Doctor of Philosophy

During the first quarter of graduate study, students must take PSYCH 207 Professional Seminar for First-Year Ph.D. Graduate Students.

Students must complete four core courses from each of the different areas of the Psychology department: Affective Science, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology, Neuroscience, and Social Psychology, as listed below. Students are expected to complete four core courses by the end of the third year.

Consistent with the program’s goal of fostering breadth and engagement across all areas of the department, students are encouraged to take all five core courses, which span the five areas of the department. If a student takes five core courses, the units and grade of the fifth course are counted toward the student’s advanced units.

Students must complete 12 units of advanced graduate coursework, referred to as advanced units (AU). Students earn AU by taking: (a) non-core graduate psychology courses and/or (b) graduate-level courses in other departments comparable in quality to graduate courses offered by the Psychology Department. If there is any question about the comparability of courses, the student should consult the advisor, student services, and, in some cases, the DGS before taking the course.

A student may complete a PhD minor in another department instead of the advanced units requirement. Students pursuing a minor should register this decision with the student services manager.

Advanced units and/or PhD minors must be completed by the end of the summer of their fourth year. The department expects all decisions related to the AUs or the PhD minor to be made in close consultation with the student’s advisor.

The department views experience in supervised teaching as an integral part of its graduate program. Teaching is at the core of the academic and professional training of doctoral students in our program. All students are required to complete at least five quarters of teaching experience by the end of their 5th year in the program, regardless of their financial support. Typically, students complete more than the required number of teaching quarters as part of their professional training and financial support.

Of these five teaching quarters, students are required to teach in two service courses. Students report whether they prefer the PSYCH 1 or STATS path in their first year of study. 

Students are prohibited from teaching during the first year of graduate study. Students typically progress from closely supervised teaching to more independent teaching. Some students may be invited to offer a supervised, but essentially independent, seminar during their final year of graduate study.

Students are expected to spend at least half of their time engaged in research from the beginning of the first year of graduate study to the completion of the PhD, taking no more than ten units of coursework each quarter.

First Year Project (FYP)

At the end of their first year of graduate study, students must submit a written report of their research activities from that year, known as the First Year Project (FYP). This report should resemble a journal article in their area. It is written in consultation with their advisor. The FYP proposal is due at the end of the autumn quarter. The final FYP is due on June 1 of the first year. First-year students must also work with their advisor to identify a second FYP reader (another Psychology faculty member) by the end of October in the autumn quarter of the first year. Both the advisor and the second FYP reader are expected to read the FYP and provide the student with constructive feedback. It is recommended that students meet with their FYP readers in the summer of the first year to receive feedback.

Third-Year Committee Meeting and Research Plan

Students are required to meet with their reading committee annually beginning in their third year. For the annual committee meetings, if a member of the student’s regular committee is unavailable (e.g., on sabbatical), the student should recruit another department faculty member to attend instead.

Students must meet with their reading committee in the winter or spring quarter of the third year no later than June 1. At least two weeks before this meeting, students must submit a 1-2 page research plan to the committee.

Fourth-Year Committee Meeting and Research Plan

Students must meet with their reading committee in the fourth year in the autumn or winter quarter. At least two weeks before the meeting, they must submit their Area Review and Research Roadmap (ARRR) to their reading committee.

Fifth-Year Committee Meeting and Beyond

The department expects that students complete their Oral Exam by the end of the fifth year. Thus, typically, the Oral Exam replaces the fifth-year reading committee meeting. However, if a student defers the Oral Exam, they are expected to meet with their reading committee before June 1 of the fifth year to give an update on ongoing research progress and receive feedback. The same applies to the sixth year and so on. After each committee meeting, students should report to the Student Services Manager to indicate when the meeting occurred.

Admission to candidacy is a prospective judgment by the faculty of a student’s potential to successfully complete the requirements of the degree program. Students are expected to complete qualifying procedures by June 1 of their second year in the program. Faculty meet to advance students to candidacy in the Spring quarter of the student’s second year. Qualifying procedures in the Department of Psychology include required coursework, teaching experience, and completion of degree milestones. Additional details on qualifying procedures can be found on our Program Requirements opens in a new tab page.

In the Department of Psychology, the oral exam is a defense of the dissertation presented upon the completion of a substantial portion of the dissertation or upon completion of a pre-final draft. Students consult with their dissertation advisor and reading committee members on the timing of the defense. Students are expected to complete this milestone by the end of their fifth year.

Per university policy, the candidate must complete a dissertation that is satisfactory to the dissertation reading committee. Typically, the candidate submits the dissertation to the reading committee at least two weeks before the oral examination. Minor formatting revisions may be made after the oral examination.

Department policy permits a single additional writing quarter following the dissertation defense to finalize the dissertation.

The dissertation must be approved and signed by each member of the dissertation reading committee.