course work for admission to candidacy includes three core courses from at least two of the core content areas, two quantitative courses, and appropriate training in the student’s area of specialization.  Discuss area requirements with your area head.

Students must complete their doctoral degree in six years. If they do not, a formal review is completed to determine their status in the program. Departmental funding after the fifth year is subject to review and approval.

The primary goal of graduate training in the Department of Psychology is to prepare students for academic or other scientific careers in research and teaching. Students develop expertise in one of several areas of specialization: Behavioral Neuroscience; Clinical Psychology; Cognition, Brain, and Behavior; Developmental Psychology; Individual Differences and Evolutionary Psychology; Perception, Brain, and Behavior; and Social Psychology. The program culminates in the PhD degree.

The length of time required to obtain a PhD varies from area to area, but students are expected to proceed as rapidly as is commensurate with an adequate breadth and depth of training. For a student in clinical psychology, a reasonable goal is six years of graduate work, including the internship; for a non-clinical student, four to five years is feasible.

Only students who wish to earn a doctorate are admitted. Most students enter the program with only a bachelor's degree. Some of these students earn a master's degree while progressing to the doctorate; others do not. Some students enter the program with a master's degree from another institution. These students must follow the same general sequence (outlined below) as students entering with a bachelor's degree. The time required to complete the program is, perhaps, one semester less for students who enter with a master's degree from another institution.

Although graduate training at The University of Texas at Austin is highly flexible, there is a general structure for a student's progress to the PhD. All graduate students must satisfactorily complete two advanced statistics courses and a total of three core courses from at least two of the three content groups listed here: (A) physiology and learning (B) perception, cognition, and cognitive development; and (C) abnormal, social, personality, developmental, and individual differences. To be admitted to doctoral candidacy a student must have completed the core courses and statistics requirements and successfully present a formal proposal to their dissertation committee.

During the first year, students take two core courses, a statistics course, and other courses prescribed by the faculty in their areas of specialization. At the end of the year, the faculty formally evaluates the progress of all first-year students. During the second and third years, students complete the departmental requirements, deepen their knowledge and research experiences in their selected area, and satisfy area requirements. These requirements can take any of a number of forms, at the discretion of the area faculty, ranging from a research project to an examination. Programs beyond the third year are largely tailored to the individual's needs and interests and culminate in the planning and execution of a dissertation which gives evidence of the student's ability to carry out independent investigation in his or her major field of interest.

While giving general direction to the student's graduate career, this structure allows latitude for interdisciplinary collaboration. Graduate students in Psychology frequently take courses and work with faculty in other departments such as Educational Psychology, Computer Sciences, Zoology, Mathematics, Linguistics, Sociology, Human Ecology, Pharmacy, and Public Affairs.

Although graduate work is formally supervised by the Committee on Graduate Studies, in many respects the Department of Psychology functions as a cluster of semi-independent interest groups, each with its own specifications for graduate training within the general outline given above. Consequently, an introduction to the department as a whole is best accomplished by briefly surveying the areas that comprise it.

This program description is intended to give general information and the statements in it do not constitute a contract, expressed or implied. All monetary and general figures are subject to change.