Admission Requirements

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Admission Requirements for the Clinical Psy.D. Program

Admission into the clinical doctoral program is competitive and enrollment is generally limited to 8-10 students per year. Applicants are selected for admission on the basis of GRE scores, undergraduate and graduate grades, letters of reference, personal statements, significant accomplishments, and a formal interview. It is regrettable that the faculty cannot formally interview all persons interested in the program. However, approximately 50% of applicants are invited for an in-person interview in late February/early March. Applications received after January 4th will not be considered for admission. Decisions on admission and financial assistance usually are made by April 15th. Indiana State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, handicap, veteran status, or age. The department actively recruits students from diverse backgrounds.

Prerequisites for admission to the Psy.D. program are a minimum of 24 undergraduate credit hours in psychology at an accredited university or college. These 24 hours must include coursework in Abnormal Psychology, Research Methods or Experimental Psychology, Learning or Cognition, Personality, and Statistics. Applicants need not have completed all the above coursework at the time they apply, but should have completed the prerequisites before beginning the program.

The Department expects an undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or a graduate GPA (if more than nine graduate credit hours in Psychology) of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. The Department requires all GRE scores from exams taken within the last five years. Scores at or above the 50th percentile for the Quantitative section and 60th percentile or above for the Verbal section are preferred, with neither score below the 50th percentile.  For GREs taken after August 2011, a score of 153 or above (62nd percentile) on the Verbal section is preferred, as is a score of 150 or above (53rd percentile) on the Quantitative section.  For GREs taken prior to that date (old scoring), scores of 500 or above (62nd percentile) for the Verbal section and 610 (49th percentile) for Quantitative are preferred.  A writing score of 4.0 or above (48th percentile) is preferred.  Given that the Revised GRE includes significantly different content than the former GRE, we are continuing to evaluate the implications of these changes and will update the information above regarding preferred scores as we get more information.  The GRE advanced test in psychology is not required.  It is suggested that applicants take the GRE by early November in order for test scores to be received on time.

An applicant should have the potential to become a professional psychologist, as documented by letters of reference and assessed by formal interviews conducted by the faculty at Indiana State University. Three copies of recommendation forms are to be signed by you and given to professors and/or mental health professionals familiar with your academic and/or professional and interpersonal competence, who can speak competently to your ability to succeed in a doctoral program in clinical psychology. Additional letters of recommendation beyond these three may be submitted, but are not required.

Students entering the program with previous graduate work should not assume automatic transfer of credit for graduate courses. After arrival, transfer credit will be evaluated on a course-by-course basis. Up to nine credit hours may be transferred for graduate credit in non-clinical core courses. To be eligible for transfer credit, the course must be judged to be comparable to a required ISU course and should have been taken within the past three years; the student should have earned with a grade of better than a B in the course and will be required to demonstrate the requisite skills associated with the course.

NOTE: The deadline for application is January 4th.