PSYCH-PHD - Psychology (PhD)

All core and stats courses must be taken for a letter grade and passed with a grade of B- or better. 

For advanced units, courses taken for a letter grade must receive a B- or better to count toward the requirement.

Students who completed graduate coursework at another institution are encouraged to submit relevant transcripts in the winter quarter of their first year of doctoral study. The Director of Graduate Studies will evaluate the transfer of units on a course-by-course basis. Graduate work accepted for transfer of residency does not automatically exempt a student from completing a course requirement for the degree.

Students may request to count prior graduate-level coursework toward the AU requirement. The advisor should support the request, and the undergraduate course must be substantive and relevant to the student’s graduate research.

The Department of Psychology is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. When most effective, the advising relationship entails collaborative and sustained engagement by both the advisor and the advisee. As a best practice, advising expectations should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. Both the advisor and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Faculty advisors guide students in critical areas, such as selecting courses, designing and conducting research, writing results of research studies as manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, developing teaching pedagogy, navigating policies and degree requirements, and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways.

Graduate students are active contributors to the advising relationship, proactively seeking academic and professional guidance and taking responsibility for informing themselves of policies and degree requirements for their graduate program.

Individual Development Plan (IDP)

To meet the advising goals described above, each PhD student must complete an annual Individual Development Plan (IDP) and have at least one meeting with their advisor during the academic year to discuss the IDP. The purpose of the yearly IDP meeting is to provide an opportunity to discuss the big picture of the student’s progress over the past year and future goals. To help the IDP, the student completes a form that promotes self-reflection and self-evaluation before the meeting and helps structure the discussion topics with the advisor. During the IDP meeting, the student brings their current CV and discusses recent progress and future goals with the advisor. During the meeting, the student and their advisor develop an action plan for the subsequent year; both keep a copy of this plan.

Visit the Psychology Department website’s PhD Program Requirements page for details about the IDP forms and process. The IDP meeting must take place before June 1 of each year.