Admission is very competitive, and is based on the evaluation of an applicant’s entire record. In evaluating each application, the Admissions Committee examines GPA, courses taken, research record, and letters of recommendation (three letters are required). Please note that we will NOT consider GRE scores in our application review process. Applicants should NOT include GRE scores in their application to our MS/PhD programs. To be considered for admission, an applicant must also meet the Graduate School’s general admission requirements.
a. How Many Students are Admitted?
Students work in close association with their major professors. The student: major professor ratio is about 5:1. Given this ratio, the department has room for approximately 85 graduate students, with about 12 new students admitted each year to the doctoral programs.
About three or four students are admitted each year to the terminal MS program. A total of 243 students applied to the clinical doctoral program and 56 applied to the neuroscience doctoral programs for Fall, 2025. Sixty-seven students applied to the health MS program.
Twelve applicants were accepted to the graduate programs as follows: five clinical, six neuroscience, and one health MS.
b. GPA of Recently Admitted Students
The Graduate Admissions Committee is often asked about requirements for admission into the graduate program, in particular whether there is a minimum grade-point average. Below are summary statistics on students recently admitted to the doctoral programs. Average scores are included.
| Clinical | Neuroscience | |
|---|---|---|
| GPA, all courses, 4 yrs. | 3.58 | 3.67 |
c. Information for Students Who Did Not Major in Psychology
Students without an undergraduate major in psychology or neuroscience are welcome to apply, and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If they are offered admission, they will be informed about any additional courses that would need to be taken at UWM (in addition to the required graduate coursework) to fill gaps in training.